Haiden Huskamp, PhD, an associate professor of health economics at HCP, is one of only 10 recipients of a Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Award granted annually nationwide. Through these awards, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funds “highly qualified individuals to undertake broad studies of the most challenging policy issues in health and health care facing America.”

In her research under this award, Huskamp is examining the social value of the new psychotropic drugs that have been developed over the past two decades to treat mental illness. “For many patients,” says Huskamp, “the new medications represent advances over existing drugs with respect to efficacy and/or side effects, and are generally easier for physicians to administer. But at the same time, the growth in costs of these drugs has been explosive.” Huskamp is comparing the social costs and benefits of the newer psychotropic drugs to assess their social value; she will then identify ways to increase the value of spending on these drugs.