The American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon) is pleased to announce its 2026 ASHEcon Award Recipients. ASHEcon’s awards honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of health economics. The awards given at the conference highlight both burgeoning and established leaders in the health economics field. This is a great opportunity to recognize an outstanding peer, colleague, or student. We hope that by recognizing the work of individuals working in health economics, we will not only help elevate the amazing people in the field, but will continue to enable excellent research and put a spotlight on the field of health economics.
Victor R. Fuchs Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Field of Health Economics
Winner: Janet Currie
Kate Ho ASHEcon Medal
Winner: Maria Polyakova
The Willard G. Manning Memorial Award for the Best Research in Health Econometrics
Winners: Joshua D. Angrist, Carol Gao, Peter Hull, and Robert W. Yeh.
Student Paper Award
Winner: Graeme Peterson
ASHEcon Mentoring Award
Winner: Melinda Pitts
The ASHEcon Program Chair Award recognizes an exceptional abstract in each conference program area. Congratulations to this year’s winners!
| Program Area | Winning Abstract | Authors |
| Child and Infant Health | From Little Acorns, Mighty Oaks Grow: Early-Life Exposure to Food Stamp and the Next Generation’s Health | Hamid Noghanibehambari, Nahid Tavassoli, Yang Wang |
| Health Equity | Medicaid Appointment Availability at Private Equity-Acquired Physician Practices: A Secret Shopper Study | Hasan Quadri, Yashaswini Singh |
| Economic Theory | Endogenous Priority In Centralized Matching Markets: The Design of the Heart Transplant Waitlist | Kurt Sweat |
| Provider Labor Markets and Treatment Decisions | Physician Responses to Peer Exclusions for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse | Eunhae Shin, Alice Chen |
| Insurer and Hospital Behavior | Targeting Efficiencies? Reducing Costs through Hospital Consolidation | Atul Gupta |
| Environment and Health | Resilient or Scarred? Mortality and Morbidity after Natural Disasters | Tatyana Deryugina, Andrew Ireland, David Molitor and Jiameng Zheng |
| Health and Development | The Electoral Returns to Investing in Healthcare | Marcela dos Santos Camargo, Rudi Rocha |
| Mental and Behavioral Health | Mental Healthcare Facilities and Mortality: Evidence from Local Access and Insurance Expansion | Olanrewaju Yusuff |
| Illegal Activities, the Criminal Justice System, and Health | The Impact of Early Life Health Investments on Crime across Generation | Zhangping Cai, Briana Ballis, Marianne Page |
| Prescription Drugs | Do Pharmacies Matter? | Joseph Battles |
| Aging and Long-Term Care | Patient Peer Effects: Evidence from Nursing Home Room Assignments | Alden Cheng, Martin Hackmann |
| Maternal, Sexual, and Reproductive Health | Blue Cross Hospital Plans and Fertility | Soyoung Han |
| Innovation and Digitization | Deep Causal Behavioral Policy Learning | Jonathan Kolstad |
| Health, Labor Markets, and the Economy | How Health Shapes Job Preferences: Evidence from Older Workers’ Job Transitions | Alexander O.K. Marin |
| Effects of Health Insurance and Consumer Decision Making | The Impact of Cost Sharing on Postpartum Health Care Utilization | Rebecca Gourevitch, Jessica Cohen, Tara Shakley, Sung Min Park, Mary Beth Landrum, Meredith Rosenthal, Mark W Friedberg, Anna Sinaiko |
| Competition in Health Care Markets | Price, Access, and Quality Under Centralized Procurement: Evidence from China’s National Stent Procurement | Ruochen Sun, Hanming Fang, Gordon G. Liu, Huyang Zhang, Karen Zhang |
| Health Econometrics | Weighting for Sound Policy Research: Synchronizing Estimands with Model Specifications | Bijan A. Niknam, Matthew D. Eisenberg, Beth Ann Griffin, Elizabeth Stuart |
| Health Systems and Health Care Financing | The Stability of the Healthcare Safety Net: Evidence from Generic Drug Entry | Sarah Kotb, Amanda Su, Ziping Ye |
| Diet, Physical Activity, and Obesity | The Virginia Work Requirements Experiment | Timothy Layton, Adrianna McIntyre, Adam Leive |
| Alcohol, Tobacco, Narcotics, and Addiction | Health Insurance Protections and Ex Ante Moral Hazard In Risky Health Behaviors | Baris K. Yoruk, Joseph Sabia, Tessie Krishna, Dhaval Dave |