PEOPLE

Leadership

He is the author of numerous books, most recently including “You’re Hired!: Untold Successes and Failures of a Populist President” and “Side Effects and Complications: The Economic Consequences of Health Care Reform”

Professor Mulligan has also written numerous opeds and blog entries for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the Chicago Tribune, blogsupplyanddemand.com, and other blogs and periodicals.

He is affiliated with a number of professional organizations, including the National Bureau of Economic Research, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the Population Research Center. He is also the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including those from the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Smith- Richardson Foundation, and the John M. Olin Foundation.

Professor Mulligan received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1993. He has also served as a visiting professor teaching public economics at Harvard University, Clemson University, and Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago.

Philipson has served in several public sector positions. He was a member and acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers 2017-2020. He served in the second Bush Administration as the senior economic advisor to the head of the Food and Drug Administration and subsequently as the senior economic advisor to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He served as a health care advisor to Senator John McCain during his campaign for President of the United States. He was appointed by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives to the Key Indicator Commission created by the Affordable Care Act. He has served as a scientific advisor to Congress on the 21st Century Cures legislation and on the steering committee of Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moon Shot Initiative.

Philipson is a founding editor of the journal Forums for Health Economics & Policy of Berkeley Electronic Press and has been on the editorial board of the journal Health Economics and The European Journal of Health Economics. His research has been published widely in all leading academic journals of economics such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Health Economics, Health Affairs, and Econometrica. He is a monthly op-ed contributor for Forbes magazine and frequently appears in numerous popular media outlets such as CNN, CBS, FOX News, Bloomberg TV, National Public Radio, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, The Economist, Washington Post, Investor’s Business Daily, and USA Today and is a frequent keynote speaker at many domestic and international health care events and conferences.

Philipson is a fellow, board member, or associate of a number of other organizations outside the University of Chicago, including the National Bureau of Economic Research, the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute (where he was chairman of Project FDA), the Heartland Institute, the Milken Institute, the RAND Corporation, and the USC Shaeffer Center for Health Economics and Policy. At the University of Chicago, he is affiliated with the John M. Olin Program of Law & Economics, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, the Population Research Center, and NORC. He has served on the University-wide Council on Research and on the Advisory Committee to the University’s Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer.

He received his MA and PhD in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a visiting faculty member at Yale University and a visiting senior fellow at the World Bank.

Sri Frazee is joining the Initiative on Enabling Choice and Competition in Healthcare as the Center Director.

In this role, she oversees the finances, leads the day-to-day operations and administration, program management, and providing support and oversight for the research team. She brings over 14 years of working experience in the higher education sector, including managing budget and finances for multiple divisions and units, projects and programs, personnel, special events, and facility management, and pre- and post-award management.

Prior to her current role, Sri was the Business Manager and Fiscal Officer at the Indiana University School of Medicine Pediatrics and Indiana University Public Policy Institute. She has also previously worked as the Manager of Budget and Operations for Valparaiso University. Sri holds a master’s degree in International Commerce and Policy from Valparaiso University.

Research Staff

Attaullah Abbasi holds a BS in Economics and Mathematics from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, and has a four-year tenure at the State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank. He has researched labor market trends, tech startups, the livestock sector, and demographic challenges.

Additionally, Atta has contributed to studies on trade organizations and inflation, with these reports undergoing thorough reviews before being published for the country’s legislative bodies and the public. He is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy at the Harris School of Public Policy.

Giuseppe Di Cera was a Research Assistant to Tomas Philipson for the Initiative on Enabling Choice and Competition in Healthcare. He holds a BA in Economics with a minor in Molecular Engineering from the University of Chicago.

Giuseppe has worked as a Research Assistant on various projects, including The Potentially Larger Than Predicted Impact of the IRA on Small Molecule R&D and Patient Health, The Role of Medical Innovation in Reducing Health Disparities and the Impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, and The Impact of Biopharmaceutical Innovation on Healthcare Spending. Aside from working as a Research Assistant, Giuseppe has held positions at Goldman Sachs, the United States Senate, Capital Innovators, Plutus, and Royal Caribbean Group. Since 2019, he has run an Edtech startup called VaiLocal, a mentorship platform and jobs board for high school and college students.

Kira Fujibayashi is a graduate student in the computer science department. She earned her BS in Economics from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to starting graduate school, she was a senior consultant within Deloitte’s Government and Public Service practice, specializing in data science for public and federal health clients and internally at Deloitte’s Health Equity Institute. Her research interests include the intersection of public health and data science, particularly ensuring ethical approaches of machine learning solutions to enhance health outcomes. 

