Faculty

DANIEL ALTCHEK

Daniel Altchek serves at Principal Attorney at Law at Miles & Stockbridge representing private and public sector employers in a wide variety of industries in both traditional labor and employment law matters. Dan’s traditional labor experience includes the representation of unionized employers in grievance arbitrations, collective bargaining, contract administration, and proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board.  Dan also represents employers in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies in cases involving discrimination claims, wage and hour issues, benefits issues, and contract and tort claims.  Dan counsels clients regarding compliance with fair employment statutes and wage and hour laws, issues involving compensation and benefits, hiring, discipline and termination of employment, and implications of organizational change in both unionized and non-unionized workplaces.

Prior to joining Miles & Stockbridge, Dan was a member of the Labor & Employment Department of the New York firm of Proskauer Rose LLP, where he was Co-Chair of the firm’s Public Sector Practice.

Donald L. Ashkenase

Donald L. Ashkenase, MHA, came to Montefiore Medical Center in 1987 as the Chief Financial Officer. He went on to become the Executive Vice President—Corporate, a position he held for over 22 years. Mr. Ashkenase has been the Special Advisor to the President at Montefiore for the last seven years. Prior to Montefiore, he served as Chief Financial Officer at Long Island Jewish Medical Center (now part of Northwell Health) and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. For the past nineteen years he has been Chairman of the Board of HealthFirst, which is a provider-owned, $8.7 billion, not-for-profit insurance company with over 1.1 million members. He is on the Board of the Primary Care Development Corporation as well as UJA-Federation. He has taught at Columbia University since 1978 and teaches in their Executive Masters in Public Health and Health Administration program at the Mailman School of Public Health. Mr. Ashkenase is a graduate of Brooklyn College and served four years in the United States Air Force as a hospital administrator. Mr. Ashkenase later received his master’s in Hospital Administration from Wagner College. 

George Barrett

George Barrett is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Cardinal Health, a role he held from August 2009 through end-2017, when he became executive chairman of the board until November 2018. Previously, Barrett was president and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical's North American business and corporate executive vice president for global pharmaceuticals. Barrett serves on the boards of Target Corporation, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Brown University and Children's Hospitals' Solutions for Patient Safety. He is vice chair of the board of trustees of The Conference Board. Additionally, he serves on the National Academy of Medicine's President's Advisory Council on Healthy Longevity and the Academy's Health Professional Education and Training Working Group of the Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic. Barrett is also an advisory member of the United States Tennis Association Player Development Champions Council.  He is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Peter G. Peterson Business Statesmanship Award from the Committee for Economic Development. Barrett earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University in 1977 and an MBA from New York University in 1988. Barrett also received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Long Island University's Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the Columbus College of Art & Design.

RUSSELL BRANZELL

Russell P. Branzell is the CEO and president of the College of Healthcare Information Executives (CHIME) and its affiliate associations: the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security (AEHIS), the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Technology (AEHIT) and the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Applications (AEHIA).

Prior to joining CHIME as president and CEO in April 2013, Branzell served as CEO of the Colorado Health Medical Group.  Prior to that, he was the vice president of information services and CIO at Poudre Valley Health System and the president/CEO of Innovation Enterprises (PVHS’ for-profit information services entity). Before joining PVHS, Branzell was the regional deputy CIO and executive director of information services for Sisters of Mercy Health System in St. Louis, Mo. Branzell served on active duty in the United States Air Force and retired from the Air Force Reserves in 2008. While on active duty, he served in numerous healthcare administration positions, including CIO for the Air Mobility Command Surgeon General’s Office. In 1996, he was selected for the Air Force Medical Service Fellowship program and completed a CIO internship at the Unity Health System in St. Louis.

A native of San Antonio, Branzell earned an undergraduate degree in business administration, specializing in human resource management and labor relations, from the University of Texas. In addition, he earned a master’s degree in aerospace science from Embry-Riddle University with an emphasis in management.

sorcha a. brophy

Dr. Brophy is an organizational sociologist who explores the challenges organizations face as they create ethics policies. Her current research agenda focuses on politics within professional medical associations and on global health worker protests. Dr. Brophy is also conducting research on state politics around the provision of health care for foster youth. Her work has been published in management, policy, and sociology outlets including the Journal of Professions and Organization, Health Affairs, Sociology of Religion, and the Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law.

