(Originally published in March 2023.)For more than 10 years, Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and Professor of Health Policy, and fellow researchers analyzed the financial impact of prescription drugs used by millions of Americans enrolled in Medicare insurance plans. In many cases, drugs cost so much for some patients, they are left in financial ruin for health conditions they have developed at no fault of their own, like cancer or diabetes.

For years, Professor John Graves, PhD, has been studying health care markets and the policies that influence them. Using statistical models and data from multiple sources, Graves develops models to inform decision-makers and policymakers.Graves heads a small group of faculty in the department that aims to answer a simple question asked in dozens of different contexts within health care: Is it worth it? For example, is what we spend on a particular intervention returning the results we want in terms of lives saved or expensive care reduced or averted?

A May 2023 study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers published in the Annals of Internal Medicine examining the cost-effectiveness of testing for some hereditary cancers and hypocholesterolemia was recognized as one of the 10 “most significant” pieces of genomics research by a working group at the National Institutes of Health.