Thomas Oliver

Thomas R. Oliver is Professor of Population Health Sciences in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. There, he is a faculty affiliate of the La Follette School of Public Affairs and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. 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 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 held faculty positions at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. Professor Oliver teaches courses in public health policy and politics and in international health systems and policy to MPH students and a variety of other professional and graduate students. In addition, he is the faculty director for the Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellowship Program. Over the course of his career, Professor Oliver has published a wide range of research examining major issues in health politics, policy and system reform at all levels of government. He was selected for an Investigator Award in Health Policy Research by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and served as president of the Health Politics and Policy section of the American Political Science Association. His most recent research focuses on the role of social capital in general health and mental health, including during COVID-19; the importance of primary care and prevention in China’s efforts to improve its health systems; and the growth and future challenges of Medicare’s managed care program.

Courses Taught

• PUBHLTH 792: Public Health Policy and Politics
• PHS 915: International Health Systems and Policy

Affiliations/Associations

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

Curriculum Vitae

Tom Oliver CV