FRAN CARACAPPA

Fran Caracappa, MBA, MPH, CPA, CGMA, CFE, is the Vice President, Finance and Controller of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. In this role, Ms. Caracappa oversees the financial operations of the Medical Center, managing internal and external financial reporting, internal controls and compliance and business process effectiveness. Ms. Caracappa is a New York State Certified Public Accountant and holds a Masters in Accounting from Long Island University as well as a Masters in Public Health from the Mailman School at Columbia University. She started her accounting career at Ernst & Young, primarily in the Healthcare/ Not for Profit Practice. It was from E&Y that Ms. Caracappa joined Montefiore Medical Center, first as their Affiliation Director at NYC Health+ Hospitals/North Central Bronx. She was then recruited to the position of Chief Financial Officer for what was then over 30 ambulatory care sites run by Montefiore. After Montefiore, Ms. Caracappa continued her career in ambulatory care as the Director of Finance for New York University’s Faculty Practice and NYC Health+ Hospitals Affiliates, then later became the Controller of the School of Medicine.

Frank Cino

Frank Cino, MPH, CPA, is the Senior Vice President, Chief Risk Officer, at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. At Mount Sinai, Frank is responsible for managing the audit and compliance services functions with a focus on mitigating business risks, achieving company performance objectives and sustaining operational improvement. Prior to joining Mount Sinai in 2001, Frank spent sixteen years with the international accounting firm of Ernst & Young, LLP, primarily focusing on hospitals and health care-related client services. In addition, Frank served as the Vice President and Controller of United Wisconsin Services, Inc., a publicly traded managed care organization headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Frank was a Trustee and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Senior Health Partners, Inc., an affiliate of Mount Sinai, until its sale by Mount Sinai in 2010, and is a board member of Princeton Tigers Aquatics Club. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from New York University and his master’s degree in health care management from Columbia University.

CHELSEA CLINTON

Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, works alongside her parents, President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, to drive the vision and work of the Clinton Foundation. Over the past 13 years, the Foundation has built partnerships with great purpose among governments, businesses, NGOs, and individuals everywhere to strengthen health systems in developing countries, fight climate change, expand economic opportunity in Africa, Latin America, and the United States, increase opportunity for women and girls around the world, and help Americans live healthier lives. Additionally, Clinton Global Initiative members have made more than 2,800 Commitments to Action to improve more than 430 million lives in more than 180 countries. Chelsea's work at the Clinton Foundation emphasizes improving global and domestic health, creating service opportunities, and empowering the next generation of leaders. Chelsea focuses especially on the Foundation's health programs, including the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which strengthens health care and access to lifesaving services in the developing world; the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which fights childhood obesity in the United States; and the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, which addresses preventable disease in the United States. She also continues to lead the Clinton Foundation Day of Action program, which identifies and organizes meaningful service opportunities for Foundation staff, friends, and partners and for the wider Foundation community. To help advance the full participation of women and girls around the world, Chelsea and Secretary Clinton, co-lead the Foundation's newest initiative, No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project. As one of the strongest champions of the Clinton Global Initiative University, Chelsea works to empower the next generation of change makers to take action on some of the world's most urgent challenges. Chelsea previously worked at McKinsey & Company and Avenue Capital. Chelsea also serves on the boards of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the School of American Ballet, the Africa Center and the Weill Cornell Medical College. She is the Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Of Many Institute at NYU. Chelsea holds a B.A. from Stanford, a MPhil from Oxford, a MPH from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, and a Doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University. She, her husband Marc and their daughter Charlotte live in New York City.

