Ken Thorpe, PhD
Ken Thorpe is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He has held Professorial positions at Tulane University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Harvard University and Columbia University. Ken has also held Visiting Faculty positions at Pepperdine University and Duke University.
Ken was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 1995, where he coordinated all financial estimates and program impacts of President Clinton’s healthcare reform proposals for the White House. He also directed the administration’s estimation efforts in dealing with Congressional healthcare reform proposals during the 103rd and 104th sessions of Congress. As an academic, he has testified before several committees in the U.S. Senate and House on healthcare reform and insurance issues.
Ken has authored and co-authored more than 120 articles, book chapters and books and is a frequent national presenter on issues of healthcare financing, insurance and healthcare reform. He has worked with several groups (including the American College of Physicians, American Hospital Association, National Coalition on Health Care, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Service Employees International Union, AHIP and the United Hospital Fund) and policymakers (including Senators Wellstone, Corzine, Bingaman, Snowe, Feinstein, Cassidy, Carper, Clinton, Obama and Kennedy) to develop and evaluate alternative approaches for providing health insurance to the uninsured. He serves as a reviewer on several healthcare journals.
Ken is chairman of Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), an international coalition of more than 80 groups focused on highlighting the key role that chronic disease plays in the growth in healthcare spending, and the high rates of morbidity and mortality. In addition, PFCD focuses on identifying best practice prevention and care coordination strategies and scaling them countrywide.
In Policy 101, Ken will lead attendees in understanding the basics and ethics of policies, understanding the major changes taking place right now in governmental policies and how that is spurring innovation, and how using incremental and fast policymaking fosters large change.
