PhD Program: Student Profiles

Profiles of Current Students

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• Ethan Dougherty
• Yan Feng
  • Yan Feng, MP is a third year doctoral student in Health Care Systems. Yan received her BE in Economics in 1998 and her MP in Pharmacy in 2001 from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, China. Yan is currently working with Dr. Mark Pauly on Medicare HMO quality.
• Jemima Frimpong
• Christopher Gingerich
  • Christopher Gingerich, MA, is writing his dissertation, which is focused on the delivery of dialysis services to end stage renal disease patients – specifically, the identification of low cost providers of services and the explanation of variations among providers in costs of care. Chris received his BA from Grinnell College in 1992 and his MA from Iowa State University in 1995.
• Michael Housman
• Scott J. Johnson
  • Scott J. Johnson, MHA, is in his third year in the doctoral program. After completing an undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, he received an MHA at the Medical College of Virginia. He is currently working with Professor Patricia Danzon on analyzing pharmaceutical launch optimization plans and the effects of parallel trade in Europe, and the medical malpractice insurance cycle.
• Vincent Kane
• Eric L. Keuffel
  • Eric L. Keuffel, MPH, is a second year doctoral student in Health Care Systems. He received his AB in Economics from Princeton University in 1994 and his MPH from the Johns Hopkins University in 2000. Eric is working on a project with Dr. Patricia Danzon on issues related to access and R&D for pharmaceuticals and vaccines in developing countries.
• Gregory B. Kruse
  • Gregory B. Kruse, MSc, MPH, is a second year doctoral student in Health Care Systems. Gregory received his BS in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 1997, his M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics in 2000, and his MPH from Yale University in 2001. He is currently researching pharmaceutical/biotech alliances and mergers, as well as R&D productivity.
• Ju Ho Andrew Lee
  • Ju Ho Andrew Lee, MS, is a second year doctoral student in Health Care Systems. Ju Ho received his BA in History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science and Medicine from the University of Chicago in 1999 and his MS in Health and Social Behavior from the Harvard University School of Public Health in 2002. Ju Ho is currently working with Dr. Henry Glick on assessing the costs and benefits of integrating new clinical training into medical residency programs.
• Rocky Lee
  • Rocky Lee, MBA, MPH, is a first year doctoral student in Health Care Systems. He received a BA in Biology from Harvard University in 1991 and an MBA in Finance and Healthcare Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.
• Stacey M. McMorrow
  • Stacey M. McMorrow, BA, is a first year doctoral student in Health Care Systems. Stacey has a BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania (2000), minoring in Economics, and is interested in health insurance markets and the use of cost-effectiveness analysis in resource allocation decisions.
• Amol S. Navathe
  • Amol S. Navathe, BS is a first year MD/PhD student in Penn’s Medical School and Wharton’s Health Care Management Department. A 2001 graduate of Stanford University, with a BS in Electrical Engineering and Economic Systems, Amol’s intended areas of specialization are health and medical economics: cost-effectiveness of competing treatments; implications of hospital cost structure on patient care; and economic distribution effects of health care policy.
• Ashwinkumar R. Patel
  • Ashwinkumar R. Patel, BA recently graduated from Cornell University with a dual major in economics and biology along with a concentration in South Asian Studies. He is a first year MD/PhD student, a doctoral student in the Health Care Management Department and a medical student in Cornell University’s Weill Medical College. He plans to specialize in health economics, medical decision making and health policy in the US as well as in developing countries such as India.
• Nuno Sousa Pereira
  • Nuno Sousa Pereira, MS is a fifth year doctoral student in Health Care Systems. Nuno received his bachelors (1995) and master’s (1997) degrees in economics from the University of Porto, Portugal. His main research interests are in information economics, innovation, and incentive systems.
• James Niels Rosenquist
  • James Niels Rosenquist, BS is currently enrolled in the MD/PhD program in Medicine and Health Care Systems. Niels graduated from the University of Michigan with High Honors in 1995. His main interest in health care economics centers upon the optimal structure and balance of public and private health care, with a focus on developing countries.
• Colleen Beecken Rye
  • Colleen Beecken Rye, BA is a second year doctoral student in Health Care Systems, specializing in strategic management issues in the health care industry. She received her BA in Economics from the University of the South in 1999. Her research interests include the management of health care innovation, entrepreneurship in the health care industry, and the origin and development of new organizational forms within the health care industry.
• Rajiv Shah
  • Rajiv Shah, BS is an MD/PhD candidate in Penn’s Health Care Management Department and the Medical School. Raj’s research interests include the effect of financial incentives and market competition on the cost, utilization, and quality of health care; the welfare effects and strategic management implications of hospital ownership conversions; and the effects of different types of insurance status on quality of care.
