Dr Michael E. Chernew Characterizes the Ideal Candidate for the Seema S. Sonnad Award

We need to find someone who’s doing very strong, rigorous research and then we need to find someone who’s doing work on really important topics, says Michael E. Chernew, PhD, the Leonard D. Schaeffer Professor of Health Care Policy; director of the Healthcare Markets and Regulation Lab in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School; and co-editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Managed Care^®.

Transcript

What are you looking for in the next winner of the Seema S. Sonnad Emerging Leader in Managed Care Research Award?

We’re looking for the quality of research. That’s probably in my view the number one criteria. We need to find someone who’s doing very strong, rigorous research and then we need to find someone who’s doing work on really important topics. Those are probably the 2 most important things. The way in which they’ve engaged with the field matters. Their overall reputation matters. But I think it’s really not that complex. We want people who are doing good research on important topics.

Why should academic institutions nominate candidates for the Seema S. Sonnad award?

It’s always valuable to win an award. Who doesn’t like to be recognized for the work that they’re doing? And as the award has grown - I think we’re probably in its fifth year, somewhere around that. There’s been great winners in the past. I know many of them, I’ve met many of them because they’ve won the award and I think it’s always good for an organization, not just the individual faculty member, but for the whole organization, to recognize that they have faculty that are recognized by groups of their peers. You can’t win if you’re not nominated. To the extent that the junior faculty want to be recognized for the work that they’re doing and the extent to which the university benefits from the recognition that their faculty receive, I think it’s good to nominate people.