Harkness Project Title: Policies and Institutions: A Comparative Analysis of the Goals and Policies of the UK National Health Service and the VA on Performance

Mentors: Sherry Glied, Ph.D., and Lawrence Brown, Ph.D.

Placement: Columbia University, School of Public Health

Biography at time of Harkness Fellowship: Adam Oliver, Ph.D., a 2005-06 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, has been at the London School of Economics since 2001, where he is currently lecturer in health economics and policy in the Department of Social Policy, and senior research fellow and deputy director of LSE Health and Social Care, one of the largest research institutes in the health-related social sciences in Europe. He is a 1995–97 Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbusho) Research Scholar, founding chair of the Health Equity Network, founding coordinator of the Preference Elicitation Group, and a former coordinator of the European Health Policy Group. He is also founding co-editor of the journal, Health Economics, Policy and Law. Oliver has published widely in the areas of health equity, economic evaluation, risk and uncertainty, and the economics and policy of European health care reform. His current principal research interests focus on the interface between economics and political science in health care policy analysis. Oliver holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Newcastle and a master of science in health economics from the University of York.

Current Position: Senior Research Fellow, LSE Health, London School of Economics (Updated January 2012)

E-mail: adam.oliver@att.net

Harkness-Related Publications

Oliver A. “Public-sector Health-care Reforms That Work? A Case Study of the US Veterans Health Administration,” The Lancet 2008; 371(9619): 1211-1213.

Oliver, A. "The Veterans Health Administration: An American Success Story?" The Milbank Quarterly 2007; 85(1): 5–35.