Our expert answers 3 Questions
I am thinking about and investigating policies such as Medicaid, minimum wage laws, and cash transfers as potential ways to improve economic security, which is increasingly being recognized as a key determinant of health.
My clinical and research interests developed from experiences I had volunteering and working in a safety net hospital. I witnessed the effects of medical illness and social complexities on health. Ultimately, I discovered that I could help people as a physician caring for individual patients in the clinical setting and as an investigator researching policies that make access to care and better health more achievable for all.
I hope my research helps shift how we think about what drives health outcomes — especially for underserved communities. By rigorously evaluating transformative policies using the tools of causal inference, my research, as both a physician and a health economist, can help policymakers make informed decisions that consider the far-reaching health effects of economic policies.