• Helen a Szrek
  • Helen a Szrek, BA, MA is in her fourth year of the PhD program in Health Care Systems. Helena graduated from St. Hilda’s College at Oxford University in 1998 with honors in Economics, Politics and Philosophy. She is currently working on a project with Professors Mark Pauly, Daniel Polsky and Sean Nicholson on measuring the cost of absenteeism to the firm, building multipliers that estimate the cost of absence to a firm based on the absent worker’s job characteristics.
• Rachel M. Werner
  • Rachel M. Werner, MD is a third year doctoral student in Health Care Systems at Wharton and a Fellow in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to becoming a PhD candidate, Dr. Werner went to medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
• Yuhui (Peter) Zeng
  • Yuhui (Peter) Zeng, MD research interests include social determinants of health and medical care usage, quality and effectiveness of health care, and public health policy. He completed his premedical program at Peking ( Beijing) University, China, in 1991, and received his MD from Peking Union Medical College, China, in 1996.

Profiles of Graduates

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• Lory L. Alexander
  • Lory L. Alexander, MSN, MBA, does research on maternal-child health and access to care. Lory received her BA in Zoology from the University of Texas at Austin, her BSN and MSN degrees from the University of Texas-Galveston, and her MBA from the University of Houston.
• David M. Bishai
  • David M. Bishai, MD, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Dynamics, School of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Bishai’s research interests include demography, development and health economics, cost-benefit analysis and industrial organization. He received a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania ’s Health Care Management Department in 1996.
• David J. Brailer
  • David J. Brailer, MD, PhD is Senior Fellow for Information Technology and Quality of Care at the Health Technology Center in San Francisco. He earned his PhD in Health Care Systems in 1992, with an emphasis on management systems for quality care. His dissertation, “A Theory of Congestion in General Hospitals,” was completed under the direction of William P. Pierskalla, PhD.
• Mary (Kate) Bundorf
  • Mary (Kate) Bundorf, PhD, MBA, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Health Services Research, Department of Health Research and Policy , Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Bundorf received her PhD in health Care Systems in 2000. Drs. Mark Pauly and Patricia Danzon supervised her dissertation, “Employee Demand for Health Insurance and Employer Health Benefit Choices,”
• Li-Wei Chao
  • Li-Wei Chao, MD, PhD is Assistant Professor of anesthesia at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an economist for the Center for Outcomes Research, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Chao received his PhD from the university of Pennsylvania in 2002. The most recent project that Dr. Chao will lead is a cost effectiveness analysis of HAART in public health clinics in the Western Cape, South Africa.
• Robert A. Connor
  • Robert A. Connor, PhD, MHA is Associate Professor in the Department of Healthcare Management at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. He developed and taught one of the first graduate level courses on the medical device industry in the U.S. and is currently developing a new course on the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Connor received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1990.
• Robert A. DeGraaff
  • Robert A. DeGraaff, MBA is presently Director of Graduate Programs in Health Services Management in the Department of Health Management and Informatics, School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia. He has an MBA (1990) from the Wharton School with a major in Health Care Systems.
• Andrew J. Epstein
  • Andrew J. Epstein, MPP is in his fifth year in the doctoral program in Health Care Systems. Andrew has a BA in Computer Science magna cum laude from Amherst College and an MPP in Health Policy from the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. He is working with Professors Patricia Danzon and Sean Nicholson, studying the effects of mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry on firm performance.
• José J. Escarce
  • José J. Escarce, MD, PhD is Professor of Medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Senior Natural Scientist at RAND. His research has focused on provider and patient behavior in response to economic incentives, health care utilization and expenditures, medical technology adoption, managed care and quality, and racial and ethnic disparities in health care. He received his PhD in Health Care Systems in 1995.
• Stephen D. Flach
  • Stephen D. Flach, MD, PhD is Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa College of Medicine and Public Policy Center, Iowa City, Iowa. Dr. Flach has conducted research on perceptions of cost-effectiveness for treating dysuria and multivariate prediction rule for classifying pleural effusions. Dr. Flach received a PhD from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 2000.
• Michael F. Furukawa
  • Michael F. Furukawa, MS has research interests that include pharmaceuticals, health care information technology, and technological change in medical care. Michael graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering in 1990 and an MS in Health Systems Engineering and Certificate in Management of Technology in 1997.
• Gilbert Gimm
  • Gilbert Gimm, MBA, MSc is a fourth year doctoral student, currently working as a research assistant with Professor Rob Burns, investigating the relationship between hospital integration and financial performance. Gilbert completed his MBA in Health Care Management from the Wharton School in 1999.
• Bradley J. Herring
  • Bradley J. Herring, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. Dr. Herring’s research focuses on a number of economic and public policy issues related to private health insurance and the uninsured. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000.
• James P. Highland
  • James P. Highland, PhD, MHSA is President of Compass Health Analytics, Inc., in Portland, Maine. Dr. Highland’s research in the financial aspects of health care delivery, insurance and managed care has emphasized payment systems and incentives, risk bearing, and investment decisions. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1995.
