Health and Health Care Policy Research

Pardee RAND students contribute to RAND’s portfolio of research on health and health care in the U.S. and around the globe. Recent topics include responding to and mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic, allocating limited health care resources, reducing hospital spending, and evaluating health care reform options and payment systems. Students work in areas such as public health, disability, aging, and mental and behavioral health, and many also develop expertise in health economics and outcomes research.

Student-Faculty Research Collaborations

Through project-based research and other experiential learning opportunities, students work with faculty mentors to obtain professional skills and tacit knowledge that courses alone cannot convey. Here are a few recent projects and their resulting research.

  • Students making their way through a hallway at Ridgeview STEM Junior High in Pickerington, Ohio, December 21, 2021, photo by Shane Flanigan/USA Today via Reuters

    School Districts Still Struggled in Year Three of the Pandemic

    Research by student Melissa Kay Diliberti and Professor Heather Schwartz found that 90 percent of school districts changed operations in 2021–2022 because of teacher shortages. They increased substitute teacher pay and their number of staff above prepandemic levels. They also struggled with political polarization around critical race theory, student and staff mental health, and student learning loss.

  • Two women hugging in a group setting, photo by FatCamera/Getty Images

    Evaluating WhyWeRise 2020 and 2021

    WhyWeRise is a social marketing campaign focused on prevention of, and early intervention for, mental health challenges among Los Angeles County residents. Surveys by Ingrid Estrada-Darley (cohort '19) and Profs. Rebecca Collins and Nicole Eberhart suggest that this campaign reached a racially, culturally, and economically diverse group of county residents, fostered a feeling of support among those exposed to the campaign, and boosted residents' awareness of local resources.

Explore Pardee RAND student-authored research on Health and Health Care »

Faculty Mentors

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Recent Dissertations

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