Robert Valdez

Photo: Robert Valdez

Ph.D. Associate Director of the Office of Community Health, RWJF Professor of Family Community Medicine & Economics

Emeritus

Email:  ROValdez@salud.unm.edu
Phone:  (505) 272-2165
CV:  Download PDF

Bio

Professor Valdez served as the Founding Executive Director of the RWJF Center for Health Policy at UNM. He previously served as founding Dean at the Drexel University School of Public Health. From 1985 through 1999, he was Professor of Health Services at the UCLA School of Public Health and directed the health services doctoral studies program and served as associate director of the Chicano Studies Research Center. Dr. Valdez started his health policy career as a lead researcher for the historic RAND Health Insurance Experiment. He is internationally recognized as an expert in health services research, the U.S. health care system, and health policy analysis. From 1993 through 1997, Dr. Valdez served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Public Health Service) and Director of Interagency Health Policy (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). Prior to joining DHHS, he served as a Senior Advisor to the White House on health care reform. In 1998, he served as Special Senior Advisor to the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. He currently serves as Immediate Past Chair, New Mexico Community Foundation and Chairman, American Hospital Association Foster G McGaw Prize Committee. He previously served as the Chairman of the board of the Public Health Institute, one of the nation’s largest non-profit public health agencies serving communities across the state of California and internationally.

Research Areas

  • Helath and Healthcare Economics
  • Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Health Disparities
  • Economic stratification

Teaching Interests

  • Policy Analysis
  • Health Insurance
  • Government Budgeting and Finance

Selected Publications

Newhouse, J.P., et al., Free for All? Lessons of the RAND Health Insurance Experiment, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.

Odufuwa, O.O., Berrens, R., Valdez, R.B., “Assessing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Willingness to Pay for Morbidity Reductions: Evidence from the Aging Population,” In W.A. Vega, K.S. Markides, J.L. Angle, & Torres-Gil, F.M. (eds), Challenges of Latino Aging in the Americas, Springer International Press, pp 333-353, 2015.

Valdez, R.B., H. Morgenstern, E.R. Brown, R. Wyn, C. Wang, W. Cumberland, "Insuring Latinos against the Costs of Illness," JAMA, Feb. 17, 1993; 269(7), 889-894.

Valdez, R.B., J.E. Ware, W.G. Manning, R.H. Brook, W.H. Rogers, G.A. Goldberg, J.P. Newhouse, "Prepaid Group Practice Effects on the Utilization of Medical Services and Health Outcomes for Children: Results from a Controlled Study," Pediatrics, Vol. 83, No. 2, February 1989, pp. 168-180.

Valdez, R.B., R.H. Brook, W.H. Rogers, J.E. Ware, E.B. Keeler, C.A. Sherbourne, K.N. Lohr, G.A. Goldberg, C. Camp, J.P. Newhouse, "The Consequences of Cost Sharing for Children's Health," Pediatrics, Vol. 75, May 1985, pp. 952-961.