Professor Ellen Meara Joins Public Policy Faculty at the Rockefeller Center

During the Winter 2011 Term, Professor Ellen Meara joins the Rockefeller Center as an adjunct associate professor of public policy.  She is teaching a health policy seminar—PBPL 84.2: Health Policy Reform. The goal of her seminar is to analyze the likely strengths and weaknesses in U.S. health reform to address three major challenges in the health care system: access, cost, and quality of health care. 

In addition to her teaching in the Center, Meara is also an associate professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.  Professor Meara is an economist whose research examines: 1) trends in medical spending and health outcomes in the U.S. and 2) the interaction of social policy and health outcomes. Much of her research has focused on medically vulnerable populations such as Medicaid enrollees, the uninsured and recipients of public income support with mental and substance use disorders.

Prior to her arrival at Dartmouth, she spent 11 years at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Health Care Policy. Dr. Meara is the recipient of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act award to study the impact of federal parity legislation on the behavioral health service use of children who are income-eligible for state Children’s Health Insurance Programs. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. Since 2000, Dr. Meara has been a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

We welcome Professor Meara to the Rockefeller Center.