David A. Asch Faculty Profile

David A. Asch
Robert D. Eilers Professor of Health Care Management and Economics; Professor of Medicine, Health Care Systems, Operations and Information Management and Medical Ethics
Executive Director, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics

MD, Cornell University, 1984; MBA, The Wharton School, 1989; AB, Harvard University, 1980

Research Areas
Clinician and patient decision making; health policy; medical ethics; technology assessment; health care management; physician executives

Current Projects
Genetic testing for cancer and the economics of insurance systems; health disparities and health equity; health policy methods

Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 1998-present (named Robert D. Eilers Professor, 1998; Executive Director, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics 1998-present). University of Pennsylvania: 1989-present (Associate Director, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, 1992-1996; Chief, Health Services Research, Philadelphia VA Medical Center, 1992-present; Chief, Section of General Internal Medicine, Philadelphia VA Medical Center, 1993-1996; Co-Director, Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Department of Veterans Affairs, 2001-present; Director, Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program, 2002-present) 

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards
Elected Member, Institute of Medicine, 2007; Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, 2006; Elected Member, Association of American Physicians, 2005; Arthur K. Asbury Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, 2004; Mid Career Research Mentorship Award, Society of General Internal Medicine, 2004; Robert C. Witt Research Award, American Risk and Insurance Association, 2000; Samuel P. Martin, III Award in Health Services Research, 1999; Outstanding Investigator Award in Clinical Science, American Federation for Medical Research, 1999; Nellie Westerman Prize, American Federation for Medical Research, 1998; Outstanding Paper Award, Society for Medical Decision Making, 1997; Young Investigator Award, Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy, 1997; John M. Eisenberg Teaching Award, 1995

Representative Publications
(with J.C. Hershey)
"Why Some Health Policies Don't Make Sense at the Bedside." Annals of Intern Medicine (1995).

(with J.C. Hershey, M.V. Pauly, J.P. Patton, M.K. Jedrziewski, and M.T. Mennuti)
"Genetic Screening for Reproductive Planning: Methodologic and Conceptual Issues in Policy Analysis." American Journal of Public Health (1996).

(with P.A. Ubel)
"Rationing By Any Other Name." New England Journal of Medicine 1997.

(with J. Lemaire, K. Subramanian, and K. Armstrong)
"Pricing Term Insurance in the Presence of a Family History of Breast or Ovarian Cancer." North American Actuarial Journal 2000.

(with K. Armstrong, and J.S. Schwartz)
"Direct Sale of Sildenafil (Viagra) to Consumers Over the Internet." New England Journal of Medicine (1999).

(with S. Nicholson, M.V. Pauly, L.R. Burns, and A. Baumritter)
"Measuring Community Benefits Provided by For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Hospitals." Health Affairs (2000).