Willard Manning, Ph.D., Chair

Professor Manning is Professor in the Department of Health Studies, Pritzker School of Medicine, and in the Harris School of Public Policy, at the University of Chicago. His primary research focus has been the effects of health insurance and alternative delivery systems on the use of health services and health status. He is expert in statistical issues in cost-effectiveness analysis and small area variations. His recent work has included examination of mental health services use and outcomes in a Medicaid population, and cost-effectiveness analysis of screening and treating depression in primary care. Dr. Manning is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

John Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P.

Dr. Ayanian is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he practices general internal medicine. His research focuses on quality of care and access to care for major medical conditions, including colorectal cancer and myocardial infarction. He has extensive experience in the use of cancer registries to assess outcomes and evaluate the quality of cancer care. In addition, he has studied the effects of race and gender on access to kidney transplants and on quality of care for other medical conditions. Dr. Ayanian is Deputy Editor of the journal Medical Care, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar, and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Peter Cunningham, Ph.D.

Peter Cunningham is a Senior Health Researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change, where he has been extensively involved with the design and analysis of the Community Tracking Study. He has had primary responsibility for overseeing the design and implementation of the Community Tracking Study household survey and the followback survey to health insurance plans. In terms of his research, Dr. Cunningham has been primarily concerned with the uninsured, specifically in understanding variations across communities in uninsurance rates, access to care for uninsured persons, and the role of the health care safety net. Prior to joining the Center in April of 1995, Dr. Cunningham was a Researcher at the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), where he worked on the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, including the Household Survey, the Survey of American Indians and Alaska Natives, and the Institutional Population Component. Dr. Cunningham's research focused on issues concerning health insurance coverage, access to care, health care utilization and expenditures for children, people eligible for the Indian Health Service, poor and low income people, and other disadvantaged groups. Dr. Cunningham holds a Ph.D. and Masters in Sociology from Purdue University.

Sheila P. Davis, R.N., Ph.D.

Dr. Davis is Associate Professor, Department of Adult Health in the School of Nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She is also Vice President of Davis, Davis & Associates, a health management consultant company. Her research focuses on minority health issues, especially cardiovascular risk among ethnic populations. Dr. Davis is the founder and chair of the Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in Children (CRRIC) Committee at the University of Mississippi. This is a multidisciplinary committee (physicians, nurses, dietician, health educator, college administrator, nurse practitioners, etc.) committed to reducing cardiovascular risks in children. Dr. Davis is a member of the American Nurses' Association and has written numerous publications on the profession and the experiences of ethnic minorities in the health professions.

Paul Fronstin, Ph.D.

Dr. Fronstin is a senior research associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute. He is also Director of the Institute's Health Security and Quality Research Program. Dr. Fronstin's research interests include trends in health insurance coverage and the uninsured, the effectiveness of managed care, retiree health benefits, retirement transitions, employee benefits and taxation, the role of nonprofit organizations in providing employee benefits, children's health insurance coverage and public opinion about health care. His most recent publications include papers in The Gerontologist, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, and Health Affairs.

Catherine Hoffman, Sc.D., R.N.

Dr. Hoffman is an Associate Director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. She has focused her health services research career on differences in access to health care, particularly for vulnerable populations including low-income families, the uninsured, and those with chronic health problems. Dr. Hoffman has held both research and analytical positions in several organizations including the Institute for Health and Aging at the University of California-San Francisco, the Physician Payment Review Commission, and the Kaiser Commission on the Future of Medicaid. She received her doctoral degree in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health and builds her health policy career on a clinical foundation as a nurse specialist in cardiac care.


Lawrence Wallack, Dr.P.H.

Dr. Wallack is Professor of Public Health and Director, School of Community Health at Portland State University. He is also Professor of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Wallack's primary interest is in the role of mass communication, particularly the news media, in shaping public health issues. His current research is on how public health issues are framed in print and broadcast news. He is principal author of Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention and News for a Change: An Advocate's Guide to Working with the Media. He is also co-editor of Mass Communications and Public Health: Complexities and Conflicts. Dr. Wallack has also published extensively on topics related to prevention, health promotion, and community interventions. Specific content areas of his research and intervention work have included alcohol, tobacco, violence, handguns, sexually transmitted diseases, cervical and breast cancer, affirmative action, suicide, and childhood lead poisoning. Dr. Wallack is a member of the IOM Committee on Communication for Behavior Change in the 21st Century: Improving the Health of Diverse Populations.