Meghan fitzgerald

Meghan Fitzgerald serves as an Operating Partner at L1 Health LLC, Private Equity. With $2.5 billion of capital under management, L1 Health is the healthcare investment vehicle of LetterOne focused on long-term value creation. Prior to this Meghan was the EVP of Strategy, M&A and Health Policy at Cardinal Health and a member of the executive committee. Prior to this role she was the president of Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions, a specialty healthcare business that offers services for healthcare providers, payers, and pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Specialty Solutions is one of the fastest growing businesses at Cardinal Health. Prior to joining Cardinal Health, FitzGerald was senior vice president of New Markets International Division and Business Development at Medco Health Solutions, Inc., where she was responsible for leading business development efforts in the United States and internationally. She previously held positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals, where she supported business strategies and operations, including the implementation of ten-year lifecycle plans for various pharmaceutical products such as Celebrex. FitzGerald has also held marketing positions at Merck and Sanofi-Synthelabo. She is a member of the board of directors for SeniorLink, an innovative proven model of in home care for elders, Concert Pharmaceuticals and GELESIS which will be launching a novel product for obesity. She a member of the World Economic Forumal Global Agenda Council on Ageing and recently co-authored Longevity in the Workplace: 60 is the new 40. Recognized as global healthcare operator and strategist, FitzGerald has worked in almost every sector of healthcare and is an expert speaker on topics such as specialty healthcare; healthcare policy and reform; and women in executive leadership. She authored a ground-breaking study on the health of executive women in the Fortune 500 which was featured in a Harvard Business Review article, The More Women Earn, the Less Healthy They Feel.

Howard steven Friedman

Howard Steven Friedman is a data scientist, health economist and writer. He has decades of experience in the public sector, private sector and academia. Friedman earned a Masters in Statistics and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Friedman took a position as a director at Capital One where he led teams of data scientists, statisticians, analysts and programmers in various areas of operations and marketing. He later formed private companies that provided consulting services in areas of designing, developing and modeling data as well as led analytics projects in the public sector. He has authored/co-authored about 100 scientific articles and book chapters in areas of data science, applied statistics, health economics and politics. His book Measure of a Nation (2012) was named by Jared Diamond as the best book of the year in an interview published in the New York Times.  His most recent release, Ultimate Price, has been covered by major media including National Public Radio and the journal Science and is being translated into a number of foreign languages.

Catherine Foster

Catherine Foster is on the Board of Trustees at Northwell Health System where she also serves on their quality and credentials committees. Ms. Foster was a senior executive at American Express where she led marketing, business development and strateic planning for various divisions. 

Arthur Gianelli

Arthur Gianelli, MBA, MPH, is President of Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, one of seven hospitals that comprise the Mount Sinai Health System, which is located in New York City, New York.  He is also President of the Mount Sinai Performing Provider System, an organization of more than 200 distinct health care providers and community based organizations committed to coordinating care for Medicaid beneficiaries with the goals of lowering the cost of care while improving patient outcomes.  And, Mr. Gianelli is a Special Advisor to the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System for Medicaid Strategy.  Mr. Gianelli has been with the Mount Sinai Health System since February of 2014. From 2006 through 2014, Mr. Gianelli served as President and Chief Executive Officer of NuHealth, a public benefit corporation based in Nassau County, New York, that runs the Nassau University Medical Center and a nursing home and co-operates the Long Island FQHC, Inc.  Under Mr. Gianelli's leadership, NuHealth earned accolades for stabilizing its finances, improving quality of care and patient outcomes, and soundly investing more than $200 million dollars in modernizing and expanding its services and facilities. Prior to joining NuHealth, Mr. Gianelli held senior executive positions over a 10-year period for two local governments on Long Island. He was Deputy County Executive for Budget and Finance for Nassau County, and Director of Operations for the Town of North Hempstead.  He was responsible for shepherding major fiscal turnarounds in both municipalities. Mr. Gianelli currently serves on the Board of Directors of Island Harvest, the Citizens Budget Commission of New York, Health Leads, HealthIx, the Mount Sinai Health Partners IPA, and Regional Policy Board 2 of the American Hospital Association. He has previously served on the Executive Committees of Healthfirst and America’s Essential Hospitals (formerly the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems).  He has earned numerous professional, civic, and teaching awards. Mr. Gianelli earned a bachelor’s degree in History from St. John's University, a Master of Arts in Political Science from Brown University, a Master in Business Administration from Dowling College, and a Master in Public Health from Columbia University. Mr. Gianelli teaches hospital management and hospital operations to graduate students at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  He has taught classes previously at St. John’s University, Dowling College, St. Joseph’s College, and Hofstra University.

