Directors
Peter Neumann, ScD
Director
Peter Neumann, ScD
Director
pneumann@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Peter J. Neumann, Sc.D., is Director of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) at the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center, and Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. He is the founder and director of the Cost-Effectiveness Registry, a comprehensive database of cost-effectiveness analyses in health care.
Dr. Neumann has written widely on the role of clinical and economic evidence in pharmaceutical decision making and on regulatory and reimbursement issues in health care. He served as co-chair of the 2nd Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine. He is the author or co-author of over 300 papers in the medical literature, and the author or co-author of 3 books: Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Improve Health Care (Oxford University Press, 2005) ; Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine, 2nd Edition(Oxford University Press, 2017); The Right Price: A Value-Based Prescription for Drug Costs (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Dr. Neumann has served as President of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). He is a member of the editorial advisory board of Health Affairs and the panel of health advisors at the Congressional Budget Office. He has also held several policy positions in Washington, including Special Assistant to the Administrator at the Health Care Financing Administration.
He received his doctorate in health policy and management from Harvard University.
Recent Publications
- Do Quality-Adjusted Life-Years Discriminate Against the Elderly? An Empirical Analysis of Published Cost-Effectiveness Analyses
- Are We Valuing Prescription Drugs Appropriately?
Joshua Cohen, PhD
Deputy Director
Joshua Cohen, PhD
Deputy Director
jcohen@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Dr. Cohen’s work focuses on the advent of “drug value frameworks”, with a special focus on the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) framework, promotion of "open source" practices for health economic simulation models, the proper accounting for pharmaceutical life cycle pricing, and identification of an appropriate discount rate for health technology assessments. He received his Ph.D. in Decision Sciences from Harvard University.
Recent Publications
- Three sets of case studies suggest logic and consistency challenges with value frameworks
- A call for open-source cost-effectiveness analysis
- Risk-targeted lung cancer screening: a cost-effectiveness analysis
Faculty
James Chambers, PhD, MPharm
Associate Professor
James Chambers, PhD, MPharm
Associate Professor
jchambers@tuftsmedicalcenter.orgJames is an investigator at CEVR, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. His research is focused on examining the factors that influence payer coverage of medical technology and quantifying pharmaceutical innovation. He graduated from Queens University in Belfast with an MPharm degree and previously worked as a pharmacist in the UK and Ireland. James also obtained an MSc from the University of York and PhD from Brunel University, both in Health Economics.
Recent Publications
- Variation in Medicaid and commercial coverage of cell and gene therapies
- Varied Use of Step Therapy Among Medicare Advantage Plans
- Improving Food and Drug Administration–Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Coordination for Drugs Granted Accelerated Approval
Natalia Olchanski, PhD, MS
Research Assistant Professor
Natalia Olchanski, PhD, MS
Research Assistant Professor
nolchanski@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Natalia is an investigator at CEVR, and a Research Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. Her research includes decision modeling and analysis of clinical and economic outcomes, understanding the role of risk and treatment effect heterogeneity analysis in population level decision making, and identifying opportunities for improvement of health system efficiency. She holds a PhD in Clinical and Translational Science from Tufts University, a MS in Operations Research from Columbia University, and an SB from MIT.
Recent Publications
- Racial and ethnic differences in disease course Medicare expenditures for beneficiaries with dementia
- Life-Sustaining Treatments Among Medicare Beneficiaries with and without Dementia at the End of Life
- The certainty of uncertainty in health technology assessment
Daniel Ollendorf, PhD
Assistant Professor, Director of Value Measurement & Global Health Initiatives
Daniel Ollendorf, PhD
Assistant Professor, Director of Value Measurement & Global Health Initiatives
Daniel Ollendorf is Director of Value Measurement and Global Health Initiatives at CEVR and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Ollendorf’s research interests include expanding the use of health technology assessment (HTA) and economic evaluation in low- and middle-income countries, as well as refinement and use of value assessment tools in the US and other high-income settings.
