Benjamin Sommers

Dr. Sommers is a health economist and physician whose primary research interests are the uninsured, Medicaid, and medical decision-making.  His current research projects focus on implementation challenges facing Medicaid under national health reform, barriers to health care access among low-income adults, and health care costs.  He was honored with the 2006 National Dissertation Award by AcademyHealth, a preeminent national association of health policy and health services researchers.  Dr. Sommers is a practicing primary care internist, and he is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  He is on leave from Harvard for the 2011-2012 academic year and is serving as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.