Tamar Halpern

Dr. Tamar Halpern practices exclusively in the development and coordination of the scientific defense of pharmaceutical products liability litigation.

yulia kogan

Yulia Kogan, MBA, MPH has been working in the Health Information Technology (HIT) sector for nearly two decades. In her role as the Information Technology Director of the Population Health Informatics Department of Northwell Health, Ms. Kogan spearheads teams and initiatives, improving Population Health outcomes through digital transformation. Ms. Kogan’s past accomplishments include numerous DSRIP HIT initiatives implementation at the Northwell Hub of Nassau Queens PPS and Suffolk Care Collaborative. Prior to joining Northwell, serving as the Executive HIT Director, she led the establishment of national platform in Israel for remote disease management focusing first on the Heart Failure disease. Numerous other diseases are currently managed in Israel using the model Ms. Kogan developed. Ms. Kogan holds two masters degrees, a Masters of Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Hi-Tech Management from Ben Gurion University.

YUNA S.H. LEE

Yuna S.H. Lee, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management. Her research focuses on how health care organizations can foster creativity and innovation from clinicians, staff, and patients to promote better patient and employee experiences and improved performance. She has received national recognition for her work, including awards from the Academy of Management, AcademyHealth, Industry Studies Association, and Emerald Publishing. She is a member of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) research team and a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. At the Columbia Mailman School, Dr. Lee teaches Managerial and Organizational Behavior to graduate students and executives in the Masters of Health Administration program. She is the inaugural recipient of the School's Judson Wolfe Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Lee holds a MPH in Healthcare Management and a PhD in Health Policy and Management, with a concentration in Organizational Theory and Management, both from Yale University. Prior to academia, she managed special projects for the Executive Deputy Commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and has experience working in public health departments, academic medical centers, consultancies and research thinks tanks, in New York City and internationally.

Donna Lynne

Donna Lynne, DrPH, MPA, is currently the President of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Colorado Region. From 1998 to April 2005, Dr. Lynne was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Group Health Incorporated, a $2.5 billion managed care organization. In the mid-1990s, she was also the Executive Director of the New York Business Group on Health. Dr. Lynne spent 20 years in various positions in New York City government, including First Deputy Commissioner, Office of Labor Relations; Director, Mayor’s Office of Operations; and Senior Vice President, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

Dr. Lynne is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Health Policy and Management at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She holds the designation of Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans/University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. She is also active and on the board of a number of Colorado non-profit and community organizations.

allen miller

Allen Miller is the Principal and CEO of COPE Health Solutions. With over 25 years of experience providing health system and payor value-based payment strategy and transformation consulting services, Allen has led the planning and implementation of IDNs, IPAs, and ACOs throughout the U.S. More recently, he has been focused on facilitating and implementing long-term payor/provider partnerships that go beyond the typical capitation and global risk models. These innovative collaborations are focused on reducing total cost of care and improving the total premium and other revenue needed to fund profitability and ongoing infrastructure investment. Under Allen’s leadership, COPE Health Solutions and its subsidiary Analytics for Risk Contracting (ARC) LLC have become the preeminent go-to solutions companies for health systems and health plans committed to leadership roles in population health management for all lines of business. Allen and his team are consistently on the cutting edge of work to implement new health care policy, including federal demonstrations and state waivers across the country, by partnering with providers and payors to transform fragmented, acute care “un-systems” of delivery into coordinated systems of care focused on improving the health of populations, while enhancing efficiency and aligning financial incentives. A graduate of UCLA, both for his Bachelors of Science and his Masters of Public Health in Health Services, Allen also completed an intensive on International Business at Oxford University in England. Allen has served in numerous volunteer roles, which include: four years as an orthopedic consultant and trainer at Venice Family Clinic; a team member of the UCLA Medical Relief Team to Albania during the Kosovo War in 1998-99; and a member of a medical and dental relief group for the under-served in Tecate, Mexico. Allen also has extensive teaching and lecturing experience, most notably as a former faculty member teaching orthopedics for the American Academy of Family Physicians and the California Academy of Family Physicians. Allen currently serves on the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles Board of Directors and sits on the Advisory Boards for The Health Forum at UCLA, Health Career Connection, and the UCLA School of Public Health Department of Health Services.

