Wendy Max
Wendy Max, Ph.D. is Professor of Health Economics and Co-Director of the Institute for Health & Aging at the University of California, San Francisco. She has been on the faculty at UCSF since 1987. Her recent research has focused on modeling the economic impact of tobacco on healthcare expenditures, lost productivity, and premature mortality. She and her colleagues have estimated national costs of smoking; costs to Medicare, Medicaid, and private payers; costs in California; and the impact on communities of color. They have studied the impact on smoking in managed care organizations and on persons with mental illness. They are currently developing models of the impact of secondhand exposure on healthcare expenditures in California and the US. Another current project is analyzing the impact of California Tobacco Control Program funding on healthcare expenditures under several alternative assumptions about the future level of funding. These models use a microeconomic econometric framework, and are based on the analysis of national and state survey and examination data collected at the individual level. Dr. Max is part of a group that is working to develop a research program on international tobacco control at UCSF. In addition to her research related to tobacco, she has conducted a number of studies related to the economic impact of chronic and other illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, cancer, and injuries.
