Merck Quantitative Sciences Graduate Fellowship Program

 

Overview

 

The Merck Fellowship supports doctoral students by providing the necessary infrastructure and training opportunities for interdisciplinary study. Since 2008, three scholars of extraordinary merit have received the Fellowship in order to pursue their studies at the intersection of health and economics.

 

The specific curriculum taken by each fellow will vary based on his or her individualized PhD program and prior training, but is a combination of classes offered by the Department of Economics, Booth School of Business, Harris School of Public Policy Studies and the Pritzker School of Medicine.

 

 

Eligibility

 

Those who are pursuing their doctorate in Economics, Public Policy, Law or Business or an MD/PhD in Medicine and Social Sciences and wish to focus on health economics, particularly on quantitative methods and their applications are eligible to apply.  Only one or two applicants are accepted each year as Merck Fellows, and therefore the recipient(s) of the Merck Fellowship receive individualized tailored attention and guidance in regards to planning and executing their graduate program.

 

 

Fellows

 

Tom Best, MS
Tom Best is a PhD Candidate in Management Science / Operations Management at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  He previously worked as a health systems engineer at the University of Chicago Medical Center, focusing on projects in clinical and operations quality.  Prior to his time at the University, he received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  As a graduate student, he conducted process and quality improvement projects for UW Health.

 

Anjali Oza
Anjali Oza is a PhD Candidate in Health Economics at the Harris School of Public Policy. Her research interests include sexually transmitted infections, risky behavior, contraceptive use, and global public health. She was appointed a Merck Fellow in March 2009.  Anjali's job market paper is titled “Plan B as Insurance: The effect of making emergency contraception over-the-counter on STIs and Pregnancy Termination.”  In this work, she explores consequences of improved access to emergency contraception, finding it leads to an increase in STIs and decrease in abortions among women ages 15-29 in the United States. Anjali is an NIH/AHRQ National Research Service Award Pre-doctoral Fellow and holds the Merck Quantitative Sciences Graduate Fellowship in Health Economics. She is also a recipient of the University of Chicago Program for Pharmaceutical Policy (UCP3) Pre-doctoral Award. Anjali received her bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

Peter Savelyev
Peter is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Economics. Peter has worked with Professor James Heckman on extending the famous Grossman model for health care demand to understand the role of the non-cognitive skills for individual level health investments. 

 

 

For More Information

 

Please contact Coleman Evans at cevans@bsd.uchicago.edu.