Joanne Spetz is Director and Brenda and Jeffrey L. Kang Presidential Chair in Healthcare Finance at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS), University of California San Francisco. IHPS is a 50-year-old research unit that conducts innovative research to support, guide, and enable policymakers, communities, and clinicians in making evidence-informed decisions that improve health and health care for individuals and families.
Dr. Spetz’s research focuses on the economics of the health care workforce, organization of health care services, and quality of health care. She directs the federally funded UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care, which generates evidence to ensure an adequate workforce to provide patient-centered care to individuals with long-term care needs across the lifespan. She is an internationally known expert on the nursing workforce, leading studies of nurse supply, demand, education, earnings, and contributions to the quality of care across healthcare settings. Her current research includes a federally funded study of the roles of nurse practitioners and other advanced practice clinicians in expanding access to medication treatment for opioid use disorder.
Dr. Spetz has expertise in the analysis of large secondary datasets, mixed-methods evaluation research, survey research, and econometric analysis. She teaches health economics and finance in the UCSF-UC Berkeley Master’s in Translational Medicine program and developed courses as a founding faculty member of the UCSF-UC Hastings Master’s in Health Policy and Law and the UCSF Master’s in Health Administration and Interprofessional Leadership (MS-HAIL) programs.
Dr. Spetz is an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She received a Mentorship Award from the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues of AcademyHealth. She was a member of the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine Committee on Consideration of Generational Issues in Workforce Management and Employment Practices and the Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Credentialing Research in Nursing. She serves on the Editorial Boards of Medical Care Research and Review and Health Services Research. She frequently provides testimony and technical assistance to state and federal agencies and policymakers. Dr. Spetz received her Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University after studying economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.