Prior to joining CEVR, he was Chief Scientific Officer for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) for over 10 years, where he oversaw the broader HTA process and managed relationships with multiple stakeholders and research collaborators. Dr. Ollendorf rejoined ICER in November 2023 as its Chief Scientific Officer and Director of HTA Methods and Engagement, and continues to maintain his CEVR faculty appointment on a part-time basis. He is also a non-resident Fellow in Global Health at the Center for Global Development, and recently completed a 5-year term as Chair of the Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) Global Policy Forum. He received his PhD in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Amsterdam, and an MPH in Health Policy & Management/Epidemiology from Boston University.
Recent Publications
- From “Price Controls” To Robust Public Conversation: How CMS Can Move Drug Price Negotiation Into The Light
- Increasing uptake through collaboration in the development of core outcome sets: Lessons learned at OMERACT 2023
- Rule of Prevention: a potential framework to evaluate preventive interventions for rare diseases
Tara Lavelle, PhD
Assistant Professor
Tara Lavelle, PhD
Assistant Professor
tlavelle@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Tara Lavelle is an assistant professor at the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health. Her research measures family-centered outcomes and preferences for health care to inform value assessments and other health care policies. She received her PhD in Health Policy with a concentration in Decision Science from Harvard University in 2012 and was previously a postdoctoral research fellow in the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit in the Division of General Pediatrics at the University of Michigan.
Recent Publications
- Assessing the impact of grief on quality of life, work productivity, and health outcomes for parents bereaved from SMA: A study protocol
- Psychometric performance of the SF-6D quality of life measure in an outpatient population with bipolar disorder
- Shared decision making during initial diagnostic and treatment planning visits for children with autism spectrum disorder
Pei-Jung Lin, PhD
Associate Professor
Pei-Jung Lin, PhD
Associate Professor
plin@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Paige is an investigator at CEVR, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on health and economic outcomes of individuals with chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and diabetes. Paige received her PhD in Health Policy and Management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Masters in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Recent Publications
- Racial and ethnic differences in disease course Medicare expenditures for beneficiaries with dementia
- Life-Sustaining Treatments Among Medicare Beneficiaries with and without Dementia at the End of Life
- Variation in Medicaid and commercial payer coverage of aducanumab for Alzheimer's disease
Meng Li, PhD
Assistant Professor
Meng Li, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dr. Li received her ScM in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University and her PhD in Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy from University of Washington. She completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include defining and measuring novel elements of value for medical technologies, pharmaceutical pricing, and evaluating the impact of new drug innovations on population health and equity.
Recent Publications
- Incorporating real option value in valuing innovation: a way forward
- Beyond conventional clinical value: estimating the impact of accelerated approvals on therapeutic bridging between innovative cancer therapies in three solid tumors.
Adjunct Faculty
Jon Campbell, PhD, MS
Chief Science Officer, National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC)
Jon Campbell, PhD, MS
Chief Science Officer, National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC)
Jonathan D. (Jon) Campbell, MS, PhD, is the Chief ScienceOfficer (CSO) of the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC), which sponsors and conducts research on health policy issuesrelated to the development and use of innovative biopharmaceuticals to improve the health of patients.NPC’s research contributes to the body of evidence that supports discussions and decisions about patientaccess to treatments, appropriate use, and the value that innovative treatments provide to bothpatients and the healthcare system.
As CSO, Dr. Campbell leads NPC’s research agenda in concert with NPC’s boardand research team. As a researcher and advocate for improving the U.S. healthcare system throughsustainable access and biopharmaceutical innovation, Dr. Campbell is dedicated to conducting researchthat helps decision-makers understand the tradeoffs and consequences of health policies that impactpatient access to treatments and the ecosystem of biopharmaceutical innovation.
