The Harvard Medical School’s Department of Health Care Policy proudly welcomed two new economists to the faculty this Fall: Associate Professor of Health Care Policy, Leila Agha, Ph.D., and Assistant professor of Health Care Policy. Luca Maini, Ph.D.

The two new faculty shared their enthusiasm in joining HCP’s multifaceted research environment, with Agha stating: "As an economist studying health care delivery, HCP is a wonderful home for my work. I was attracted by the department's multidisciplinary strength in economics, health policy, statistics, and medicine."

Maini further emphasized the cooperative research climate at HCP: “I couldn’t be happier to be joining HCP. As an economist working on health-related topics, I know I can only produce my best research when working alongside medical and public health experts. HCP is the perfect place to do that.“

Agha joins HCP from Dartmouth, where she was most recently Associate Professor of Economics. Prior to this she worked as an Assistant Professor at the Questrom School at Boston University. In addition to these positions, Agha serves as a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She completed her SB and PhD in economics at MIT. 

Agha’s research investigates how productivity is shaped by innovation, technology, and the organization of work, in the context of the US health care system. Her work has examined the determinants of innovation in healthcare markets, a key engine of both rising costs and improvements in health outcomes. She has also analyzed how the organization of provider teams affects health care efficiency. Agha’s ongoing research studies how physicians adopt and realize value from new technology, in contexts with limited information about patient-specific risks and benefits. 

Agha was granted the role of Co-Principal Investigator for a grant funded by the National Institute on Aging through the National Bureau of Economic Research Royal Center for Behavior Change in Health. Agha’s work has been published widely in leading economics, science, and medical journals, and she currently serves as an associate editor of Management Science and the Journal of Health Economics.

Maini joins HCP from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was an Assistant Professor of Economics. He also serves as a Research Fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Maini received a BA in Economics and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Chicago, and his PhD in Economics from Harvard University.

Maini’s research focuses on competition and regulation in healthcare markets. His particular focus is on the pharmaceutical market, where he has studied the impact of price regulation that references prices across markets, the reaction of originator biologics to biosimilar entry, and the effect of M&A activity on the pricing and coverage of branded drugs.

Maini was awarded the role of Principal Investigator by the Center for Equitable Growth for his study: “Consolidation in the Prescription Drug Market: Impact on Pricing and Access.”

Dr. Barbara McNeil, Ridley Watts Professor and Chair of the Department expressed her excitement about the appointments by saying: “Leila and Luca expand research in the department in ways that will over time lead to improvements in national health policy debates and decisions.”

We are thrilled to welcome Agha and Main to the department and look forward to collaborating with them in their contributions to Health Care Policy!