Thomas R. Oliver, Ph.D., M.H.A.

Professor, Department of Population Health Sciences
Director, UW Master of Public Health Program

Email: troliver@wisc.edu

Biography:

Thomas R. Oliver is Professor of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He serves as director of the UW Master of Public Health program and the Wisconsin Center for Public Health Education and Training and is a faculty affiliate with the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs. Professor Oliver graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology. He received a master’s degree in health administration from Duke University and received master’s and doctoral degrees in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Pew Health Policy Program at the University of California, San Francisco. Before coming to Wisconsin, he taught at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. Professor Oliver's research examines critical issues in health policy, politics, and system reform. His current work includes studies of state and national health care reforms; the use of county health rankings and multi-sector partnerships to stimulate and guide population health improvement; strategies used by foundations to influence health policy; and comparative analysis of health policies in the U.S. and European Union.

Affiliations/Associations:

• American Political Science Association
• American Public Health Association
• Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
• AcademyHealth

Select Publications:

Mayes, Rick and Thomas R. Oliver. 2012. “Chronic Disease and the Shifting Focus of Public Health: Is Prevention Still a Political Lightweight?” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 37 (April): 181-200.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2011. “Medicare.” In Paul J. Quirk and William Cunion, eds. Governing America: Major Decisions of Federal, State, and Local Governments from 1789 to the Present. New York: Facts on File, pp. 651-61.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2011. “Health Care Reform as a Halfway Technology.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 36 (June): 603-9.

Trubek, Louise C., Thomas R. Oliver, Chih-Ming Liang, Matt Mokrohisky, and Toby Campbell. 2011. “Improving Cancer Outcomes through Strong Networks and Regulatory Frameworks: Lessons from the United States and the European Union.” Journal of Health Care Law and Policy 14 (1): 119-51.

Woulfe, Julie, Thomas R. Oliver, Susan J. Zahner, and Kirstin Q. Siemering. 2010. “The Role of Multi-sector Partnerships in Population Health Improvement: Expectations and Evidence.” Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy 7 (6), November 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/nov/10_0104.htm

Oliver, Thomas R. 2010. “Population Health Rankings as Policy Indicators and Performance Measures.” Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy 7 (5). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/sep/10_0040.htm

Oliver, Thomas R. and Philip R. Lee. 2009. “The Medicare Modernization Act: Evolution or Revolution in Policy Development?” In Leah Rogne, Carroll L. Estes, Brian R. Grossman, Brooke A. Hollister, and Erica Solway. Social Insurance and Social Justice: Social Security, Medicare, and the Campaign Against Entitlements. New York: Springer Publishers, pp. 63-93.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Jason Gerson. 2009. “The Role of Foundations in Shaping Health Policy: Lessons from Efforts to Expand and Preserve Health Insurance Coverage.” In James Ferris, ed. Foundations and Public Policy: Leveraging Philanthropic Dollars, Knowledge, and Networks for Greater Impact. New York: The Foundation Center, pp. 119-70.

Rutkow, Lainie, Brad Maggy, Joanna Zablotsky, and Thomas R. Oliver. 2007. “Balancing Consumer and Industry Interests in Public Health: The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and Its Influence During the Last Two Decades.” Penn State Law Review 111: 681-738.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Rachel Friedman Singer. 2006. “Health Services Research as a Source of Legislative Analysis and Input: The California Health Benefits Review Program.” Health Services Research 41 (June): 1124-58.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2006. “The Politics of Public Health Policy.” Annual Review of Public Health 27: 195-233.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2004. “Policy Entrepreneurship in the Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of Managed Care and Managed Competition.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 29 (August-October): 701-33.

Oliver, Thomas R., Philip R. Lee and Helene L. Lipton. 2004. “A Political History of Medicare and Prescription Drug Coverage.” Milbank Quarterly 82 (June): 283-354.

Dubay, Lisa, Christina Moylan, and Thomas R. Oliver. 2004. “Advancing Toward Universal Coverage: Are States Able to Take the Lead?” Journal of Health Care Law and Policy 7 (1): 1-41.

Oliver, Thomas R. 2001. “State Health Politics and Policy: Rhetoric, Reality, and the Challenges Ahead.” In Robert B. Hackey and David A. Rochefort, eds. The New Politics of State Health Policy. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, pp. 273-91.

Shi, Leiyu, Thomas R. Oliver, and Virginia Huang. 2000. “The State Children’s Health Insurance Program: Expanding the Framework for Evaluating State Goals and Performance.” Milbank Quarterly 78 (3): 403-46.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1999. “The Dilemmas of Incrementalism: Logical and Political Constraints in the Design of Health Insurance Reforms.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 18 (Fall): 652-83.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1998. “The Collision of Economics and Politics in Medicaid Managed Care: Reflections on the Course of Reform in Maryland.” Milbank Quarterly 76 (1): 59-101.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Pamela Paul-Shaheen. 1997. “Translating Ideas into Actions: Entrepreneurial Leadership in State Health Care Reforms.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 22 (June): 721-88.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1996. “Conceptualizing the Challenges of Public Entrepreneurship.” In Chris E. Stout, ed. The Integration of Psychological Principles in Policy Development. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 5-31.

Oliver, Thomas R. and Emery B. Dowell. 1994. “Interest Groups and Health Reform: Lessons from California.” Health Affairs 13 (Spring II): 123-41.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1993. “Analysis, Advice, and Congressional Leadership: The Physician Payment Review Commission and the Politics of Medicare.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 18 (Spring): 113-74.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1991. “Ideas, Entrepreneurship, and the Politics of Health Care Reform.” Stanford Law & Policy Review 3 (Fall): 160-80.

Oliver, Thomas R. 1991. “Health Care Market Reform in Congress: The Uncertain Path from Proposal to Policy.” Political Science Quarterly 106 (Fall): 453-77.

Courses Taught:

• PHS 785 Health Systems, Management, and Policy (course director)
• PHS 810-915 International Health Systems and Policy
• PHS 717 Population Medicine and Epidemiology (co-instructor)

Research Weblinks:

http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/uwphi/healthPolicy/ebhpp.htm
http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/uwphi/healthPolicy/badgerCarePlus.htm
http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/uwphi/pha/match.htm

Contact Details: