People

Sara S. Bachman, Ph.D. is Dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.   She is an expert in health care financing and organization, with a particular focus on alternative payment strategies. Dr. Bachman has over twenty-five years' experience with health policy research and program evaluation, especially in the area of health care finance, health reform, social work, state health policy for individuals with disabilities or complex health and social conditions, including children and youth with special health care needs, working age adults, and individuals who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.   Previously she led a large grant funded research and policy analysis center, where she directed many projects. For example, she served as the Principal Investigator for the Catalyst Center, the national center funded to improve financing of care for children with special health care needs. Dr. Bachman has extensive experience in matters related to the protection of human subjects in research, having served as the faculty chair of an Institutional Review Board. Dr. Bachman received her Ph.D. in Health Policy from Brandeis University’s Florence Heller School where she was a Pew Health Policy Fellow. Dr. Bachman also has an M.S. in Epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health, and this perspective has informed her approach to understanding disability and public health issues.