Center for Outcomes and Evidence

Joanna E. Siegel, RN, SM, SD

Joanna E. Siegel, SD, received her undergraduate degree in Nursing from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and her masters in Health Policy and doctorate in Health Decision Sciences from Harvard School of Public Health. On the faculty at Harvard School of Public Health, her research focused on cost-effectiveness analysis and its applications in HIV/AIDS policy, diabetes, and drug policy. Dr. Siegel spent 3 years working with an expert panel convened by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to propose guidelines for the practice of cost-effectiveness analysis. She served as co-editor of the panel's report, Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine, which continues to serve as an important reference for the field. Relocating to Washington DC, she joined the newly-created Arlington Health Foundation as its Director of Evaluation, overseeing evaluation activities for the Foundation's $4 million annual grants program and developing its initiative in children's health.

Dr. Siegel joined AHRQ in 2000. She directed the Research Initiative in Clinical Economics (RICE), a program to support and promote the development of tools and knowledge for the efficient allocation of health care resources. In this capacity, she focused on improving the usefulness of cost-effectiveness studies for informing health policy decisions, including DHHS coordination of the Institute of Medicine study, Valuing Health for Regulatory Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, studies of deliberative methods for incorporating public values in health policy, analysis of efforts to systematize cost-effectiveness information in formulary decision making, and strategic planning for incorporating cost-effectiveness information in health care decisions.

Dr. Siegel currently coordinates the Community Forum, a 3-year project to improve and expand public and stakeholder engagement in comparative effectiveness research. This project will develop, demonstrate, and evaluate a range of deliberative methods for obtaining public views. In addition, the Community Forum is supporting stakeholder engagement in AHRQ's Effective Health Care program through materials development, workshops, and strategic planning to identify promising approaches for involving patients, clinicians, and policymakers in comparative effectiveness research.

Dr. Siegel also works with AHRQ iADAPT (Innovative Adaptation and Dissemination of AHRQ CER Products) grantees and on projects focusing on value of information and other methods for prioritizing research topics.

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