Peter Muennig

Peter Muennig, MD, MPH, focuses his research on reducing socioeconomic disparities through more efficient use of societal resources, providing policymakers with strong and informative evidence upon which to make decisions, and novel scientific approaches to understanding the mechanisms underlying disparities. This interest has led to work in cost-effectiveness analyses, which he uses to explore issues related to the health system, immigrant health, and post-secondary education. It has also led to the study of small area analysis as a policy tool, ways of improving cost-effectiveness methodology, and more recently, interdisciplinary approaches to examining the biological mechanisms linking poverty to morbidity and mortality. Prior to joining the Mailman School faculty, Dr. Muennig was an assistant professor at the Medical School of the City University of New York. He also directed the Program in Cost-Effectiveness and Outcomes at New School University and consulted for Health Canada and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Muennig has published numerous studies in the medical literature, has authored a textbook on cost-effectiveness analysis, and has contributed to academic publications and governmental reports.

Matthew Neidell

Matthew Neidell, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. His research focuses on the intersections between environmental, health and labor economics, with his most recent work examining how the environment affects a wide range of measures of well-being, including worker productivity, human capital, and decision making. Dr. Neidell has published extensively in both economics and health science journals, including American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Literature, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Health Economics, the Journal of Human Resources, Health Affairs, and the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. Neidell is currently a co-editor at the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Professor Neidell also plays an active role in policy, having served on the Institute of Medicine’s “Advancing Oral Health in America” Report and various ad hoc roles within the Environmental Protection Agency.

errol l. pierre

Errol L. Pierre is a business executive, leadership coach, healthcare strategist, public speaker, professor, and writer. For the past 17 years, he has relentlessly pursued health equity, while helping others reach their personal and professional aspirations. He has worked at the largest for-profit and non-profit health plans in New York, taught and given guest lectures at ivy league institutions, and has spoken all over the world as a healthcare thought leader. Errol graduated from Fordham University with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and a master's degree in Health Policy and Financial Management from New York University. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Zicklin School of Business as Baruch College focusing on health economics. Errol is also an adjunct professor at Molloy College teaching Health Economics in their Healthcare MBA program. He is a board member of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, MediNova New York, and the One Hundred Black Men. As a Fordham University alum, he is a member of the President's Council and serves on their athletic advisory committee. While he’s been recognized by many non-profits and business organizations for the work he’s done in the community, the award he is proudest of is his dad's smile at Errol’s NYU graduation. As a Haitian immigrant, seeing Errol graduate made one of his dreams come true.

david rosenthal

David Rosenthal, PhD, is the Director of Behavior Science for Columbia University’s Center for Family and Community Medicine. He is also a faculty member at the Mailman School of Public Health where he teaches Managing Public Health Nonprofits. For 23 years, Dr. Rosenthal was a faculty member at the University of Iowa, teaching in the Colleges of Medicine, Public Health, and Education. He was named Teacher of the Year by residents in the Department of Family Medicine and was given the College of Medicine Service Award. He was also the Director of Counseling and Health Promotion Services at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Later he became the Director of La Bodega de La Familia and served as the Executive Director of the Lower Eastside Harm Reduction Center in New York City.

Dr. Rosenthal is a licensed marriage and family therapist and has served as president of the Iowa Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. He has given more than 100 presentations in the United States and has conducted workshops in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Russia, and Greece. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of two non-profit organizations: Heritage Health and Housing and the Burmese Refugee Project, and he is helping create the Space in Tompkins Square Park, a program for transient young people. He has also participated as a member or board chair of other public health nonprofits, such as Iowa City Hospice, Iowa City Free Medical Clinic, & the Mid Eastern Council on Chemical Abuse.

