Since its inception in 1970, the Pardee RAND Graduate School has graduated nearly 300 PhDs, who have gone on to a wide range of jobs in government, business, non-profit institutions, and academia.
PRGS organizes alumni activities and encourages alumni to let us know of their achievements and whereabouts. This page provides a brief glimpse at some recent events and news.
The U.S.-South Korean Extended Deterrence Policy Committee was setup to deter North Korean threats, writes PRGS alum Bruce Bennett (cohort '75). The upcoming summit should ratify the progress of this effort, reassuring both the Korean and U.S. people that these threats are being managed.
PRGS professor and alum Cheryl Damberg (cohort '89) testified before Congress. Among her conclusions: "Revising physician payment is a daunting challenge, but one that is absolutely necessary. Performance-based payment reform is vital to driving improvements in health care delivery."
In this video, Jordan Fischbach discusses how RAND helped Louisiana develop its 2012 Coastal Master Plan and key lessons that can make other communities more resilient in the face of natural disasters.
Given the size of the U.S. annual “health care spend”—$2.7 trillion—summing up the savings associated with very minor cost-saving policy changes is likely to achieve significant aggregate savings, writes PRGS alum Jeffrey Wasserman (cohort '85), acting director of RAND Health and assistant dean for academic affairs at PRGS.
In this January 2013 Congressional Briefing, PRGS professor and alum Jordan Fischbach (cohort '04) discusses how RAND helped Louisiana develop its 2012 Coastal Master Plan and key lessons that can make other communities more resilient in the face of natural disasters.
PRGS alum Helen Wu (cohort '07) discusses a RAND study that looked at over 300,000 menu items in 245 restaurants. The study, which started as Wu's dissertation research and is the largest ever on chain restaurant nutrition, found that 96 percent of restaurant items exceeded USDA recommendations.
PRGS alumnus Jordan Ostwald (cohort '08) worked with RAND colleagues to develop a disaster preparedness planning tool. As municipalities dig out from Sandy and plan for the future, this could prove quite helpful.
In an excellent example of how PRGS helps RAND innovate to make a difference in the world, an all-PRGS team developed a model to assess flood risk in coastal Louisiana: Professor (and alum) Jordan Fischbach (cohort '04), Professor David Ortiz, students David Johnson (cohort '08) and Matthew Hoover (cohort '09), and alumni Ben Bryant (cohort '05) and Jordan Ostwald (cohort '08).
State financing of higher education is under stress as countries all over the world struggle with fiscal pressures. PRGS professor Charles A. Goldman, student Megan Clifford (cohort '09) and alumna Lindsay Daugherty (cohort '05) review a number of cost-sharing policies that can be adopted and how they may affect access to and the quality of education.
Interventions that address potentially detrimental consequences of low socioeconomic status and adverse school environments among pre-adolescent Latino and black children may help reduce racial and ethnic differences in child health, according to research by PRGS alumnus Mark Schuster (cohort '91).
The Commencement 2012 issue of
Findings includes information about the Dean's speech (and links to all the speeches), photos of alumni and graduates, and featured news about alumni and PRGS events.
PRGS Alum Cheryl Damberg (cohort '89) and Professors Christine Eibner and Arthur Kellermann are among the RAND experts reacting to what is likely the most significant health care-related court decision of the U.S.
After 14 years as senior researcher at RAND Health, PRGS alumna Donna Farley (cohort '89) retired in September 2010. She recently spoke with Jeffrey Wasserman (cohort '85), Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at PRGS, and reflected upon her experiences both as a PRGS student and a RAND researcher.
PRGS alumna Elizabeth McGlynn (cohort '83) has been honored with AcademyHealth's 2012 Distinguished Investigator Award. Her extensive research on health care quality has had an enormous impact on how experts evaluate health care reform.
Mark J. Albrecht (cohort ’73) is the inaugural recipient of the PRGS Alumni Leadership Award. The award will be given on Friday, June 22, 2012, at the Celebratory Dinner during Commencement Weekend.
Despite growing concern that junk food availability in schools has contributed to the childhood obesity epidemic, research by PRGS alumna Ashlesha Datar (cohort '99) shows that the availability does not significantly increase BMI or obesity among a group of fifth-graders.
Past Events
(Years in parentheses are cohort years.)
Commencement Weekend in Santa Monica
— June 22-23, 2012
Two dozen alumni joined us to celebrate Commencement 2012. We hope to see you all in two years!
APPAM Conference Reception in Washington, D.C.
— Nov. 4, 2011
PRGS held a reception at the APPAM Conference, attended by alumni Richard Bowman ('06), Abby Brown ('02), Lindsay Daugherty ('05), Diana Epstein ('05), John Fei ('04), Qian Gu ('04), Larry Picus ('84), Bogdan Savych ('02), Baoping Shang ('00), Mike Shires ('90), Brooke Stearns Lawson ('05), Anna-Marie Vilamovska ('05), and Yuhui Zheng ('03), as well as several current students
Dinner with the Dean in New York City
— Nov. 3, 2011
Yuhua Bao ('09), Mike Dardia ('09), Chris Ordowich ('09), Jeff Peterson ('09), and Nishal (Nick) Ramphal ('09) attended the intimate dinner at dinner at Bar Boulud, along with two PRGS Board Members.
Dinner with the Dean in Albuquerque
— Oct. 20, 2011
Alumni alumni Richard Bowman ('06) and Meg Blume-Kohout ('04), and current student Claudia Diaz ('06), dined with Dean Marquis at Church Street Café in Old Town Albuquerque during her visit to New Mexico.
Dinner with the Dean in Boston
— Sep. 21, 2011
During her visit to RAND's Boston Office, Dean Marquis hosted a dinner for alumni Bogdan Savych ('09), Richard Bowman ('06), and Yuhui Zheng ('03), and current student Ethan Scherer ('07) who is working in the office.
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