2019 Plenaries & Special Events

Plenaries

Sunday, June 23th, 2019

Opening Plenary: Economic Models and the Debate on Health Care Market Design
Time: 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Room: Thurgood Marshall Ballroom

This talk will discuss the tools health economists can use to address policy-relevant questions that cannot be answered with observational data alone. The specific example of health insurance plan design will be considered: how can we assess which types of plans should be offered (e.g. on an exchange or on the menu offered by employers) to control health care spending without sacrificing consumer surplus?

Kate Ho is a Professor of Economics at Princeton University and co-director (with Janet Currie) of Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing. She is an editor at the RAND Journal of Economics and has served as co-editor at the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and on the editorial boards of the American Economic Review, the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics and the Journal of Economic Literature. Her research focuses on the industrial organization of the medical care market.  Her work has been recognized by the International Health Economics Association, the International Journal of Industrial Organization and the Journal of Applied Econometrics. Prior to her academic career she spent four years as Private Secretary (Chief of Staff) to the U.K. Minister of State for Health.

Monday, June 24th, 2019


Special Plenary: A Fireside Chat with Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan
Time:
11:00 – 12:00pm
Room: Thurgood Marshall Ballroom

Former FDA commissioners Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan will discuss the current state of pharmaceutical policy in the United States and how it effects drug pricing. The session will be moderated by The Washington Post’s Laurie McGinley. This special plenary will take place from 11am – 12pm on Monday, June 24th. More details about this session will provided soon. 


Membership Awards Luncheon
Time: 12:00 – 1:00pm
Room: Thurgood Marshall Ballroom

Tuesday, June 25th, 2019

Tuesday Plenary: Getting the Word Out: How Health Economists can Talk to Policy Makers and the Media
Time: 11:45am – 1:15pm
Room: Thurgood Marshall Ballroom

Janet Currie is the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University and Director of Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing.  She also directs the Program on Families and Children at the National Bureau of Economic Research.  She has served on several National Academy of Sciences panels including the Committee on Population, and was elected Vice President of the American Economic Association in 2010.  She has also served as a consultant for the National Health Interview Survey and the National Longitudinal Surveys, and on the advisory board of the National Children’s Study.  She is a Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists, an affiliate of the University of Michigan’s National Poverty Center, and an affiliate of IZA in Bonn.  She is the Editor of the Journal of Economic Literature and on the editorial board of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and has also served several other journals in an editorial capacity including the Journal of Health Economics, the Journal of Labor Economics, and the Journal of Public Economics.

Heather Howard is a member of the faculty at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.  She is director of two Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded programs that provide technical assistance to help states implement the ACA and reform their health care delivery systems. She also teaches courses in implementation of the Affordable Care Act, state and local health policy, public health and politics, and the social determinants of health.

 She served as New Jersey’s Commissioner of Health and Senior Services from 2008-2010, overseeing a cabinet-level agency with a budget of $3.5 billion and staff of 1,700, responsible for public health services. Previously, she served as Governor Jon Corzine’s Chief Policy Counsel, directing his policy agenda.  She also has significant federal experience, having worked as Senator Corzine’s Chief of Staff, as Associate Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and Senior Policy Advisor for First Lady Hillary Clinton, as an Honors Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division Health Care Task Force, and for the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Austin Frakt is director of the Partnered Evidence-Based Policy Resource Center at the V.A. Boston Healthcare System; associate professor with Boston University’s School of Public Health; and adjunct associate professor with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He blogs at The Incidental Economist, and you can follow him on Twitter at @afrakt.

Margot Sanger-Katz is a domestic correspondent for The New York Times, where she writes about health care for The Upshot, the Times site about politics, economics and everyday life. Before coming to The Times, she was a reporter at National Journal and The Concord Monitor and an editor at Legal Affairs and the Yale Alumni Magazine. In 2014, she completed a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University. She can be found on Twitter at @sangerkatz

Special Events


Sunday, June 23th, 2019

Early Career Professionals Mentoring Session*
Time: 2:00-4:00pm
Room: Lincoln 3-4 (Exhibit Hall C)

ASHEcon welcomes early career professionals UP TO five years out of having RECEIVED their PhD to interact with an accomplished panel of professionals at its speed mentoring session at the 8th Annual ASHEcon Conference.

Join us for a fun, informal afternoon of making connections with some of the leading health economists in the field. Whether you are about to enter the job market, seeking advice about professional growth, or simply hoping to learn about possible career paths, this event is an excellent opportunity to expand both your knowledge base and your network of contacts.

To participate, you must be an ASHEcon member five years out of having received their PhD.
During this session, senior economists will interact with early career professionals  through semi-structured “speed-mentoring” meetings to answer questions on topics such as publishing, teaching, grant writing, networking, job search, career paths, and the tenure process.


PhD Student Mentoring Session*
Time: 2:00-4:00pm
Room: Lincoln 5-6 (Exhibit Hall C)

ASHEcon welcomes PhD students to interact with an accomplished panel of professionals at its speed mentoring session at the 8th Annual ASHEcon Conference. This event will take place on Sunday, June 23, from 2:00-4pm in Exhibit Hall C at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC.

Join us for a fun, informal afternoon of making connections with some of the leading health economists in the field. Whether you are about to enter the job market, seeking advice about professional growth, or simply hoping to learn about possible career paths, this event is an excellent opportunity to expand both your knowledge base and your network of contacts.

To participate, you must be an ASHEcon student member or a student at an ASHEcon member university in the last 2 years or last year of their PhD program. During this session, senior economists will interact with PhD students through semi-structured “speed-mentoring” meetings to answer questions on topics such as publishing, teaching, grant writing, networking, job search, career paths, and the tenure process. 

This event is open to ASHEcon members only. Advanced registration is required.

Opening Reception
Time: 7:30-9:00pm
Room: Thurgood Ballroom Foyer

Monday, June 24th, 2019


ASHEcon 5K Fun Run
Time: 6:30am – 7:15am
Room: Meet in the lobby

Start off your conference with ASHEcon’s first ever 5K Fun Run! Join fellow attendees and ASHEcon’s Executive Director, Tony LoSasso for this fun organized event. There will be two course leaders that will run/walk at various paces to accommodate participants of all levels. Course maps will also be provided for those that prefer to run on their own. The full course is three miles through Rock Creek Park, but participants are welcome to do as much or as little as they’d like. RSVP Now for this event!


LGBTQI + Allies Reception
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Room: Hoover

The ASHEcon Diversity Committee invites you to an LGBTQI Health Economist and Allies Reception. Come join us for food, drink, and fellowship with LGBTQI identified health economists and friends.

Tuesday, June 25th, 2019

Poster Reception
Time: 5:00-7:00pm
Room: Exhibit Hall C

Poster presentations will be held during a heavy hors d’oeuvre reception. All attendees are encouraged to attend and connect with presenting authors over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Participants will receive two (2) drink tickets for the event; a cash bar will be available to purchase additional tickets.