James R. Knickman

James R. Knickman, PhD, is a professor of population health at NYU Langone Medical Center and the Robert Derzon Chair in Health and Public Service at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Dr. Knickman leads the Health Analytics and Evaluation Program (HAEP) at NYU, which conducts analysis and program evaluation of health service delivery, population health, and health and social policy innovations. Among other resources, HAEP maintains patient-level New York State Medicaid fee-for-service claims and managed care encounter data, allowing rapid-cycle evaluations and analyses of Medicaid and other program interventions by providers and public agencies.

Previously, Dr. Knickman was the first President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth), a private foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable. Under Dr. Knickman’s leadership, NYSHealth invested more than $100 million in initiatives to improve health care and the public health system in New York State.

Prior to joining NYSHealth, Dr. Knickman was the Vice President of Research and Evaluation at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton.

Dr. Knickman has a long history in New York State; between 1976 and 1992, he first served on the faculty of NYU's Wagner School, where he was active in community service directed at improving health care delivery to vulnerable populations. Earlier, he worked at the New York City Office of Management and Budget, and he has been a visiting professor at the University of Rochester, U.C. Berkeley, and Princeton University. He has published extensive research on issues related to the financing of health care and long-term care and improving services for frail elders, homeless families, and individuals with HIV. Dr. Knickman is the co-author of a widely used textbook on health policy and management.

Dr. Knickman serves as a board member of the National Council on Aging in Washington, D.C., and of Philanthropy New York. He is a member of Fordham College’s Board of Visitors, the national advisory committee of the National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services, and the external advisory committee of the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. He is a past chair of the board of the Robert Wood Johnson Health System in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and of the New Jersey Department of Health’s Cardiac Health Advisory Council; he has also served on the boards of the Center for Effective Philanthropy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, AcademyHealth in Washington, D.C., and the New York Catholic Health Care System. Currently, Dr. Knickman is a member of the editorial boards of The Milbank Quarterly and Inquiry.

Dr. Knickman received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Psychology from Fordham University and his Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Pennsylvania.