Forkenbrock Series on Public Policy

 

Mariannette Miller-Meeks: Policy Primer — Health Care

Shaumbaugh Auditorium
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012 6:30 PM
This class reviews the components and history of health care reform in the United States—culminating in the Affordable Care Act of 2009. Our discussion touches on the dimensions of health care reform, the legal challenges facing the law (likely to be resolved by the Supreme Court this summer), and the challenges of implementing it at the state level.

Readings

Resources

Speakers

  • Colin Gordon

    Colin Gordon

    Professor and Chair, Department of History, University of Iowa

    Professor Gordon’s research interests focus on public policy and political economy in the United States since 1920. He has published three books in this area, including Dead on Arrival: The Politics of Health in Twentieth Century America, which reviews the history of health care policy in the United States during that period. He is also a senior research consultant at the Iowa Policy Project (IPP), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 2001 to produce research and analysis to engage Iowans in state policy decisions. He is the author of several IPP reports on health coverage, economic development, and wages and working conditions, including the biennial State of Working Iowa series. Dr. Gordon received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently serving as Chair of the University of Iowa Department of History. To visit Dr. Gordon's web page, click here.
  • Peter Damiano

    Peter Damiano

    Director, Public Policy Center Preventive and Community Dentistry University of Iowa

    Peter Damiano is the Director of the Public Policy Center (PPC) and Professor, Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry at the University of Iowa. He started the health policy research program at the PPC in 1990 and has been Director of the Center since July 2007. He is a health services researcher who investigates issues relating to access to care, quality, cost and outcomes of care. Dr. Damiano has authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and research monographs and has been the principal investigator on over 50 research studies funded by federal, state and Foundation sources. He is a former staff intern in the US Senate, a Robert Wood Johnson Dental Health Services Research Scholar and HRSA Primary Care Policy Fellow. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry (DDS) and UCLA School of Public Health (MPH).
  • Mariannette Miller-Meeks

    Mariannette Miller-Meeks

    Director, Iowa Department of Public Health

    Governor Terry Branstand chose Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks to be the Iowa Department of Public Health Director in 2010 during the Branstand-Reynolds administration. The Iowa Department of Public Health works with local health organizations, lawmakers, health care providers, and businesses to educate the citizens of Iowa on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Dr. Miller-Meeks completed her undergraduate degree in nursing at Texas Christian University and earned her M.D. from The University of Texas Health Science Center. Specializing in ophthalmology, Miller-Meeks completed her medical residency at the University of Iowa Medical Center in 1991. With a masters of education under her belt also, Miller-Meeks returned to the U of I from 1994 to 1997 as an assistant professor in ophthalmology after serving on the faculty at the University of Michigan in a similar capacity.

    Miller-Meeks, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves and ophthalmologist, has served as the first woman President of the Iowa Medical Society and was the first women on the faculty in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa and councilor for Iowa to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. She has resigned her position as alternate delegate to the AMA upon being named director.

Audio Slideshows