Marcella Alsan

Marcella Alsan is a Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Alsan received a BA from Harvard University, a master’s in public health from Harvard School of Public Health, a MD from Loyola University, and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. Alsan trained at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Hiatt Global Health Equity Residency Fellowship – then combined the PhD with an Infectious Disease Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to returning to Harvard she was on faculty at Stanford. She is an applied microeconomist studying health inequality.

Some recent papers include “Does Diversity Matter for Health: Experimental Evidence from Oakland” and “Tuskegee and the Health of Black Men” – published in the American Economic Review and The Quarterly Journal of Economics, respectively, and a series of papers on messaging during COVID-19 published in medical and public health outlets. She is currently on the Board of Editors for Science Magazine, Co-Editor of the Journal of Health Economics and Co-Chair of the Health Care Delivery Initiative of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab based out of MIT. She is the co-recipient of the 2019 Arrow Award for Best Paper in Health Economics, the 2021 William G. Manning Memorial Award for the Best Research in Health Econometrics and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.

Education

• 2013 – Fellowship in Infectious Diseases, Partners, BWH/MGH
• 2012 – PhD in Economics, Harvard University
• 2007 – Hiatt Global Health Equity Residency in Internal Medicine, BWH
• 2005 – MD, Loyola University, magna cum laude
• 2005 – MPH, Harvard School of Public Health
• 1999 – AB, Cognitive Neuroscience (Psych/Bio), Harvard College, magna cum laude
• 1999 – Certificate in Mind Brain & Behavior, Harvard College

Awards

• 2021 – MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
• 2021 – Excellence in Refereeing Award, American Economic Journal: Applied
• Economics
• 2021 – Willard G. Manning Memorial Award for the Best Research in
• Health Econometrics, Co-Recipient
• 2019 – Kenneth Arrow Award for Best Paper in Health Economics, Co-Recipient
• 2016 – Stanford Medical School Division Teaching Award
• 2015 – George Rosenkranz Prize for Health Care Research in Developing
• Countries, Stanford
• 2005 – Faculty Award for Excellence in the Clinical Sciences, Loyola
• 2005 – Geoffrey Gunnar Memorial Scholarship, Loyola
• 2005 – Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society, Loyola
• 2005 – Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society
• 2003 – Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, Chicago
• 1999 – Psychology Department Award for Outstanding Thesis

Selected Publications

Academic Journal/Scholarly Articles

• Alsan, Marcella, Owen Garrick, and Grant Graziani. "Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland." American Economic Review 109.12 (December 2019): 4071-4111.
• Andrews, Jason R., Stephen Baker, Florian Marks, Marcella Alsan, Denise Garrett, Bruce G. Gellin, Samir K. Saha et al. "Typhoid Conjugate Vaccines: A New Tool in the Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance." The Lancet Infectious Diseases 19.1 (January 2019): e26-e30.

Research Papers/Reports

• Alsan, Marcella, Vincenzo Atella, Jay Bhattacharya, Valentina Conti, Iván Mejía-Guevara, Grant Miller. "Technological Progress and Health Convergence: The Case of Penicillin in Post-War Italy." February 2019.