Tomas J. Philipson, PhD, is the Daniel Levin Professor of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and directs the Becker Friedman Institute’s Program on Foundational Research in Health Care Markets and Policies within the Health Economics Initiative. He is also an associate member of the Department of Economics and a former senior lecturer at the Law School and visiting faculty member at Yale University. His research focuses on health economics.
Dr. Philipson served in the second Bush administration as the senior economic advisor to the head of the Food and Drug Administration and subsequently as the senior economic advisor to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He was appointed by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives to the Key Indicator Commission created by the Affordable Care Act. He served as a scientific advisor to Congress on the 21st Century Cures legislation and on the steering committee of then Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moon Shot Initiative.
Dr. Philipson has also been an executive consultant for many government entities, US Fortune 100 companies, and other organizations—including the President’s Council on Science and Technology, the UK National Health Service, and the World Bank. In 2007 he co-founded Precision Health Economics LLC.
Dr. Philipson is a founding editor of the journal Forums for Health Economics & Policy of Berkeley Electronic Press and has been on the editorial board of the journal Health Economics and The European Journal of Health Economics.
His research has been published widely in all leading academic journals of economics such as the American Economic Review and Health Affairs. A frequent keynote speaker at domestic and international health care events, Dr. Philipson is also a monthly op-ed contributor for Forbes magazine and often appears in media outlets such as CNN, CBS, FOX News, Bloomberg TV, National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, The Economist, The Washington Post, Investor’s Business Daily, and USA Today.
Dr. Philipson serves as a fellow, board member, or associate of a number of other organizations such as the National Bureau of Economic Research, the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute, the Heartland Institute, and the USC Shaeffer Center for Health Economics and Policy.
A US citizen born and raised in Sweden, Dr. Philipson obtained his MA and PhD in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Philipson is the recipient of numerous grants and international and national research awards, including the highest honor of his field: the Kenneth Arrow Award of the International Health Economics Association.