John W. Rowe

John W. Rowe, MD, is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Previously, from 2000 until his retirement in late 2006, Dr. Rowe served as Chairman and CEO of Aetna, Inc., one of the nation’s leading health care and related benefits organizations. Before his tenure at Aetna, from 1998 to 2000, Dr. Rowe served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai NYU Health, one of the nation’s largest academic health care organizations. From 1988 to 1998, prior to the Mount Sinai-NYU Health merger, Dr. Rowe was President of the Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Before joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Rowe was a Professor of Medicine and the founding Director of the Division on Aging at the Harvard Medical School, as well as Chief of Gerontology at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital. He has authored over 200 scientific publications, mostly on the physiology of the aging process, including a leading textbook of geriatric medicine, in addition to more recent publications on health care policy. Dr. Rowe has received many honors and awards for his research and health policy efforts regarding care of the elderly. He was Director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Aging and is co-author, with Robert Kahn, Ph.D., of Successful Aging (Pantheon, 1998). Currently, Dr. Rowe leads the MacArthur Foundation’s Initiative on An Aging Society and chairs the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans. Dr. Rowe was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition, Dr. Rowe serves on the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation and is a former member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Dr. Rowe is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Connecticut and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Kai Ruggeri

Dr. Kai Ruggeri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy & Management. Dr. Ruggeri is the former director of the School’s GRAPH—Global Research Analytics for Population Health—program. He is also a lecturer in analytics for decision-making in Health Policy and Management. Kai joined Columbia from the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, where he directs the Policy Research Group that he founded in 2013. He studies how policy influences population behavior, and how integrating evidence into policies can improve economic outcomes and population well-being. His teaching is primarily in analytics and decision-making as well as behavioral and managerial economics.

Bhaven Sampat

Bhaven Sampat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He received a B.A., M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. (all in economics) from Columbia. Most of his research focuses on issues at the intersection of health policy and innovation policy. His current work includes (1) various empirical studies of drug and life science patent policy in the U.S. and developing countries (2) evaluating the validity of different approaches to measure science, innovation and science-technology linkages (3) examining whether and when science is self-correcting (4) assessing the impact of federal indirect cost recovery policy on the biomedical research enterprise. His previous work includes research on the political economy of the the NIH, patent examination and patent quality, and the roles of academic patenting in university-industry technology transfer.

ASHA SAXENA

Asha Saxena is a strategic, innovative leader with a proven track record of building successful businesses, a strong academic background, creative problem-solving skills, and an effective management style to communicate a clear vision and define specific goals to meet organization targets while sustaining revenue/profits. Asha has been instrumental in building business models for success.
Asha Saxena served as a CEO of Aculyst Inc a Healthcare Analytics Firm. Prior to that she also served as a President and CEO of Future Technologies, Inc. (FTI), an international Data Management and Analytics firm for 20 years . The firm specializes in providing Data Analytics Solutions focusing on Fortune 1000 companies in US. She also built an e-commerce company for 3000 dealers nationwide.

Ms. Saxena served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Columbia Business School and a faculty for Graduate Business Studies. Professor Saxena teaches healthcare consulting, entrepreneurship, Big Data and Data Analytics courses to MHA, MPA, MBA, MSE and EMBA students and is a keynote speaker on big data. Prof. Saxena graduated as a computer science engineer from Bangalore University in India and attended management programs at MIT and London Business School. In the area of operational excellence, Prof. Saxena is certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt professional. She started her professional career in a New York-based IT firm and has enjoyed challenging, diverse assignments in the financial services industry. Prof. Saxena was invited to be a part of the World Economic Forum where Future Technologies Inc. was named a "Global Growth Company 2007." Her entrepreneurial spirit has also enabled her to gain notable success as a restaurateur, real-estate developer, and movie studio producer. Asha's expertise in this space is also showcased in her monthly contributions to Entrepreneur Magazine. In addition to her entrepreneurial and educational success, Saxena has been an instrumental leader in the community by developing long-lasting relationships with numerous organizations (both profit and not-for-profit) through memberships, affiliations, and mentorships and has received awards for her personal and professional contributions.

Stephen Schwab

Stephen Schwab currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Brooke Army Medical Center, a level one trauma center and the Department of Defense’s largest hospital. He was previously the Chief Financial Officer for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the Department of Defense’s largest biomedical research laboratory. Stephen is an organizational health economist who has previously taught at Baylor University Department of Economics. His research centers around the impact of organizational structure and strategy on the cost and quality of care. Stephen studies the effects of discontinuity in primary care on patient utilization and outcomes. Stephen has a PhD in Managerial Science and Applied Economics from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and Master’s degrees in health and business administration from Baylor. He is also an active duty Army Lieutenant Colonel with over 20 years of professional and leadership experience. 

