JAMES ROBINSON
Director
James Robinson is Leonard D. Schaeffer Professor of Health Economics and Director of the Berkeley Center for Health Technology (BCHT) at the University of California, Berkeley. He serves on a variety of professional boards and advisory boards, including the Integrated Healthcare Association and National Institute for Health Care Management, and serves as contributing editor for Health Affairs journal. Professor Robinson gives numerous keynote speeches and board presentations for medical technology firms, health plans, hospital systems, medical groups, universities, and public agencies.
At Berkeley, Professor Robinson’s research focuses on the biotechnology, medical device, insurance, and health care delivery sectors. He has published three books and over 130 papers in peer-reviewed journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Health Affairs. His most recent book, “Purchasing Medical Innovation: The Right Technology for the Right Patient at the Right Price” analyzes the roles of the FDA, health insurers, hospitals, and consumers in the assessment, purchasing, and use of high-cost implantable devices. Professor Robinson’s econometric research currently centers on the impact of reference pricing on consumer choices, employer spending, and health outcomes for inpatient and outpatient surgery, laboratory tests, diagnostic imaging, and pharmaceuticals.
KIMBERLY MACPHERSON
Co-Director
Kimberly MacPherson, MBA, MPH, is the Program Director and a Lecturer in the Health Policy and Management faculty group at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She is responsible for the two-year MPH program, the one-year track for clinicians and the MPP/MPH joint-degree offered with the Goldman School of Public Policy. Ms. MacPherson teaches a variety of graduate-level courses at UC Berkeley, including the "Foundations of Health Policy and Management" and "Health Care Negotiations."
Ms. MacPherson brings to BCHT her 20 years of health industry experience, spanning leadership roles in operations, management consulting and strategic/business planning, and product development. She has consulted to a wide range of health care delivery, financing, and research organizations including Catholic Healthcare West, Ascension Health, Kaiser Permanente, Partners Healthcare, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Ms. MacPherson began her health career in 1988 as a Senior Account Executive with the group health division of Prudential Insurance. She holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business and an MPH from the School of Public Health, both at UC Berkeley. She also holds degrees in both Organizational Behavior and in Psychology from UC Davis.
TIMOTHY BROWN
Associate Director for Research
Timothy Brown is the BCHT Associate Director for Research and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Health Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his doctorate in Health Services and Policy Analysis, with a specialization in health economics, from the University of California at Berkeley.
At Berkeley, Dr. Brown teaches analytic methods for health policy and management focusing on econometrics, experimental and quasi-experimental design, and surveys. He has published in scientific and policy journals such as Health Services Research, Health Economics, JAMA Internal Medicine (formerly known as the Archives of Internal Medicine), Social Science & Medicine, and the Journal of the American Dental Association.
Dr. Brown's current research at BCHT focuses on reference pricing and hospital efficiency with regard to the use of medical devices. Dr. Brown manages the research staff and day-to-day research work at BCHT.
CHRISTOPHER WHALEY
Staff Economist
Christopher Whaley is a Research Economist at the School of Public Health at the University of California Berkeley. He received his PhD in Health Services and Policy Analysis with a concentration in Health Economics from UC Berkeley in 2015. His research interests include price transparency and consumer information, health insurance plan design, and provider competition.
EVE DONOVAN
Program Coordinator
Eve manages BCHT's day-to-day communications, including the website and other publications; as well as financial coordination, personnel, and event planning. She is a long-time university staff member, previously with UC Berkeley Extension, and the Center for Weight & Health, now known as the Nutrition Policy Institute.
FRANCIS MEGERLIN
Senior Fellow
Francis Megerlin is Professor at the University of Strasbourg – EUCOR (French-German-Swiss cluster of research universities) and also at the ESSEC Business School and Paris Institute of Political Studies. He is a senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Health Technology at the University of California, Berkeley, and full member, Académie Nationale de Pharmacie, France.
Professor Megerlin holds a PhD in International & Comparative Law and a HDR in Pharmaceutical Sciences. His teaching covers health law, economics and policy. His current research focuses on the impact of advanced technologies (medtech, biotech, microbiome modulation), on innovative pricing and payment methods for health technologies and services, and on transformation of complex organizations under constraints.
He has published over 90 papers in scientific journals, policy journals, and books. His professional activities include his roles as keynote speaker for conferences, policy roundtables, national reforms, board meetings and settlement of international disputes. Pr Megerlin is also an oboist and an orchestra conductor.