Ben Sommers
Primary Faculty

Ben Sommers

Huntley Quelch Professor of Health Care Economics

Health Policy and Management

bsommers@hsph.harvard.edu

Other Positions

Professor of Medicine (on leave)

Medicine-Brigham and Women's Hospital

Harvard Medical School


Overview

Dr. Sommers is a health economist and a physician whose main research interests are health policy for vulnerable populations, the uninsured, and the health care safety net. He is the Huntley Quelch Professor of Health Care Economics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the Outstanding Dissertation Award, Alice Hersh New Investigator Award, the 2015 Article-of-the-Year Award, and the 2017 Health Services Research Impact Award from AcademyHealth, a preeminent national association of health policy researchers; and the Outstanding Junior Investigator Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019. His research has been published in leading journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Journal of Health Economics, and Health Affairs. His research has been profiled in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and National Public Radio. He has testified before Congress and advised state Medicaid programs.

Dr. Sommers has served in the federal government in multiple leadership roles. In January 2021, he was appointed by President Biden as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and he served in that role until early 2023. From 2022-2023, he was appointed to lead ASPE as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Assistant Secretary. Previously, he served as a Senior Advisor in ASPE from 2011-2016, and continues in 2023 to serve in a part-time capacity as a Senior Counselor to the Assistant Secretary.

He received a PhD in Health Policy from Harvard and an MD from Harvard Medical School.

National Dissertation Award
AcademyHealth

Robert Ebert Award in Primary Care Medicine
Harvard Medical School

Daniel E. Ford Award in Health Services Research
Johns Hopkins, Division of General Medicine

Best Residents and Fellows at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School

Resident Mentor Award
Brigham & Women’s Department of Medicine

Best Oral Presentation in Scientific Abstracts
Society for General Internal Medicine, New England Region

Faculty Mentor Award
Brigham & Women’s Department of Medicine

Hamolsky Award
Society for General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting

Teaching Citation
Harvard School of Public Health

Alice Hersh New Investigator Award
AcademyHealth

Article of the Year Award
AcademyHealth

Outstanding Junior Investigator
Society for General internal Medicine

Impact Award for Health Services Research
AcademyHealth

Member
National Academy of Medicine


Bibliography


News

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Faculty News

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Shock to the System

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‘Go find dental floss!’

During the pandemic, Harvard Chan School's Department of Health Policy and Management got creative with virtual programming to keep faculty, staff, and students feeling connected.