• Sarah Kent
  • Sarah Kent, MD is a joint degree candidate in Penn’s MD/PhD program, and has completed her medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Her research interests include: resource allocation incorporating economic and medical criteria; for-profit vs. non-profit provider models; graduate medical education; and outcomes research. Dr. Kent is currently a Resident in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
• Ki-Taig Jung
  • Ki-Taig Jung, PhD is Chairman of the Department of Health Services Management and Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea. A recent research project of his is entitled “Developing Strategies for the Korean Hospitals in Response to a Globalized Medical Market.” He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1992.
• Amy C. Justice
  • Amy C. Justice, MD, PhD is a Staff Physician at the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine and Public Health. She received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1996.
• Joseph J. Kerstein
  • Joseph J. Kerstein, PhD is the Eli and Claire Mason Professor of Accountancy and Chairman of the Department of Accountancy at Baruch College, City University of New York. Currently, Dr. Kerstein is involved in research that examines market efficiency at recognizing earnings management from discretionary working capital accruals. Dr. Kerstein received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1990.
• Jonathan Ketcham
  • Jonathan Ketcham, PhD i s a visiting economist at the University of California, Berkeley, through the Robert Wood Johnson Scholars in Health Policy Program. Dr. Ketcham’s research focuses mainly on the organization of healthcare markets and how the roles of regulation and competition in those markets affect prices, costs, and quality. He completed his doctorate in the Health Care Management Department in 2002.
• Raynard S. Kington
  • Raynard S. Kington, MD, PhD was appointed Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in February 2003. He attended the University of Pennsylvania as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, earning his MBA and PhD in Health Policy and Economics at Penn’s Wharton School.
• Soonman Kwon
  • Soonman Kwon, PhD, MPH is Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at Seoul National University in Korea. He received his PhD from the Wharton School. Dr. Kwon’s major areas of interest and publications are in industrial organization of health care and comparative health care policy.
• Jeffrey S. McCullough
  • Jeffrey S. McCullough, AB focuses on the innovation and diffusion of new technologies in health care. His dissertation is entitled “The adoption and value of information technology: a dynamic structural model of technology adoption in the market for hospital software applications.” Prior to his enrollment in the program, Jeffrey earned an AB in Biochemistry, cum laude, from Harvard College.
• Allison M. Percy
  • Allison M. Percy, PhD currently holds the position of Principal Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, D.C., conducting long-term studies covering all aspects of health care provided by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Dr. Percy received her PhD from the Wharton school in 2000.
• Scott D. Ramsey
  • Scott D. Ramsey, MD, PhD i s an Associate Member of the Cancer Prevention Program, Division of Public Health Science, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington. Dr. Ramsey’s areas of interest include cost-effectiveness analysis as a part of clinical trials, health services research evaluations of genetic screening technologies, and population monitoring of cancer care services. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department, in 1994.
• Kimberly J. Rask
  • Kimberly J. Rask, MD, PhD is Director of the Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality. She is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management in the Rollins School of Public Health. Dr. Rask received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1991.
• Jeffrey H. Silber
  • Jeffrey H. Silber, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology and Health Care Systems at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School. Dr. Silber’s research interests are in the measurement of quality of care, clinical economics, medical decision-making, and statistical modeling of outcomes. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1990.
• David K. Song
  • David K. Song, BS is a MD/PhD candidate at the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. David is currently conducting research with Professors Pauly and Howard Kunreuther on bounded rationality and catastrophic insurance. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University with a BS in Economics and Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry in 1997.
• R. Lawrence Van Horn
  • R. Lawrence Van Horn, PhD, MBA, MPH is Assistant Professor of Economics and Management and Area Coordinator for Health Care Programs, William Simon School of Business, University of Rochester. Dr. Van Horn’s current research focuses on not-for-profit CEO compensation, earnings management by not-for-profit hospitals, what not-for-profit hospitals do when they have budget surpluses and the value of not-for-profit hospitals to investors. Dr. Van Horn received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1996.
• John A. Vernon
  • John A. Vernon, PhD is currently an Assistant Professor of finance and healthcare management in the Department of Finance at the University of Connecticut, where he teaches health policy, corporate finance, and investments on the undergraduate and graduate levels. He received his PhD from the Health Care Management Department, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 2003.
• Stephen L. Walston
  • Stephen L. Walston, PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Public and Environmental Science (SPEA), Indiana University. He is also Director of Graduate Programs in Health Administration, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, Adjunct Professor in the Kelly School of Business, and System Faculty Chair. Dr. Walston earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1997. Yize
• Richard Wang
  • Richard Wang, MD, PhD is Director of Health Services Research and Policy Analysis at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals in Wilmington, Delaware. He is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wang received his PhD in health economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
• Jacqueline S. Zinn
  • Jacqueline S. Zinn, PhD is Professor, Department of Risk, Insurance and Health Care Management, School of Business and Management, Temple University. Dr. Zinn’s research is mainly focused on the variations in nursing home clinical practice related to both market and organizational characteristics. Dr. Zinn completed her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Health Care Management Department in 1991.