Nicole Maestas, M.P.P., Ph.D.

Nicole Maestas, Ph.D. is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Economics and Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and the Chair of the Department of Health Care Policy. She is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), where she directs the NBER’s Retirement and Disability Research Center. She studies the economics of disability insurance, labor markets, health care systems, and population aging. Dr. Maestas’ research has shown how the federal disability insurance system affects employment by people with disabilities, how population aging affects economic growth, and how working conditions affect individuals’ ability and desire to sustain employment at older ages. In current work, Dr. Maestas is investigating trends in opioid prescribing, how the provider landscape shapes disparities in access to mental health care, disability insurance reform, and the rise in employment of people with disabilities. Dr. Maestas has published widely in the leading journals of economics, policy and medicine. She received an M.P.P. from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Economics from UC Berkeley.