MGH Health Policy Rounds were started in 2018 to bring health policy makers and policy researchers together. We cover a wide range of topics where science can inform policy, and policy can inform science. Slides from past talks are linked here if speakers have made them available.
Rounds are convened by Dr. Karen Donelan, a Senior Scientist and Associate Professor in the Health Policy Research Center of The Mongan Institute. HPRC Faculty help identify and invite speakers and serve as discussants in the series. SIGN UP for our mailing list by emailing us at HPRC@mgh.harvard.edu
December 7th, 2020
The Past, Present, and Future of Health Care Reform
Jonathan Gruber, PhD
Ford Professor of Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
November 2nd, 2020
Does Diversity Matter for Health?
Marcella Alsan, MD, PhD
Professor of Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
October 5th, 2020
Health Workforce and COVID-19: Where Are We, How Did We Get Here, and How Do We Move Ahead?
Bianca Frogner, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine
Director, Center for Health Workforce Studies
Deputy Director, Primary Care Innovation Lab
University of Washington 
Policy Rounds Success Story: RACE for Children Act will be Fully Implemented into Law!
The RACE for Children Act, championed by February 2020 MGH Health Policy Rounds speaker Nancy Goodman and her organization Kids v. Cancer, will be fully implemented into law. The Race for Children Act now requires all adult cancer therapies in development, whose molecular target is substantially relevant to a pediatric cancer, to be studied in children’s cancers as well. This is a major victory for children with cancer and pediatric oncologists as this development lifts many restrictions that previously limited pediatric cancer treatment options. More than 1,000 cancer therapies in development for adult cancers that have not reached the end of their Phase 2 trials will also be studied in children’s cancers. Please join us in congratulating Nancy Goodman and Kids v. Cancer on this impressive achievement. For more information on Kids v. Cancer, visit their website.
September 9th, 2020
Psychiatric Disorders and Structural Inequities in Puerto Rico
Margarita Alegria, PhD
Chief, Disparities Research Unit, Mongan Institute, MGH
Harry G. Lehnert Jr. and Lucille F. Cyr Lehnert Endowed MGH Research Institute Chair
Professor, Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
*Please RSVP to HPRC@mgh.harvard.edu to assure adequate Zoom capacity*
https://partners.zoom.us/j/8961068616
June 29th, 2020
Rising Geographic Disparities in US Mortality
Ellen Meara, PhD
Professor of Health Policy and Economics
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
*Please RSVP to HPRC@mgh.harvard.edu to assure adequate Zoom capacity*
https://partners.zoom.us/j/8961068616
March 2nd, 2020
Medicaid Expansion, Disparities, and Health Outcomes
Benjamin Sommers, MD, PhD
Professor of Health Policy and Economics
Harvard School of Public Health
Former Senior Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
February 3rd, 2020
Changing the Landscape of Pediatric Cancer Research: Advancing Regulatory Reform in Pediatric Cancer Drug Development
Nancy Goodman, JD
Founder and Executive Director, Kids v Cancer
Member, NCI Board of Scientific Counselors, Vice President Moonshot Committee, Stand Up to Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee
January 13th, 2020
Can We Decrease Administrative Costs in Healthcare?
Timothy G. Ferris, MD, MPH
Chairman and CEO, Massachusetts General Physicians Organization
December 2, 2019
Policy Impacts on Addiction Treatment Access and Quality
Peter D. Friedmann, MD, MPH, DFASAM, FACP
Chief Research Officer and Endowed Chair for Clinical Research, Baystate Health
Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School
November 4, 2019
State Policy Perspectives on Mental Health and Addiction
Senator Cindy F. Friedman
Vice Chair, Ways and Means Committee
Fourth Middlesex District, Massachusetts
October 7, 2019
in collaboration with MGH Gun Violence Prevention Center
Disarming Fear: Using Emotional Messaging to Break Down Barriers in Talking About Guns in the Home to End Family Fire
Kyleanne Hunter, PhD
Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University
Vice President, Programs, Brady United Against Gun Violence
May 6, 2019
Building Healthier Neighborhoods, Block by Block
Iyah Romm
CEO and Co-Founder, Cityblock Health
April 1, 2019
Reproductive Rights and the Courts: Assessing the Current Debate
Sara Rosenbaum, J.D.
Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor, Health Law and Policy, Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University
February 4, 2019
Electronic Cigarettes: Public Health Friend or Foe (or Both)?
Nancy Rigotti, MD
Associate Chief, General Medicine Division, Director, Tobacco Research and Treatment Center
Professor, Harvard Medical School
January 7, 2019
The Affordable Care Act Coverage Expansions at 8 3/4
Sherry Glied, PhD,
Dean, Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University
December 3, 2018
2018 Voters, Partisan Politics, and the Future of U.S. Health Policy
Robert J. Blendon, ScD
Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis
Senior Associate Dean for Policy Translation and Leadership Development
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and John F. Kennedy School of Government
November 5, 2018
Achieving Health Equity through Increased Understanding
Cara James, PhD
Director, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of Minority Health
Co-Chair, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Rural Health Council
October 1, 2018
Massachusetts as a Regional Lab to Control Health Spending
Stuart H. Altman, PhD
Chaikin Professor of Health Policy, Heller School of Social Policy and Management
Brandeis University
