Abigail Barker, PhD
Research Associate Professor
WashU Brown School
Title: “Impactful Collaboration: Encouraging Research-Informed Policies through Policy-Driven Research”
Spark Meetings are hosted by the Children and Youth Collaborative Network (CYCN)
Short bio: Abigail Barker, PhD is a health economist and research associate professor at the WashU Brown School. She is Associate Director for Policy Partnerships at the WashU Center for Advancing Health Services, Policy, and Economics Research, a role which includes helping social science and clinical researchers add cost and cost-effectiveness analyses to their work to increase policy relevance, as well as creating data visualizations to allow stakeholders to interactively understand the tradeoffs of various health policy choices.
She is also an economic consultant for the State of Missouri’s Medicaid program, contributing to transformation initiatives including payment policy redesign, accountability and transparency, and ways to address social risk factors in vulnerable populations. She designs data-informed and evidence-based policy solutions that focus on aligning incentives to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities. She believes the key is to define “value” in a comprehensive way that truly encompasses patients’ wellbeing. This approach is at the heart of several initiatives she is leading or assisting that aspire to move the needle on key maternal/infant health outcomes as well as improving sustainability in rural access to care within Missouri Medicaid.
The newly-created CYCN is supported by the Office of the Provost and designed to catalyze research by facilitating connection and collaboration among those at Washington University who have the same end goal: To improve the lives of children. Through a series of monthly Spark Meetings, we’ll hear diverse perspectives and approaches regarding research, clinical care and policy implementation, followed by discussion on how cross-collaboration across disciplines could create synergy and spark new advances. Interested to learn more? Looking for collaboration?
When: Monthly
Where: Alternating between the Danforth and Medical Campuses
For inquiries contact Diane Wittling at ChildYouthNetwork@wustl.edu.
