Health Policy & Management

One of the nation’s leading experts on Medicaid and other inter-governmental health insurance programs, as well as a committed and passionate educator, Michael Sparer, JD, PhD, professor of Health Policy and Management, was appointed chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management. Dr. Sparer brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this position including his background as a prolific researcher and writer examining federalism and social welfare policy, healthcare reform, and Medicaid.

Dr. Sparer began his career as a lawyer for New York City specializing in inter-governmental litigation in disputes between the City, State and Federal governments. He later returned to academia, receiving his PhD from Brandeis University in 1992.

The author of Medicaid and the Limits of State Health Reform, Dr. Sparer examined the extraordinary variation in the Medicaid program through the lens of a political scientist. Adding his voice to the debate on national health insurance, he recently argued in the New England Journal of Medicine that the most plausible and wisest path in the United States would be to combine an individual mandate with a Medicaid buy-in program.

For the last three years Dr. Sparer has served as the Editor of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law which is the leading journal for political scientists interested in the politics of healthcare. Through his role as Editor he has had an important impact on shaping the discipline, as well as guiding and mentoring the scholarship of young political and social scientists.

Dr. Sparer has been lauded for his skills in the classroom. He is a two-time winner of the school’s Student Government Association Teacher of the Year Award and was among the inaugural group of Mailman faculty elected to the Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy.

He has already served in leadership roles within the Department, most recently as the Director of the Executive MPH Program. This program provides experienced healthcare professionals with the skills, networks and credentials needed to obtain a high-level management position. Taking over the management of the program is Tom D'Aunno, PhD, professor of Health Policy and Management, an expert on organization and management of healthcare services.

Health Policy & Management History
The Department of Health Policy and Management is successor to one of the nation’s first programs in health administration, Columbia University’s Institute of Administrative Medicine. For 75 years faculty have participated in research, teaching, and service, carrying out the program’s mission by focusing on problems of medical care organization, financing, and administration in order to understand and improve the practice of health policy and management locally, nationally, and globally.

Dr. Sherry Glied held the Department Chair position for the last 10 years and recently stepped down after her nomination to become President Obama’s Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services. Under Dr. Glied’s leadership, the Department expanded both its research breadth and its educational offerings and recruited eminent senior scholars while nurturing a very impressive group of junior faculty.