October 21, 2019 – Health policy expert Benjamin Sommers of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, recognizing outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
Sommers, professor of health policy and economics, was recognized for his health policy expertise on Medicaid and the health care safety net, and for research and policy advocacy that have influenced the implementation and debate on the future of the Affordable Care Act. He was one of 100 new members elected at NAM’s annual meeting on October 21, 2019.
Sommers, a practicing primary care internist, is also an associate professor of medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. From 2011-12, he served 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, and he served part-time in an advisory role from 2013-15.
The NAM is an independent organization of professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences; and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community.
photo: Kris Snibbe