Dr. Campbell shaped his career within academics. After training at theUniversity of Washington, he joined the faculty at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus,earning multiple appointments in Pharmacy and Public Health from 2009 to 2020. During hisacademic career, Dr. Campbell gained insights on the work of biopharmaceutical manufacturers througha summer internship at Novartis in Basel, Switzerland (2004) and expanded his research and trainingnetwork through a sabbatical in Budapest, Hungary with Syreon Research Institute (2018).
Prior to joining NPC, Dr. Campbell served as Senior Vice President for HealthEconomics at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), where he made contributions to ICERassessments and their value assessment methodology. Dr. Campbell is an author of over 250 manuscriptsand abstracts in the field of health policy research and value assessment and holds an adjunctfaculty appointment within the Center for Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at Tufts UniversitySchool of Medicine.
Dr. Campbell is passionate about mentoring others and enjoys supportingindividuals working to deepen their expertise in the health economics and outcomes research field. Dr.Campbell’s training includes graduate degrees in pharmaceutical outcomes research (PhD) and biostatistics(MS) from the University of Washington. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Bachelor of Arts degrees inmathematics and chemistry from St. Olaf College.
Recent Publications
- The Case For Including Dynamic Drug Pricing In Cost-Effectiveness Analyses Under The IRA
David Kim, PhD
Assistant Professor
David Kim, PhD
Assistant Professor
dkim3@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
David is an investigator at CEVR, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. His research focuses on using clinical and economic evidence in health policy, evaluating the economic value of health/nutrition policy and medical technology, and improving research prioritization using a value of information approach. He received his doctorate in Health Services (Health Economics) from University of Washington
Recent Publications
- Vaccines are not cost-effective, vaccinations are
- Frequency and impact of the inclusion of broader measures of value in economic evaluations of vaccines
- Clinically-driven payment and benefit design to improve health equity: The case of obesity prevention and treatment
Staff
Molly Beinfeld, MPH
Project Director
Molly Beinfeld, MPH
Project Director
Molly is Project Director of the Specialty Drug Evidence and Coverage (SPEC) database team. Her research focuses on the impact of US health plan coverage decisions on patients’ access to treatment. Prior to joining CEVR, Molly served as Senior Research Lead at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER).Molly holds a dual BA in Biology and Psychology from Cornell University and an MPH from Boston University School of Public Health.
Recent Publications
- Variation in Medicaid and commercial coverage of cell and gene therapies
- Commercial Coverage of Specialty Drugs 2017-2021
Elliott Crummer, MA
Research Assistant
Elliott Crummer, MA
Research Assistant
Elliott's research focuses on uncertainty in health technology assessments and supporting the CEA Registry. She received an MA in Economics and a BS in Quantitative Economics from Miami University of Ohio.
Recent Publications
- Improving Food and Drug Administration–Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Coordination for Drugs Granted Accelerated Approval
Daniel Enright, MS
SPEC Database Manager
Daniel Enright, MS
SPEC Database Manager
daniel.enright@tuftsmedicine.org
Daniel manages the Specialty Drug Evidence and Coverage (SPEC) Database. His research examines how US health plans cover specialty drugs, with a focus on health plans' consideration of cost-effectiveness and health technology assessments in their coverage decisions. Daniel holds a BA in Economics from the University of Vermont and a MS in Applied Pharmacoeconomics from the University of Florida's College of Pharmacy.
Recent Publications
- Publication of Makena negative confirmatory trial had little impact on payer behavior
- Commercial Coverage of Specialty Drugs 2017-2021
- Varied Use of Step Therapy Among Medicare Advantage Plans
Grace Hatfield, BA
Research Assistant
Grace Hatfield, BA
Research Assistant
Grace's research focuses on the complexities of health technology coverage, supporting the Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) Registry, and other health economics topics. Before joining CEVR, Grace received a BA in Economics and Gender Studies from the University of Notre Dame.
