Ryan K. McBain is a policy researcher at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He focuses on the design and evaluation of health policies and programs meant to reach vulnerable populations—including those coping with mental health conditions, HIV/AIDS, homelessness, and poverty. To achieve this, McBain has utilized a wide range of methodologies, including econometric approaches for quasi-experimental analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and decision analytic models, as well as key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Internationally, McBain has worked with the World Bank, World Health Organization, Harvard University and Partners In Health, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti. McBain holds a D.Sc. and M.Sc. in global health with concentrations in health economics and policy analysis from Harvard University, as well as a B.A. in psychology from Gordon College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Selected Publications
McBain R, Eberhart N, Breslau J, Frank L, Burnam A, Kareddy V, Simmons M. , How to transform the U.S. mental health system: 15 evidence-based recommendations, , 2021
McBain R, Rose AJ, LaRochelle MR, "The U.S. opioid crisis: one disease, diverging tales," Preventive Medicine, 112, 2018
McBain R, Ashwood JS, Eberhart N, Montemayor C, Azhar GS., Evaluating cost savings associated with Los Angeles County's mental health full service partnerships, RAND, 2018
McBain R, Peterson L, Mahon N, Dully L, Noel B, Wroe E., "Impact and economic evaluation of a novel HIV service delivery model in rural Malawi," AIDS, 131, 2017
McBain R, Jerome G, Warsh J, Browning M, Mistry B, Faure P, Pierre C, Mugunga JC, Rhatigan J, Leandre F, Kaplan R., "Rethinking the cost of healthcare in low-resource settings," BMJ Global Health, 1, 2016
McBain R, Cantor J, Eberhart N., "Estimating psychiatric bed shortages in the U.S. ," JAMA Psychiatry, 2022
McBain R, Wickett E, Mugunga J, Beste J, Konwloh P, Mukherjee J, "The post-Ebola baby boom: a call for health systems strengthening.," Lancet, 388, 2016
McBain R, Cantor J, Bravata D, Whaley C., "Mental health service utlization rates among commercially insured adults in the US during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic," JAMA Health Forum, 59, 2023