Patricia Herman is an adjunct senior behavioral scientist at RAND, a codirector of the RAND Research Across Complementary and Integrative Health Institutions (REACH) Center, and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Her research centers on health economics, innovative care models, and overall quality of life. Herman is a methodologist, resource economist, and licensed naturopathic doctor. For more than 40 years, Herman has conducted policy and cost-effectiveness analyses concerning water rights, waste recycling, energy and water conservation, and health care.
Her cost-effectiveness projects include: nonpharmacologic therapies for chronic low-back pain; yoga and mindfulness-based stress reduction for low-back pain; tailored navigation for colorectal cancer screening; implementation support for evidence-based youth programs; and complementary therapies use in younger veterans with chronic pain.
Herman has written three books and taught more than 100 workshops on economic evaluation methods; published two systematic reviews of economic evaluations of complementary and integrative medicine; was an invited speaker on the economics of integrative medicine at the 2018 National Academies Workshop on the Role of Nonpharmacological Approaches to Pain Management; and gave the Stephen E. Straus Distinguished Lecture at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health 25th Anniversary Celebration on the Economic Impact of Whole Person Health. Other projects include improving measurement of the impact of chronic pain, using conjoint analysis to improve behavioral health in primary care, and estimating the impacts of a statewide smoking ban.
Herman earned her N.D. from Bastyr University and her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.
Ph.D. in psychology and research methods, University of Arizona; N.D. in naturopathic medicine, Bastyr University; M.S. in agricultural economics, Iowa State University
