Tomas J. Philipson
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Tomas J. Philipson is an award winning professor of health economics at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies, a faculty member at the University of Chicago department of economics, and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. Philipson is also the co-founder of Precision Heath Economics LLC.
Philipson was born and raised in Sweden where he obtained an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Uppsala University. He continued his academic career at the Wharton School where he received his MA, and then at the University of Pennsylvania where he received his PhD in economics. In 1989 Philipson started work at the University of Chicago as a postdoctoral fellow, where he has served since. In 2003 he took a leave of absence from the University to work as Senior Economic Advisor to the head of the Food and Drug Administration, and subsequently as Senior Economic Advisor to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services until 2005. His current work includes developing policy as a member of the health care task force for Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign, as well as working as an economic consultant for a number of firms, both private and public.
Philipson's recent work focuses on the effectiveness of public health policies that attempt to lower American obesity rates by educating individuals in the benefits of healthy living. Philipson's work focuses on how the lowering cost of food and the increasing opportunity cost of exercising are the primary causes of rising obesity rates, rather than the common concern that increased consumption causes.
Philipson has been the recipient of many awards in his field including, the Kenneth Arrow Award of the International Health Economics Association (for best paper in the field of health economics), the Garfield Award by Research America in 2007 (for best paper in field of health economics), The Prêmio Haralambos Simeonidisand from the Brazilian Economic Association in 2006 (for best paper in any field), and the Distinguished Economic Research Award from the Milken Institute in 2003 (for best paper in any field of economics). In addition Philipson has been the recipient of a number of grants from agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