Kristen LaMarque, BS
Business Development Manager
Kristen LaMarque, BS
Business Development Manager
kblanchard@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Kristen is the Business Development and Communications Manager for the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health. Her role consists of research and project assistance as well as logistical support for multiple meetings, seminars, conferences and staff travel. Kristen received her BS at Anna Maria College and has over six years of professional experience in the healthcare industry.
Fariel LaMountain, BA
Research Assistant
Fariel LaMountain, BA
Research Assistant
Fariel is a research assistant on the Specialty Drug Evidence and Coverage (SPEC). She graduated from Colby College in 2022 with a BA in Economics and Science, Technology, and Society (STS).
Alex Levine, MPH
Senior Research Associate
Alex Levine, MPH
Senior Research Associate
Adele is a researcher on the Specialty Drug Evidence and Coverage (SPEC) database team. Their research focuses on the impact of US health plan coverage decisions on patients’ access to treatment. Adele holds a BA in Health in Human Biology from Brown University and an MPH from Boston University School of Public Health. They are currently pursuing their PhD in Health Services Research at the Boston University School of Public Health.
Recent Publications
- Variation in Medicaid and commercial payer coverage of aducanumab for Alzheimer's disease
Angela (Yichen) Lin, BA
Research Assistant
Angela (Yichen) Lin, BA
Research Assistant
Angela is a research assistant on the Specialty Drug Evidence and Coverage (SPEC) team. She graduated from Tufts University in 2024 with a BA in Community Health and Economics.
Ching-Hsuan Lin, MD, MPH
Research Associate
Ching-Hsuan Lin, MD, MPH
Research Associate
Ching’s favorite part in health decision science is bridging the gap between science and health policy. At CEVR, he aspires to go beyond being a physician and improve patients’ health at a population level through cost-effectiveness analysis and modeling research.
Before joining CEVR, Ching practiced at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. He earned an MD degree from Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan and then pursued a master’s degree in Health Policy at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Sarah Mullin, BS
Research Project Coordinator
Sarah Mullin, BS
Research Project Coordinator
Sarah is the Research Project Coordinator for the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health. Her role consists of scheduling meetings, seminars, and assisting CEVR staff with administrative duties. She graduated from Kansas State University in 2021 with a BS in Human Development and Family Sciences with a minor in Dance.
Divya Patil, MS
Research Assistant
Divya Patil, MS
Research Assistant
Divya is a Research Assistant on the Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) Registry. Her work supports research activities involving health plan coverage of medical technology, health economics, and cost-effectiveness analyses. She holds a Master with Thesis in Pharmaceutical Health Services Research from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, with her thesis titled 'A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Model Framework for Treatments of Early-Stage Huntington's Disease Patients in the United States.'
Julia Rucker, BA
Research Assistant
Julia Rucker, BA
Research Assistant
Julia’s research focuses on the consistency of restrictions for drug indication pairs between third party payers and their FDA labels. Julia graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2020 with a BA in Social Work, and is currently pursuing a Masters in Social Work and Public Health at Boston University.
Recent Publications
- Variation in Medicaid and commercial coverage of cell and gene therapies
- Commercial Coverage of Specialty Drugs 2017-2021
- Variation in Medicaid and commercial payer coverage of aducanumab for Alzheimer's disease
Matt Seidner, BS
Senior Program Manager
Matt Seidner, BS
Senior Program Manager
Matthew.Seidner@tuftsmedicine.org
Matt joined CEVR in April 2024 as a Senior Program Manager. In this role, he will provide program management for CEVR’s research initiatives, lead communications and outreach efforts, and will help grow the impact of CEVR events. Prior to joining CEVR, Matt worked at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review for nearly 10 years, serving as Program Coordinator (2014-2016), Program Manager (2016-2018), Program Director (2018-2021), and Director of Policy Implementation (2021-2024). Early in his career, he provided media relations support to the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and reported on issues of local governance for the Allston-Brighton TAB. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Print Journalism from Boston University’s College of Communication.
