MiCEHS Advisory Board

Introduction    Research Staff    Projects    Brown Bags    Grant Program

Member

Organization

Joel Cantor

Rutgers University

Center for State Health Policy

David Keer

(informal liaison)

Joel Cantor

Jcantor@cshp.rutgers.edu

Director
Center for State Health Policy
Professor, Department of Public Policy  

Dr. Cantor is the director of the Center for State Health Policy and professor of public policy at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers.  Prior to joining the Rutgers faculty in February 1999, Dr. Cantor served as Director of Research at the United Hospital Fund, an independent philanthropic and research organization working to improve health care for vulnerable populations in New York City.  Between 1987 and 1995, Dr. Cantor was a member of the research staff of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Throughout his professional career Dr. Cantor has focused on issues of health care financing and delivery at the state level.  His recent work includes studies of the effect of health care market competition on access to care, the impact of Medicaid managed care on health care providers, the organization of the health care safety net for the uninsured, and the role of minority physicians in improving access to care of underserved populations.  Dr. Cantor has published widely on health policy topics and serves on the editorial board of the policy journal Inquiry.  Dr. Cantor received his doctorate in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1988 and holds a BA in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  In 1996, Dr. Cantor was elected a Fellow of the Association for Health Services Research. 

George Kaplan

gkaplan@umich.edu

Chair, Department of Epidemiology

Senior Research Scientist, Institute for Social Research

Director, Michigan Initiative on Inequalities

Dr. Kaplan is Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health, Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Social Research, and Director of the Michigan Initiative on Inequalities in Health.  He is also a Docent at the University of Kuopio in Finland and an Associate in the Population Health Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.  He was formerly Chief of the Human Population Laboratory and directed the ongoing Alameda County Study.  Upon arriving at the University of Michigan, Professor Kaplan initiated the Michigan Initiative on Inequalities in Health (MIIH).  The MIIH is a cross campus initiative with an expanding agenda that will eventually involve all segments of the University community.  Dr. Kaplan is also Director of the Michigan Interdisciplinary Center on Social Inequalities, Mind, and Body (MICSIMB).

Dr. Kaplan has published over 130 papers on the role of behavioral, social, psychological, and socioeconomic factors in disease prevention and health promotion. A major theme in his work is the role of "upstream" and "downstream" factors in maintaining health, delaying disease, and improving function.  Recent studies by Kaplan and his colleagues have detailed the cumulative cost of socioeconomic disadvantage on health and functional outcomes in the elderly, and the role of equity in the distribution of income on the overall health of populations.

Judith Kasper

jkasper@jhsph.edu

Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management

Dr. Kasper is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the School of Hygiene and Public Health of The Johns Hopkins University, and a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Health Services Research and Development.  Dr. Kasper joined the Department in 1987, having previously served as Senior Analyst in the Office of Research of the Health Care Financing Administration (1983-87), and as Senior Researcher at the National Center for Health Services Research, now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (1977-83).

Dr. Kasper's research and teaching interests include health policy in disability and long-term care; assessment of needs for care and service provision to physically and mentally disabled people; health care financing and access for vulnerable populations; and the development and application of data sources for health policy analysis and health services research.  She has published in numerous journals in the fields of health policy, health service research, and aging. 

Currently Dr. Kasper is Principal or co-Principal Investigator on several studies of vulnerable elderly people.  These include:  the Women's Health and Aging Study (WHAS). She also has conducted research  on disability and associated service needs and utilization.  She is a co-investigator in the Center for Research on Services for Severe Mental Illness, and the Public Engagement Campaign on Chronic Illness. She was co-investigator on the Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (AHRQ funding) and is currently a consultant on the Disability Evaluation Study being conducted by the Social Security Administration.  She was a member of the research teams that developed and implemented the 1977 National Medical Care Expenditure Survey (now the MEPS conducted by AHRQ), and the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (conducted by HCFA).  She is a member of The Association for Health Services Research, the Gerontological Society of America, and the American Public Health Association, where she has served as Section Council member, Program Chair and APHA Governing Board Representative of the Gerontological Health Section.  Dr. Kasper has served on numerous advisory panels and committees for government agencies, foundations, and research projects at other universities.  From 1993-96 she served on the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, advisory to the Secretary of DHHS on health data needs, and chaired the Subcommittee on Disability and Long-term Care Statistics.  She currently serves on the Steering Committee for Development of a Nursing Home Quality Report Card for the state of Maryland.

Dr. Kasper holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago.

Peter Kemper

pkemper@hschange.com

Vice President  

Center for Studying Health System Change

Dr. Kemper has been principal investigator of the Community Tracking Study since HSC’s inception. A commissioner on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, he is a nationally recognized expert on care of the elderly and the effects of managed care. He was formerly director of the long-term care division of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (formerly AHCPR) and director of the Madison, WI, office of Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. 

James R. Knickman

Jknickman@RWJF.org

Vice President

Research and Evaluation

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Dr. Knickman is vice president for research and evaluation at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Prior to joining the Foundation in October 1992, he was a professor of health administration at New York University's Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.  He has published extensively on a range of health care issues and done research on insurance markets and health care reimbursement systems, with particular attention to long-term care services.  He also has written about methods for improving health services for urban, vulnerable populations such as the homeless, the frail elderly, and individuals with HIV illness. Dr. Knickman has served on a range of state government, local government, and health care sector advisory committees and has offered consultation to numerous health sector organizations.  Currently, he serves on the board of trustees of the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.  He received his doctorate in public policy analysis from the University of Pennsylvania and did undergraduate work at Fordham University.  

Pamela Farley Short

Pxs46@psu.edu

Director, Center for Health Policy Research

Professor, Health Policy and Administration

Dr. Short is the Director of Center for Health Policy Research and a professor of health policy and administration.  Dr. Short received her PhD in Economics from Yale University.  Dr Shorts’ research interests include consumer choice of health insurance plans; Medicaid managed care; dynamics of health insurance coverage; public policies governing the organization and financing of health insurance and health care.  Her teaching interests are in research methods and managed care.  

Gail Wilensky

Gwilensky@Projecthope.org

Project Hope, Center for Health Affairs

Dr. Gail Wilensky is the John M. Olin Senior Fellow at Project HOPE, an international health foundation, and Chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). She is a nationally recognized expert on health policy and financing issues.  As deputy assistant to the President for policy development in the Bush Administration, she spearheaded major efforts to reform the nation's health care and welfare systems.  She was the Administration's chief spokesperson on both issues and was highly regarded by members of both political parties.  Dr. Wilensky has published a book and over 90 articles on health economics and policies and has spoken to hundreds of professional, business, and consumer groups.  She has been on numerous television and radio programs, including NBC's Today, ABC's Good Morning America, CBS's Morning News, CNN's Newsmaker Sunday, The Dallas Morning News, and National Public Radio.

David Keer

David_Keer@ed.gov