Outside of school and work, Kira enjoys cooking, going on long walks between coffee shops, reading, and traveling with her family. 

Susu Guo is a Master of Public Policy student with a specialization in Health Policy and Economic Policy at the Harris School of Public Policy. She earned her BA in Economics and Sociology from Boston College. Susu has served as a Research Assistant and a Research Fellow at Boston College and contributed to National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded research projects. Additionally, she has worked for a health consulting firm helping design market strategies for pharmaceutical companies, focusing on mental-health treatments and digital therapeutics.

Outside of school and work, Susu enjoys photography, art-house films, detective fiction, and exploring the city.

Lorena Heller received her Master of Public Policy degree with a certificate in Research Methods from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Private University of Bolivia (UPB), majoring in Economics with a focus on development. She was awarded the Chevening Scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in the United Kingdom. There, she earned a master’s degree in economics with a specialization in Public Economics from Durham University, England.

Following her academic achievements, Lorena worked as a researcher at the Laboratory of Experimental Economics (LABEX), which is affiliated with the Bolivian Private University. Her academic interests encompass public economics, experimental economics, and behavioral economics. She was a member of the Initiative on Enabling Choice and Competition in Healthcare research team for the project, The Value of Accelerated Medical Device Reimbursement.

Outside of her academic and professional endeavors, Lorena has a deep passion for travel. She enjoys exploring the city of Chicago and discovering hidden gems.

Rolamjaya Hotmartua earned his Master of Science in Applied Data Science student at the University of Chicago. He has a strong background in data analysis, algorithms and data structure, programming, and machine learning. He also has six years of experience working as a Policy Analyst at the Indonesia Financial Services Authority, researching international banking policy, including prudential and free trade policy.

Rolamjaya served as a Research Assistant at the Initiative on Enabling Choice and Competition in Healthcare, where he excelled at data profiling, compilation, and wrangling, as well as summarizing and drafting research papers. He was a member of the research team for the project, The Value of Accelerated Medical Device Reimbursement.

Aarushi Kataria is a Master of Public Policy Student with certificates in International Development & Policy and Finance & Policy at the Harris School of Public Policy. She completed her undergraduate studies from Ashoka University in India with a double major equivalent in Economic and Political Science. Aarushi has served as a Research Assistant at the Initiative on Enabling Choice and Competition in Healthcare since April 2023. She was part of the research team on projects titled “Evaluating the Economic Impact of CMS Coverage Delays for New Alzheimer’s Drugs,” and The Value of Accelerated Medical Device Reimbursement.

She is a Mayoral Fellow at the City of Chicago where she works on policy with a focus on workers’ rights and economic vitality. She also runs a non-profit in India called Letters to Strangers + India that is working towards destigmatizing mental health and increasing access to affordable and quality resources.

Outside of school and work, Aarushi loves exploring the food scene in Chicago, reading, and writing poetry.

Before his current academic endeavor, Sharowar served as a career diplomat under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representing Bangladesh, and was a member of the Bangladesh delegation to significant international events, including the 76th UNGA High-Level Week in New York, COP-26 in Glasgow, and the 7th UNGPDRR in Bali. During his diplomatic tenure, he drafted policy papers on the reformation of the labor sector of Bangladesh in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), European Union (EU), and Ministry of Labour, as well as crafted position papers for climate negotiations based on UNFCCC and streamlining migration based on the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) for Bangladesh.

Prior to transitioning to Foreign Service, in his prior role as a lecturer at the School of Data and Sciences within BRAC University, Dhaka, Sharowar co-founded the Computer Vision and Intelligent Systems (CVIS) Research Lab. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Engineering with Honors in Computer Science and Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Bangladesh’s premier engineering school.

Yier likes to skate in the winter and skateboard in the summer. She also likes to visit museums and used to make specimens after her pet beetles naturally passed away. Recently, she acquired the skills to properly walk one very posh corgi of her friend’s.

Qi Zhao is currently in her first year of a Master of Science in Computational Analysis and Public Policy at the Harris School of Public Policy. She has completed her PhD in Public Administration from Peking University and served in several positions, including lecturer, research fellow, post-doctoral researcher, and project manager at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing. 

She excels in both quantitative and qualitative policy analysis and has also published several peer-reviewed papers and presented at the APSA Global Annual Meeting. She also possesses extensive experience in project management and data analysis, serving as both a team leader and data analyst for multiple consulting reports. These reports, commissioned by various local governments in China, address critical issues such as compulsory education, ecological environmental protection, elderly care services and digital transformation.

Qi enjoys puzzles, Lego, climbing, and exploring sweet foods outside academia and work.

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