My primary research interest is the effect of health system design on quality of care and outcomes for sick newborns. My work involves research of patient and families, clinical work areas, hospital, and health system structures. This includes health care delivery design at the macro-system level as well as organizational context at the hospital and neonatal intensive care unit level. In addition, I am interested in the use of information technology to support families, care professionals, and policy makers in their efforts to provide optimal care to sick infants.

Neesha Joseph is Program Manager for the Stanford Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging (CDEHA) and the Stanford Center on Advancing Decision Making in Aging (CADMA). In this capacity she oversees center operations, including coordinating pilot projects and center conferences and activities. She also conducts policy research on health care topics, such as the impact of age on innovation in health research, the cost and disease management implications of patient comorbidity in Medicare populations, and the impact of of health care reform on physician human capital.

She brings with her experience in health research and management. Previously Neesha worked as a Research Analyst specializing in health economics at the Milken Institute, where she was involved with various aging initiatives. She received a master's degree in public policy from the USC Price School of Public Policy, and her areas of interest include health economics and international development.

Eugene Lewit, PhD, is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Health Policy, Stanford University. His current research interests focus on implementation of the ACA and it’s impact on children and families. He also consults with philanthropies on strategy and evaluation. 

From 2009 to 2013, Lewit was Program Officer and Manager in the Children, Families, and Communities Program at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation where he managed a multimillion-dollar grant program designed to help bring health insurance to all children. From 1999 to 2008, Lewit was Senior Program Manager for Heath and Economic Security and from 1991- 1999, Director, Research and Grants, Economics at the Packard Foundation. He managed large grant programs focused on children’s health care quality, poverty, welfare reform, and family economic security.  In this capacity, he helped launch and develop key organizations working on children’s health care quality including the Vermont Oxford Network and the National Institute for Children’s Health Care Quality as well as seeding the dissemination of the California County Children’s Health Initiatives from Santa Clara County to 28 other counties in California.

Lewit is trained as a health economist and until 2010 was a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. With his NBER colleagues, he published several seminal articles on tobacco taxation and other tobacco control policies. He has consulted with the WHO and World Bank on tobacco policy in developing countries. Lewit has also published on grantmaking, children’s health and health care policy, and poverty and income security for children and families and was an editor and regular contributor to The Future of Children.

In 2013, Lewit received the Academy Award from the National Academy for State Health Policy for “outstanding national leadership in improving health coverage for children,” and the Champion for Children award from the First Focus Campaign for Children.  From 2011 to 2014, Lewit served on the Board of Directors of Grantmakers In Health.

Dr. Mintu Turakhia a board-certified internist, cardiologist, and cardiac electrophysiologist and Director of the Cardiac Electrophysiology program at the Palo Alto VA Health Care System. He is a core investigator of the VA Center for Health Care Evaluation (CHCE).

Dr. Turakhia's research program aims to improve the treatment of heart rhythm disorders by evaluating quality of care, comparative effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of drug and device-based therapies for treatment of arrhythmias, with an emphasis on atrial fibrillation. Dr. Turakhia is a recipient of the VA HSR&D Career Development Award, AHA National Scientist Development Grant, and his research program is supported by grants from VA, AHA, NIH, foundations, and industry collaborations. By leveraging and linking VA and Medicare claims, electronic health records, and third-party data sources, Dr. Turakhia's group has created one of the most-comprehensive and cohorts with incident atrial fibrillation, including over 500,000 person-years of follow-up. Dr. Turakhia has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and abstracts.