Earlier this week, a Harvard professor was appointed as the new dean of the Harris School of Public Policy.

Katherine Baicker studies health care policy, health care reforms, and health insurance finance as the C. Boyden Gray Professor of Health Economics at Harvard University. On August 15, Baicker will succeed professor Kerwin Charles, who has been serving as the interim dean of Harris since July 2016.

“I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the enormously talented faculty, staff, and students at Harris during this very exciting time for the school,” Baicker told the News Office. “Bringing rigorous analysis to bear on pressing policy questions is more vital now than ever, and the exceptional scholarship and academic programs of Harris have positioned it as a rising leader in this crucial work.”

Baicker was a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 2005 to 2007 and a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises the U.S. Congress on its administration of the Medicare Program. In 2007 she was chosen as a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and of the National Academy of Medicine in 2007.

Baicker also led the Department of Health Policy and Management as chairperson at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2014 to 2016, and has served on the faculty of Harvard University since 2007. Baicker taught at the Harris School of Public Policy as a visiting assistant professor in 2003.