Michael S. Sparer

Michael S. Sparer, JD, PhD, is Professor and Chair in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Professor Sparer studies and writes about the politics of health care, with a particular emphasis on the health insurance and health delivery systems for low-and-middle income populations, both in the United States and globally.  His current projects include a study of the rise (and demise) of most of the non-profit insurance “cooperatives” created by the Affordable Care Act, an analysis of the cross-national politics of public health, and an examination of political and policy implications of permitting all Americans to buy-into Medicaid. He is a two-time winner of the Mailman School’s Student Government Association Teacher of the Year Award, the recipient of a 2010 Columbia University Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching, and the winner of the Core Curriculum Teaching Excellence Award. Professor Sparer spent seven years as a litigator for the New York City Law Department, specializing in inter-governmental social welfare litigation. After leaving the practice of law, Sparer obtained a PhD in Political Science from Brandeis University. Sparer is the former editor of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, and the author of Medicaid and the Limits of State Health Reform, as well as numerous articles and book chapters.  

Steven D. Stellman

Steven D. Stellman, PhD, MPH, is Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. His research interests include environmental and lifestyle causes of cancer, especially tobacco-related cancers and breast cancer, and the health of Vietnam veterans. He formerly served as Assistant Commissioner of Health for Biostatistics and Epidemiological Research for the New York City Department of Health, and as a designer and associate director of the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study 2 (CPS-2), a prospective study of more than one million American men and women. Dr. Stellman’s doctorate is in physical chemistry.

jeanne mager stellman

Jeanne Mager Stellman, PhD,  is devoted to occupational and environmental issues in public health, carrying out basic research and engaging in public education and policy formulation. With considerable expertise in Agent Orange and other military herbicides in Vietnam, she collaborated with Dr. Steven Stellman to develop a geographic information system for estimating herbicide exposures in Vietnam, work carried out under contract to the National Academy of Sciences and endorsed by the Institute of Medicine. Much of the underlying data and the conceptual framework were developed during her years of service as exposure consultant to the special master for the Agent Orange Veterans Payment Program. Dr. Stellman's work has appeared as a cover article in Nature. She also served as editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety, 4th edition, which is considered the foremost international reference in the field. Other research interests include issues in women's health, particularly occupational health and gender bias in research; sex roles and health; and organization of work and occupational health management. Dr. Stellman was editor of Women and Health, 1986 - 2004, and has authored numerous research papers, monographs, and three books. She has served in a variety of governmental and non-governmental advisory capacities, and is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Paul Thurman

Paul Thurman, a Columbia MBA valedictorian, service award winner, and multiple teaching award recipient, has extensive experience helping a variety of governments and corporations realize value from innovative leadership, operations, and technology strategies. Thurman teaches strategic management and data analysis at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, in the Department of Health Policy and Management, and has led the department's Non-Degree Executive Education Programs and its its Professional Development Program. Previously, he was a Healthcare Research Fellow, Professor, and MBA Director at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, and has held professorships in China, India, Brazil, Greece, Saudi Arabia, England, and Iceland. His recent peer-reviewed research has focused on scientific collaboration and its effect on research quality, and on cancer drug patents, FDA approvals, and market pricing. He is the author of MBA Fundamentals Statistics, (Kaplan, 2008), Pocket Guide to Data Analysis (Kaplan, 2009), and co-author (with Thomas P. Ference) of MBA Fundamentals Strategy (Kaplan, 2009) as well as lead editor and chapter author of Female Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Father-Daughter Succession in Family Businesses, and Entrepreneurship and Sustainability. Thurman served on the boards of the Greenburgh (NY) Nature Center, the Scarsdale (NY) Teen Center, and currently sits on advisory boards of a number of entrepreneurial ventures. He received his BS in Mathematics from Stanford University, studied statistics and operations research at New York University, received his MBA (with highest honors) from Columbia, and completed doctoral (DrPH) coursework in health policy and management at the State University of New York. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Business Administration degree (DBA) from Ecole des Ponts, in Paris, France.

