Alan M. Garber, MD, PhD

Bio

Alan Garber is the provost of Harvard University, as well as Mallinckrodt Professor of Health Care Policy and a professor of economics in the Harvard Kennedy School and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Most recently, he was the Henry J. Kaiser Jr. Professor at Stanford University, where he was also a professor of medicine, and professor (by courtesy) of economics, health research and policy, and of economics in the Graduate School of Business. At Stanford, he directed the university’s Center for Health Policy and the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research at the School of Medicine since their founding. He was also a staff physician at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and associate director of the VA Center for Health Care Evaluation. A research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), he served as the director of its Health Care Program for the program’s first 19 years.

He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and the board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy at the National Academies. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the Royal College of Physicians. He formerly served as a member and scientific adviser to the national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory Panel, and a member the Board of Health Advisers to the Congressional Budget Office. He has served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Aging at the National Institutes of Health, and as chair of the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. His research is directed toward methods for improving health care delivery and financing, particularly for the elderly. His research spans methods for determining the cost-effectiveness of health interventions, comparative effectiveness, and financial, behavioral, and organizational incentives to improve care. In addition, his research explores how clinical practice patterns and the characteristics of health care markets influence technology adoption, health expenditures, and health outcomes in the U.S. and in other countries.

After graduating from Harvard College summa cum laude, he received his PhD in economics from Harvard University and an MD with research honors from Stanford University. He was trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.