Jeffrey Wasserman Named New Vice President and Director of RAND Health

Jeffrey Wasserman, a health policy expert who has led efforts to strengthen the United States' preparedness for a major health event, has been named vice president and director of the health research division at the RAND Corporation, RAND President and CEO Michael D. Rich announced today.

“Jeffrey Wasserman will provide the leadership and vision necessary to guide and strengthen the important work done by RAND Health,” Rich said. “During this period of rapid change in the U.S. health care system, the work done by RAND health is important to helping the nation chart the right path forward.”

Wasserman is a longtime RAND researcher and a widely recognized expert on health policy issues. He has led efforts to create the National Health Security Strategy, a federal project to prepare the nation's health system to respond to large-scale incidents, such as a terrorist attack or a pandemic disease outbreak, that could pose a major threat to the public's health.

He was co-principal investigator of RAND's Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts (COMPARE) initiative, created to help evaluate health care reform proposals. The health system models created by that project are being used by many government agencies to help guide adoption of the federal Affordable Care Act.

He previously led projects related to tobacco control policy, public health entrepreneurship, the health benefits of better diagnostic tools in the developing world, veterans' health, and the relationship between law and public health emergency preparedness.

“I look forward to working with the RAND staff to sustain the quality of RAND's health research,” Wasserman said. “Health care in the United States is facing large issues, but health reform is providing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address those challenges. RAND Health has played, and will continue to play, a vital role as health reform moves forward.”

Wasserman will be based in RAND's Santa Monica office.

Wasserman received his bachelor's degree in political science and master's degree in public policy from the University of Rochester, and his doctorate in public policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He is a professor of public policy at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and has served as that institution's assistant dean for academic affairs.

RAND Health, a division of the RAND Corporation, is the nation's largest independent health policy research program, with a broad research portfolio that focuses on quality, costs and health services delivery, among other topics.