Joachim O. Hero is a policy researcher at RAND specializing in health care and public health in the U.S. and abroad. He uses a range of research methods—including survey research, evidence review, qualitative analysis, and policy evaluation—to address issues such as health insurance, patient decisionmaking, quality of care, patient safety, and implementation science. He has extensive experience studying health care issues in Medicare, in the individual marketplace, and within the U.S. military, including the areas of patient safety, quality, and access to care. Hero has led and published several large-scale evidence reviews in topics in health care and public health, including a large-scale, periodically updated scoping review on the health effects of the 9/11 attacks for the World Trade Center Health Program, a systematic review on the effectiveness of health care implementation strategies for the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and a review of positive and adverse childhood experiences for the American Public Health Association. Hero is recognized in the application of advanced evidence review methods, including network meta-analysis and the use of automation in reviews.
Before joining RAND, Hero was a research fellow at Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Institute, where he studied decisionmaking in the individual insurance market. He also served as a senior policy fellow at Connecticut Voices for Children. Hero holds a Ph.D. in health policy from Harvard University and an M.P.H. in health policy from Yale University.
Ph.D. in health policy, Harvard University; M.P.H. in health policy, Yale University; B.A. in political science, University of Michigan