Lu Shi, PhD
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Lu Shi, PhD
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Lu joined CEVR in August 2024. Before joining CEVR, Lu worked as CDC Steven M. Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness (PE) Fellowship. Lu Shi received her PhD from Oregon State University in Health Management and Policy. At CEVR, her research is focused on health and economic outcomes of individuals with chronic diseases, such as cancer, and healthcare utilization and cost evaluation.
Patty Synnott, MS, MALD
Program Director, Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry
Patty Synnott, MS, MALD
Program Director, Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry
psynnott@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Patricia Synnott, MS, MALD, is the Program Director of the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry at the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) at Tufts Medical Center. Her research focuses on health equity, financial risk protection, and health technology assessment. Prior to joining CEVR, Patricia served as the Director of Evidence Review at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). She received her M.S. in Applied Food and Nutrition Policy from the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and her M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is currently completing a PhD in Clinical and Translational Science at Tufts University’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Recent Publications
- Bridging the gap: aligning economic research with disease burden
- External reference pricing: The drug-pricing reform America needs?
Sean R. Tunis, MD, MSc
Senior Fellow
Sean R. Tunis, MD, MSc
Senior Fellow
sean.tunis@rubix-health.com
Sean Tunis, MD, MSc. is a Principal with Rubix Health where he consults with public and private sector organizations on health technology issues at the interface of regulatory and reimbursement policy, market access, comparative effectiveness, outcomes measurement and health technology assessment.
He is also Senior Fellow in the Tufts Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health and serves as a Mentor-in-Residence at Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures, helping early-stage companies align their clinical development programs with payer and regulatory requirements.
In 2020 and 2021, Dr. Tunis served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Principal Deputy Commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration, where he worked on the use of real-world data to inform regulatory and reimbursement decisions for medical devices and diagnostics.
Recent Publications
- Improving Food and Drug Administration–Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Coordination for Drugs Granted Accelerated Approval
- Turning CMS into a health technology assessment organization
- Medicare And Alzheimer’s Drug Coverage: Balancing Evidence Generation And Patient Access
Melanie Whittington, PhD
Senior Fellow
Melanie Whittington, PhD
Senior Fellow
melanie.whittington@tufts.edu
Melanie Whittington is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) where she advises on CEVR projects related to value assessment, economic modeling, and CEVR databases. Her research is dedicated to developing novel methods for value assessment.
She is also the Managing Director and Head of the Leerink Center for Pharmacoeconomics where she leads pharmacoeconomic evaluations of in-development and recently approved pharmaceuticals.
Prior to joining CEVR, she was the Director of Health Economics for the Institute for Clinical Economic Review (ICER) where she led the cost-effectiveness analyses and budget impact analyses within ICER reviews. She is an active member in the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research and was the 2022 recipient of the ISPOR Bernie J. O'Brien New Investigator Award.
Recent Publications
- The Case For Including Dynamic Drug Pricing In Cost-Effectiveness Analyses Under The IRA
Xiaoyan Wang, MPH
Research Assistant
Xiaoyan Wang, MPH
Research Assistant
Xiaoyan graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Epidemiology and a certificate in Comparative Effectiveness and Outcome Research. She joined CEVR in July 2024 as a Research Assistant, focusing on health economics and cost-effectiveness analyses. In her role, she manages and supports the Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) Registry database.
Yolanda (Yingying) Zhu, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Yolanda (Yingying) Zhu, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
yzhu2@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Yolanda received her PhD and master’s degrees in Public Policy from the University of Southern California. At CEVR, her research is focused on racial disparities in health care among persons living with dementia as well as reducing low-value care services.
Recent Publications
- Racial and ethnic differences in disease course Medicare expenditures for beneficiaries with dementia
- Life-Sustaining Treatments Among Medicare Beneficiaries with and without Dementia at the End of Life
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