Karen Davis

Karen Davis is president of The Commonwealth Fund, a national philanthropy engaged in independent research on health and social policy issues. She is a nationally recognized economist with a distinguished career in public policy and research.

Before joining the Fund, Dr. Davis 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, and was the first woman to head a U.S. Public Health Service agency.

Prior to her government career, Ms. Davis was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, and an assistant professor of economics at Rice University.

In the spring of 2001, Ms. Davis received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from John Hopkins University. In 2006, she was selected for the AcademyHealth Distinguished Investigator Award for significant and lasting contributions to the field of health services research.

Jack Ebeler

Jack Ebeler is the vice-chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which advices Congress about Medicare. He is an independent consultant on federal health policy and the changing health care marketplace, with a focus on Medicare reform and longer-term health reform.  

Ebeler serves on the boards of Inova Health System and Families USA, and the Health Care Services Board of the Institute of Medicine, as well as several advisory committees. He served most recently as president and CEO of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, a national association of leading health plans and provider organizations that work together to improve the quality and affordability of care and coverage.

Previously Jack was senior vice president and the initial director of the Health Care Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where he oversaw approximately $150 million in annual programming investments focused on the uninsured, health care quality and chronic care

In 1995 and 1996, he served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, dealing with health insurance reform, consumer protections in managed care, and child health coverage. 

Elizabeth Fowler

Elizabeth Fowler possesses nearly 20 years of experience in health services research and health policy. She recently rejoined the Senate Finance Committee in March 2008 after nearly three years absence to serve as Senior Counsel to the Chair and Chief Health Counsel. 

Previously, Fowler served as the Chief Health and Entitlements Counsel with responsibility for overseeing health policy issues within the Committee's jurisdiction, including Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, health tax issues and initiatives to provide health coverage for the uninsured. 

During her hiatus from the Finance Committee, Fowler was vice president of public policy for WellPoint, Inc. She was an attorney with the Washington law firm Hogan & Hartson, and she spent nearly five years as a health services researcher with HealthSystem Minnesota.

Fowler received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where her research focused on risk adjustment, and a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Minnesota. She is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland.

Paul Ginsburg

Paul Ginsburg is president of the Center for Studying Health System Change. Founded in 1995, the Center for Studying Health System Change conducts research to inform policymakers and other audiences about changes in the organization of financing and delivery of care and their effects on people. 

Dr. Ginsburg is a noted speaker and consultant on the changes taking place in the health care system. In addition to presentations on the overall direction of change, recent topics have included cost trends and drivers, consumer driven health care, provider payment, future of employer-based health insurance and competition in health care. 

He was the founding executive director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Dr. Ginsburg was also a senior economist at RAND and served as deputy assistant director at the Congressional Budget Office. Before that, he was a faculty member at Duke and Michigan State Universities.

Dr. Ginsburg recently received the first annual HSR Impact Award from AcademyHealth, the professional association for health policy researchers and analysts.