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CAMBRIDGE, MA — Professor Amitabh Chandra has been appointed faculty director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. Chandra, who will start his appointment as director on July 1, also serves as the Ethel Zimmerman Wiener Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School and the Henry and Allison McCance Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.  

The Wiener Center works to increase social and economic wellbeing by addressing some of the country’s most urgent social policy questions. Through varied research programs and projects, the center is at the forefront of efforts to reform our criminal justice system, , reimagine the future of our economy, and  and more. The center also collaborates with national and local policymakers and public leaders to drive domestic policy and improve lives.

“We are extremely fortunate that Professor Chandra has agreed to direct the Wiener Center at Harvard Kennedy School,” said Dean Jeremy Weinstein. “He is a dynamic scholar of health policy, having published and advised governments on critical issues including drug pricing, racial disparities in healthcare, and transformational medical innovations. Under Professor Chandra's leadership, I am confident that the Wiener Center will continue to generate innovative, rigorous research that informs the national conversation on social policy.”

Professor Chandra studies innovation, pricing, and capital allocation in the biopharmaceutical industry, value in health care, medical malpractice, racial disparities in healthcare, and the barriers to developing transformational medicines. His research has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, and on CNN and National Public Radio. Professor Chandra is a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) Panel of Health Advisors and previously served as Massachusetts’ Special Commissioner on Provider Price Reform. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, and was awarded the American Society of Health Economists (ASHE) medal, which is awarded to the economist age 40 or under who has made the most significant contributions to the field of health economics.

“Social Policy is one of the most consequential policy domains for government,” said Chandra. “The faculty and students affiliated with the Wiener Center have produced rigorous, impactful science that strengthens justice and opportunity. I am delighted to work with Dean Weinstein, our supporters, and partners to advance their work.”

In this role, Chandra will succeed Professor Sandra Susan Smith. After three years leading the Wiener Center, Smith will continue serving in her other roles as the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice at ����vlog����, faculty director of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to lead the Malcolm Wiener Center these past three years,” said Smith. “I leave the role proud of what we have accomplished: greater visibility of MWC-affiliated faculty, students, and fellows for the rigorous, timely, and highly influential research they conduct; greater financial support and visibility for qualitative research, which remains so central to understanding and addressing the major societal problems we face; and our collective efforts to communicate to a broader public the extraordinary benefits to society of policy research that centers equity concerns. As I turn my attention to other challenges, I am very excited that Professor Chandra will succeed me in leading MWC. The Center will benefit hugely from his strong and capable leadership, his inspiring vision of what is possible, and his ability to bring people together. To say the least, the MWC community is in terrific hands.”

Dean Weinstein added, “Sandra Susan Smith has expertly led the Wiener Center over the past three years. We owe her a debt of gratitude for all that she has done, and we are glad that she will continue to be engaged in the center’s work—continuing her groundbreaking scholarship and her leadership at the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management.” 

For more information about the Malcolm Wiener Center and its work, visit its website. 

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