Brad Wright, Ph.D., M.S.

Brad Wright is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Services Policy and Management in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Prior to that he served on the faculty of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Iowa. His work—which has been supported by NIH, HRSA, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Iowa Department of Human Services, and multiple private foundations—focuses on disparities in health care delivery, with an emphasis on publicly insured populations, primary care, and emergency medicine. Dr. Wright is one of the nation’s leading experts on both federally qualified health centers and hospital observation stays. His other interests include health politics and policy and health reform. His research has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Network Open, JAMA Health Forum, Health Affairs, Medical Care, Health Services Research, and the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law among others, and he received the John D. Thompson Prize for Young Investigators in 2016 in recognition of his contributions to the field. Dr. Wright also teaches graduate courses on the U.S. health care system, health policy, and health policy analysis.

Dr. Wright holds a PhD in health policy and management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MS in health policy from George Washington University, and a BS in biology from the University of Georgia. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in health services research at Brown University and was a participant in the NIH extramural loan repayment program in health disparities.

Below, Dr. Wright shares his experience as an AcademyHealth member...

Having attended multiple other health research conferences where I felt overwhelmed and a little out of place, I found the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM) easy to navigate, welcoming, and full of the exact type of people I wanted to meet. I was given the opportunity to present my research, both podium and poster presentations, and immediately recognized that my work was being put in front of the right people – a unique combination of peers and those from other sectors and interest areas. At each meeting, I establish new face-to-face connections that enhance by ability to stand out in the field. I cannot emphasize enough how much I appreciate the professionalism and warmth of the AcademyHealth membership community. There’s something to be said for a comfortable environment in which you can openly share your thoughts and ideas with a group of diverse colleagues.

I have been a member of AcademyHealth since 2009, including several years of service on the Disparities Interest Group Advisory Committee (including a term as Chair), and a term on the Membership Committee. I look forward to my network expanding over the course of my career thanks to my connection to the AcademyHealth family.