HARRIET A. WASHINGTON

Harriet A. Washington is a science writer, editor and ethicist who has been a Research Fellow in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School, Visiting Fellow at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, a visiting scholar at DePaul University College of Law and a senior research scholar at the National Center for Bioethics at Tuskegee University. She also holds a degree in English literature from the University of Rochester and an MA in journalism from Columbia University. She is the author of Infectious Madness: The Surprising Science of How We "Catch" Mental Illness & Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Experimentation from Colonial Times to the Present. Harriet taught a Masterclass in Summer 2019 titled, “History, Race and Medical Ethics.”

Alan Weinberg

Alan Weinberg is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Health Evidence and Policy at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He was formerly a faculty member in the Departments of Surgery and Biostatistics at Columbia University and continues to teach "Biostatistics" for the Executive MPH program at Columbia University, which he has done since its inception. His statistical area of expertise is in Survival Analysis and Mixed Modeling for the analysis of repeated measurements. Other interests include the appropriate treatment of missing data. He uses these techniques primarily in the area of cardiovascular surgical trials analyzing outcomes such as survival, adverse events (with a particular interest in infections) and quality of life following a variety of surgical interventions which include organ transplantation, mitral valve surgery, biventricular pacing and the implantation of mechanical circulatory assist devices. Professor Weinberg participates in the design and analysis of Clinical Trials. He participated in the landmark NHLBI-sponsored REMATCH Clinical Trial investigating survival, infection and quality of life outcomes for patients receiving a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) for so called destination therapy.

He is currently involved in the NINDS-funded ARUBA trial, a randomized multicenter clinical trial exploring various interventions pertaining to unruptured brain AVMs (arteriovenous malformations). He is also exploring wound cure rates post treatment for diabetic foot and pressure ulcers, an important, growing and costly clinical problem. In addition to teaching Biostatistics, Professor Weinberg instructs courses in statistical computing using SAS software.

Jack Wheeler

Jack Wheeler, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health, where he served as chair from 1991-1997. During his term as chair, the department was recognized as the leading program in health administration education in the country. He was also Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases in the University of Michigan Medical School. He received his Ph.D. in Economics and Medical Care Organization from the University of Michigan in 1976 and the Bachelor of Science in finance and economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1970. Professor Wheeler has also held a faculty appointment in the Cornell University School of Business. He teaches finance in executive management programs at the University of Colorado at Denver, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Columbia University. He has taught in executive management programs internationally under the auspices of Johnson and Johnson, INSEAD, and Project Hope. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards. Professor Wheeler's research interests focus on optimal investment (capital expenditure) decisions by the health care firm, optimal financing decisions by the health care firm, and health care payment policy. His current projects include research to support improvements the in quality and efficiency of Medicare’s end-stage renal disease payment program.

John S. Winkleman

John S. Winkleman teaches Healthcare Marketing and is the director of the Consulting Practice as well as the Thomas P. Ference Health System Simulation. He is also a senior judge for the annual Healthcare Management and Delivery Case Challenge and faculty for Practicum Day. He is an adjunct faculty member at Fordham’s Center for Nonprofit Leaders, and he taught marketing and fundraising at Columbia Business School’s Institute for Not-for-Profit Management. John S. Winkleman founded Winkleman Company in 1990 after working in the public relations industry and in the administration of Clark University and as director of NYC’s Greenwich House Music School. Winkleman Company specializes in media relations, reputation management, speaker training, event orchestration, collateral development, public service outreach, brand marketing, strategic positioning and assessment.

He is a trustee of the Mount Sinai Hospital, chairs its Community Relations Committee and is a member of the Public Affairs & Marketing, Medical Education and Executive Committees. He also is a member of their Multicultural and Community Affairs Advisory Board and Community Advisory Board and on the Advisory Boards of CIVITAS and New Yorkers for Parks. John served on the board of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals NYC, was one of the founders and co-chairs of their National Philanthropy Day Celebration, and, a co-founder of the Conference on Sustainability in the Nonprofit Sector at Columbia. John received the 2008 United Hospital Fund Distinguished Trustee award, the 2009 Our Town Thanks You Entrepreneurship Award, 2011 CIVITAS tribute award and special recognition from the Mount Sinai Center for Excellence in Youth Education in 2012. Winkleman is recognized as an architectural artist, having had his work displayed in Tiffany & Company, in publications and galleries. He is the illustrator for the weekly “Crime Watch” in NYC newspapers as well as two published children’s books.