Vivian Ho is the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics, a professor in the Department of Economics at Rice University, and a professor at Baylor College of Medicine since 2004. [1] Ho's research examines the effects of economic incentives and regulations on healthcare quality and costs. Her research has been published in economics, medical, and health services journals. [2]
Ho was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1963 and moved to Calgary, Alberta, at an early age. When she was six, her father took a job in Southern California. [3]
After graduating from high school in Long Beach, California, Ho enrolled at Harvard University and earned her AB in economics cum laude . Following graduation, she attended the Australian National University and received a graduate diploma in Economics, passing with merit. Ho enrolled in Stanford University's Ph.D. program in economics in 1986 and graduated in 1992. [1]
Following graduate school, Ho became an assistant professor at McGill University in the departments of Medicine and Economics. In 1996, she was an assistant professor of Economics and Management at Washington University in St. Louis. From 2000-2005, she worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She was also named the Center for Aging and Health Policy program director there. Ho has been at Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy since 2004 as the James A. Baker Chair in Health Economics. [4]
Ho's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the American Cancer Society, Arnold Ventures and Health Care Service Corporation. [5] She has been the principal investigator in 16 grants and a co-investigator in nine grants. [6]
In 2020, Ho was elected as a National Academy of Medicine member [7] and currently serves as the Membership Chair for Section 11. She has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Health Statistics and the NIH Health Services, Outcomes and Delivery study section. She is also a founding board member of the American Society for Health Economists [8] and a member of the American Journal of Health Economics Editorial Board. [9]
She was a board member of Community Health Choice for ten years and is a current member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield (Health Care Service Corporation) of Texas Community Advisory Board. She also serves on the Texas Employers for Affordable Health Care Advisory board [10] and the Houston Business Coalition on Healthcare Advisory board. [11]
Ho is married and has one son.
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a 2.1-square-mile (5.4 km2) medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrated in a triangular area between Brays Bayou, Rice University, and Hermann Park, are members of the Texas Medical Center Corporation—a non-profit umbrella organization—which constitutes the largest medical center and life science destination in the world. As the world's largest medical center, it's also nicknamed as the "Medical Mini-City". The TMC has the world's highest density of clinical facilities for patient care, basic biomedical sciences, and translational research.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is a comprehensive cancer center in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the world and one of the original three NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country. It is both a degree-granting academic institution and a cancer treatment and research center located within Texas Medical Center (TMC), Houston, the largest medical center and life sciences destination in the world. MD Anderson Cancer Center has consistently ranked #1 among the best hospitals for cancer care and research in the U.S. and worldwide, and it has held the #1 position 20 times in the last 23 years in U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals rankings for cancer care. As of 2023, MD Anderson Cancer Center is home to the highest number of cancer clinical trials in the world and has received more NCI-funded projects than any other U.S. institute. In 2024, Newsweek placed MD Anderson at #1 in their annual list of the World's Best Specialized Hospitals in oncology.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is a public academic health science center in Houston, Texas, United States. It was created in 1972 by The University of Texas System Board of Regents. It is located in the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world. It is composed of six schools: McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UTHealth School of Dentistry, Cizik School of Nursing, UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics and UTHealth School of Public Health.
"Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy", also known as the "Baker Institute", is an American think tank housed on the campus of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1993, it functions as a center for public policy research. It is named for James A. Baker, III, former United States Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and White House Chief of Staff. It is directed by Ambassador David M. Satterfield and funded mainly by donor contributions, endowments, and research grants.
Texas A&M Health, also known as Texas A&M University Health, and Texas A&M University Health Science Center, is the medical education component of Texas A&M University, and offers health professions research, education and patient care in dentistry, medicine, nursing, biomedical sciences, public health, and pharmacy on its several campuses. One of the fastest-growing academic health centers in the nation, Texas A&M Health encompasses six schools and numerous centers and institutes. It was established in 1999 as an independent institution of the Texas A&M University System and received accreditation in December 2002 from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate, master's, doctoral and professional degrees. The institution and its colleges merged with Texas A&M University on July 12, 2013.
Bruce C. Kone is an American professor, nephrologist and molecular biologist. He is also a World Aquatics Masters Swimming world record holder, United States Masters Swimming (USMS) national record holder, twenty-three-time USMS national champion, and nine-time FINA Masters world's top-ranked age group swimmer. He is currently a tenured professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey is an American medical doctor and executive who served as president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from 2003 to 2017. She was the first woman and the first African-American to head the foundation, which has an endowment of about $8 billion and distributes more than $400 million a year. She has been named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes several times, and one of The Grio's History Makers in the Making. She was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Kirstin Matthews is a Fellow in Science and Technology Policy at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. Matthews received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Texas Health Science Center. Matthews has published multiple policy recommendations pertaining to stem cell research, climate change, and health care.
Mitchell J. Blutt is an American physician-businessman. He is one of the first physicians to play a prominent role on Wall Street by drawing on his medical training to identify investment potential in healthcare companies. He is the founder and CEO of the New York-based healthcare investment firm, Consonance Capital, and a former Executive Partner of J.P. Morgan Partners. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University.
Karen Davis is president of The Commonwealth Fund, a national philanthropy engaged in independent research on health and social policy issues. Davis is an economist, with a career in public policy and research. Before joining The Commonwealth Fund, she served as chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where she also held an appointment as professor of economics. She served as deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Department of Health and Human Services from 1977–1980, becoming the first woman to head a U.S. public health service agency.
Vivian S. Lee is an American radiologist and health care/health technology executive. An Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Lee is the author of the book, The Long Fix: Solving America's Health Care Crisis with Strategies That Work for Everyone. Lee is also a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2019, she was named No. 11 in Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare and is a frequent speaker at national and international meetings on the applications of big data, AI, and technology in healthcare, leadership and managing change, health equity, and on climate change and health system resilience.
Regina E. Herzlinger is an American businessperson and academic. She is the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (HBS) where she teaches the Master of Business Administration program. Herzlinger was the first woman to obtain tenure or become a chair at HBS. She has also been the first woman on several company boards. Her approach has been described as fiscally conservative.
Shirley Weis is an American business executive, consultant and author. She was the first woman chief administrative officer in the 150-year history of Mayo Clinic.
Valerie Montgomery Rice is an American obstetrician, gynecologist, and college administrator. She is the president and dean of Morehouse School of Medicine.
Patrick H. Conway is an American physician and an advocate of health system transformation and innovation in the public and private sector. He is a practicing pediatrician formerly serving at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Children's National Medical Center. He was the chief medical officer and acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) leading quality-of-care efforts for the nation. Conway also served as the Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and was responsible for new national payment models for Medicare and Medicaid focused on better quality and lower costs.
The Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, located in Houston, Texas, is the graduate medical school of the University of Houston. The school enrolled its first class of 30 students in 2020.
Maureen Kelley is the Wallace and Mona Wu Chair in Bioethics at Wake Forest University's Centre for Bioethics, Health & Society. Previous to this role she held a Chair in Ethics Education and Professor of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, and Professor of Bioethics at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, England from 2016 to 2022. She has previously served on the World Health Organization's COVID-19 research ethics review committee.
Herminia Palacio is an American nonprofit executive who was formerly CEO of the Guttmacher Institute. She formerly served as Deputy Mayor of New York City for Health and Human Services under Bill de Blasio from 2016 to 2019.