Nina Gao PhD’18 Wins Honorable Mention for Best Dissertation at APPAM

Nina Gao PhD’18 was recently awarded an honorable mention for best dissertation by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM), the largest public policy association. Her noteworthy dissertation, “What Gets Measured (Gets Done),” is composed of three essays: two related to mental health and one related to the political economy of determining the value of physician work. 

The nation’s largest public policy association, APPAM is dedicated to improving public policy and management by fostering excellence in research, analysis, and education, and it houses the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, one of the leading journals in the field of public policy and public management. APPAM’s PhD Dissertation Award seeks to recognize emergent scholars in the field.

Nina began with an interest in the role of providers in healthcare markets and the process for valuing physician work; policy researchers are often interested in the measurement of intangibles and the uneasy coexistence of expertise and discretion with accountability. However, as a medical student working at a private psychiatric hospital, Nina began to see things beyond what she was learning in the classroom. During this time, she became more and more interested in how measurement, provider discretion, and accountability connected to psychiatry.  

“During most of our lives, we see a very small sliver of the distribution of human talent, personality, emotion, and experience,” Nina said. “Especially in inpatient psychiatry, you meet people during some of the worst times in their lives. You feel very privileged to see that and to help people get through it”.

“I had never seen the billing department chasing a doctor down the wards or telling them to put stuff in the note or else the patient would be discharged,” said Nina. “A lot of the models we had learned in Health Econ 101 didn't seem to describe the situation well at all.”

Inpatient psychiatry isn't always the best context for rational consumer models, but Nina believes there is rationality that comes from the providers rather than the consumers. In addition to these academic issues, Nina loves psychiatric practice and feels grateful that she has been able to gain the experience she has through her clinicals. 

A major difficulty with the research that Nina conducts is in engaging both economists and physicians to look outside of traditional disciplinary norms for insights. “I've had some physicians tell me they are suspicious about observational studies or policy studies more generally,” said Nina. “The flip side is you get to hear a lot of different perspectives and learn a lot from them”.

Following the announcement of her honorable mention, Nina was quick to thank those who helped her come this far. “I think the award reflects the generosity and dedication of my committee members Dan Black, Damon Jones, David Meltzer, and Neale Mahoney, and of Cynthia Cook-Conley,” Nina said. 

“As a policy researcher, you aren't trying to cure cancer,” said Nina. “A lot of what you do is centered around trying to understand and explain things so that other people can do their jobs better. I think a lot of patients would stand to benefit if people in psychiatry and people in economics could learn more from each other – and I'm happy to act as a liaison”. 

Gao earned her bachelor’s in economics and chemistry from University of Chicago and is currently completing her MD. For now, Nina plans to focus on her next part of medical training: residency.