Partnered Evidence-Based Policy Resource Center

Paul Shafer, PhD, is an investigator at the Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center at the VA Boston Healthcare System, where his research focuses on veterans' access to care. He is also an assistant professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health, co-director of the Boston University Medicaid Policy Lab, and affiliate faculty of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, where his research focuses on the effects of state and federal health insurance policy on coverage, health care use, and health equity. His big picture interest is in understanding the effect of health and social policies on health and well-being. Do they actually work and are the benefits distributed equitably? If they don't work or have unintended consequences, can we understand why and propose changes?

He previously served as a research economist in the Center for Health Policy Science and Tobacco Research at RTI International and junior fellow in the Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He is a former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar, which amplified his commitment to policy-engaged scholarship and research translation. He holds a PhD in health policy and management with a concentration in health economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MA in applied economics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a BA in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.