Bio: Adam Oliver, Ph.D., a 2005-06 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, has been at the London School of Economics since 2001, where he is currently lecturer in health economics and policy in the Department of Social Policy, and senior research fellow and deputy director of LSE Health and Social Care, one of the largest research institutes in the health-related social sciences in Europe. He is a 1995-97 Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbusho) Research Scholar, founding chair of the Health Equity Network, founding coordinator of the Preference Elicitation Group, and a former coordinator of the European Health Policy Group. He is also founding co-editor of the journal, Health Economics, Policy and Law. Oliver has published widely in the areas of health equity, economic evaluation, risk and uncertainty, and the economics and policy of European health care reform. His current principal research interests focus on the interface between economics and political science in health care policy analysis. Oliver holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Newcastle and a master of science in health economics from the University of York.
Placement: Columbia University
Mentors: Lawrence Brown, Ph.D.; Sherry Glied, Ph.D.
Project: An Analysis of the Goals, Reforms and Performance of the Veterans Health Administration
Description: Adam Oliver sought to examine how the Veterans Health Administration (VHA)--the largest integrated public sector health care system in the U.S.--transformed from what was widely considered a poorly performing system into one that outperforms the rest of U.S. health care. He relied on a mix of different types of evidence, including previously published research, data from official sources, interviews, and feedback and comments from experts in the field.