Director
Richard M. Scheffler, PhD [View CV, View Publications]
Richard M. Scheffler is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Health Economics and Public Policy at the School of Public Health and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the Chair Emeritus in Healthcare Markets and Consumer Welfare endowed by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of California in 1999. In addition to directing the Petris Center, Dr. Scheffler is also the Director of the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research. He has been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, Charles University in Prague, at the Department of Economics at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and at Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain. Dr. Scheffler has been a visiting scholar at the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, and the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences and a consultant for the World Bank, the WHO, and the OECD. Professor Scheffler has been a Fulbright Scholar at Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago, Chile, and at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. He was awarded the Chair of Excellence Award at the Carlos III University of Madrid in 2013. In 2015, Dr. Scheffler was awarded the Gold Medal for Charles University in Prague for his longstanding and continued support of international scientific and educational collaboration. In 2018, Petris Center Director Dr. Richard M. Scheffler was awarded the Berkeley Citation, among the highest honors the campus bestows on its community presented on behalf of the Chancellor to individuals whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty and whose achievements exceed the standards of excellence in their fields.
Staff Members
Brent D. Fulton, PhD, MBA – Associate Director [View CV]
Brent D. Fulton, Ph.D., MBA, is an Associate Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy, and Associate Director of the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. His research areas include healthcare market concentration, health insurance markets (rate review regulation, risk adjustment and reinsurance), health reform (accountable care organizations), health workforce (pay for performance and task shifting), and mental health services (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). Brent’s doctorate is in public policy analysis from Pardee RAND Graduate School and his MBA is from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Daniel Arnold, PhD – Research Director [View CV]
Daniel Arnold is an Assistant Research Economist and Research Director of the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the impact of market power on health care prices, quality, and access as well as economy-wide wages. He has also worked on identifying the factors that contribute to the gender pay gap among physicians, forecasting future health workforce shortages, plan choice in the ACA Exchanges, and the drivers and consequences of anxiety disorder among adults. Dr. Arnold obtained his doctorate in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Ola Abdelhadi, PhD – Postdoctoral Scholar [View CV]
Ola Abdelhadi is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focusses on examining factors associated with health care quality and medical expenditures among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Her research areas of interest include health behaviors, health care access, prevention of chronic conditions, health care quality and health care utilization. Dr. Abdelhadi is trained in medicine, public health, and epidemiology. She holds a medical degree from Ain Shams University, a master’s degree in public health (MPH) from Purdue University majoring in family and community health, and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of California, Davis.
Jamie Godwin – Graduate Student Researcher [View CV]
Jamie Godwin is a PhD Candidate in Health Policy & Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. His research interests center around healthcare industry competition, expenditures, insurance, and pricing. Jamie’s dissertation focuses on hospital and private insurance market structure in the state of California. Prior to joining the Petris Center, Jamie worked as a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, studying pay for performance quality improvement initiatives and other delivery system reform programs. Jamie worked in healthcare consulting and electronic medical records implementation before beginning his graduate studies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Crystal Haryanto – Undergraduate Research Assistant [View CV]
Crystal Haryanto is an undergraduate research assistant at the Nicholas C. Petris Center. She is a junior at the University of California, Berkeley double-majoring in Economics and Cognitive Science with a minor in Public Policy. Her research interests in health policy and mental health reform tie her studies together. As part of her work at the Petris Center, Crystal engages in research on health equity, delivery systems, and market analysis. Her future plans involve pursuing a career and graduate degree centered around behavioral economics, balanced with philanthropy to continue advocating for those who are underserved.
Earnest Wang – Undergraduate Research Assistant [View CV]
Earnest Wang is an undergraduate research assistant at the Nicholas C. Petris Center and a senior at the University of California, Berkeley majoring inn Public Health and Economics. At the Petris Center, Earnest engages in research surrounding pharmaceutical drug development and private equity acquisitions of healthcare firms. He is interested in issues regarding health care accessibility, delivery, and quality. After graduating, Earnest hopes to pursue medicine and a graduate degree in healthcare management and administration.
Ava Taghizadeh – Undergraduate Research Assistant [View CV]
Ava Taghizadeh is an undergraduate research assistant at the Nicholas C. Petris Center and a senior at the University of California, Berkeley double majoring in Economics and Data Science. At the Petris Center, Ava engages in research surrounding healthcare mergers and acquisitions and using data to assess the effects of healthcare market concentration on the accessibility, affordability, and quality of care delivery. After graduation, Ava will pursue a career in healthcare consulting and hopes to eventually complete an MBA degree.
Shehbaz Virk – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Shehbaz Virk is an undergraduate research assistant at the Nicholas C. Petris Center and a junior at the University of California, Berkeley double majoring in Public Health and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry. At the Petris Center, Shehbaz engages in research surrounding market analysis and the impact of cross-market mergers on market power. He is interested in health innovation, delivery, and accessibility. After graduation, Shehbaz plans to pursue a graduate degree in public health and medicine.
Michelle Yiu – Undergraduate Research Assistant [View CV]
Michelle Yiu is an undergraduate research assistant at the Nicholas C. Petris Center. She is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley majoring in Public Health and Integrative Biology and minoring in Public Policy and Asian American Studies. She is interested in health policy issues regarding health equity, integration of social services and health care services, and health care accessibility and delivery. After graduating, Michelle hopes to work at the intersection of health policy and community health.
Dheitshaa Roma Bala – Undergraduate Research Assistant
Dheitshaa Roma Bala is a newly hired undergraduate research assistant at the Nicholas C. Petris Center. She is a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley majoring in Public Health and minoring in Public Policy. She is interested in learning and researching about the affordability and accessibility of quality healthcare in the current market. After graduation she hopes to continue researching value-based health care delivery models and health equity-based policies. She eventually hopes to attend law school after graduation.