Leadership News: Dr. Austin Frakt named new Editor-in-Chief

HSR welcomes Dr. Austin Frakt as the new Editor-in-Chief of the journal, who will take on the role from January 2021. Dr. Frakt served as a Senior Associate Editor for the journal from 2018-2020 and was a member of the Editorial Board from 2014-2017.

Dr. Frakt has a robust background in health economics and policy. He is a Health Economist, Professor, and Researcher. He is the Director of the Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center at the Boston VA Healthcare System. He is also a Professor of Health Law, Policy & Management with the Boston University School of Public Health and a Senior Research Scientist with the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Frakt is the primary author of the evidence-based health policy blog The Incidental Economist, and a regular contributor on health policy topics to The New York Times. He also serves on the editorial board of The American Journal of Managed Care.

Dr. Frakt has authored over 100 peer-reviewed, scholarly publications, many relevant to health care financing, economics, and policy. His peer-reviewed papers have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Milbank Quarterly, Health Care Financing Review, Health Affairs, Health Economics, Health Services Research, International Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, among other journals.

He has an educational background in physics and engineering. After receiving his PhD in statistical and applied mathematics he spent four years at a research and consulting firm conducting policy evaluations for federal health agencies. Dr. Frakt received his Ph.D. from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in statistical and applied mathematics. He also received a master’s degree from MIT, and his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Applied and Engineering Physics.