Health Policy Experts
Yuka Asada Heading link
Expert on: Health and nutrition policy implementation; school wellness, early childcare nutrition
Yuka Asada (she/her) is a Registered Dietitian and Clinical Assistant Professor at SPH. Her research has examined the implementation of health and wellness policies that impact child and adolescent health in early childcare and K-12 school settings. She applies qualitative and mixed research methods to examine how better access to and implementation of policies can improve built environments for children and adolescents, as well as advance health equity. Yuka has also examined the implementation of sugary beverage policies in Oakland, California. She is a faculty member in the Doctor of Public Health in Leadership (DrPH) program.
Jamie Chriqui Heading link
Expert on: policy surveillance, legal epidemiology, obesity policy, nutrition policy, built environment and physical activity policy, school wellness policy, tobacco control policy, substance abuse policy.
Jamie Chriqui is a policy researcher who is nationally recognized for her methodological work conducting public health policy surveillance studies and studying the implementation and impact of federal, state, and local policies nationwide. For over 20 years, her research has heavily focused on obesity, nutrition, physical activity, and built environment-related policy issues. Prior to joining UIC in 2007, she spent 17 years conducting policy research and analysis in Washington, D.C. for the National Institutes of Health and as a federal contractor.
Arden Handler Heading link
Expert on: maternal and child health policy.
Arden Handler is a long-standing maternal and child health advocate in both Illinois and nationally. She was co-founder of EverThrive Illinois, formerly the Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition, and participates in a number of ad hoc maternal and child health advocacy efforts. She is the PI of the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health and teaches Maternal and Child Health Policy and Advocacy.
John Herrmann Heading link
Expert on: public health policy creation.
John Herrmann is an expert in the genesis of public health policy, its inputs, processes and outcomes. His expertise comes from working for over forty years in policy formation at local, state, and federal levels. He has consulted with US Senate offices and committees, serves on the Illinois State Board of Health, and has worked in community health assessment with five local health departments in Illinois. His teaching interests include Health Systems and Health Policy (PubH 350) and Critical Thinking (PubH 301).
Susan Hughes Heading link
Expert on: long term care.
Dr. Hughes has served on an IOM Committee to conduct a Study of Long Term Care Reform and currently teaches Long Term Care Policy at SPH. She is passionate about reforming our current system to be more responsive to the needs of the multiple, vulnerable and underserved populations that currently use Long Term Services and Supports in the U.S. and about learning from advances in financing LTC developed abroad that can be adopted here.
Susan Kaplan Heading link
Expert on: environmental and occupational health policy
Susan Kaplan is a lawyer with a policy background in federal and state government. Her teaching and research focus on the intersection of international, federal, state, and local environmental and occupational health policy and on the interdisciplinary “Health in All Policies” approach. Kaplan led a group of faculty, staff, and students in developing policy briefs that make policy recommendations to state and local policymakers based on UIC research. She serves as Chair of the Policy Committee of the American Public Health Association’s Environment Section.
Pierre Thomas Léger Heading link
Expert on: physician payment models, physician competition, physician treatment style, and healthcare economics.
Pierre Thomas Léger is an economist with expertise healthcare economics. His research focuses on how payment models and market conditions shape physician treatment decisions, costs and patient outcomes. He teaches healthcare finance (MHA/EMHA) and empirical methods (PhD).
Naoko Muramatsu Heading link
Expert on: long-term care policy, access to and quality of care for older adults.
Naoko Muramatsu is an expert on aging and long-term care policies. Her research has demonstrated that state long-term care policies and community-level environments play important roles in the health and wellbeing of vulnerable older adults, especially those with disabilities and limited family support.
Michael Petros Heading link
Expert on: clinical laboratory testing, screening policy, surveillance, genetics, data analysis
Michael Petros served 38 years at the City of Chicago and State of Illinois public health laboratories, first as a senior microbiologist and later, as chief of operations for the newborn /metabolic diseases screening section. His research interests include developing decision-making strategies for genetic screening policy and his teaching interests include population genetics, public health policy, disease screening, data analysis and the visual display of data.
Nicholas Tilipman Heading link
Expert on: consumer behavior, health insurance, healthcare economics, hospital and physician competition.
Nicholas Tilipman is an economist with expertise in health care and industrial organization. His research focuses on consumer and firm behavior, insurance benefit design, and provider competition. He teaches Health Economics and Quantitative Methods in the MPH and MHA programs. In 2012-2013, Dr. Tilipman served as a Staff Economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers, working on issues related to unemployment insurance and Affordable Care Act implementation.
Lisa Powell Heading link
Expert on: sweetened drinks, tobacco control, school wellness, fiscal policy, healthy food access & walkable communities
Lisa Powell is an economist whose research focuses on examining economic, environmental and social determinants of health. Much of her current research is on assessing the impact of policies related to food retail and restaurant access, prices and promotions, sugar-sweetened beverage tax, and food and beverage marketing on food consumption and as determinants of obesity, including related disparities. She is currently leading the Bloomberg-funded US Food Policy Program evaluation and is the Director of the CDC-funded Policy, Practice and Prevention Research Center.