Our Team

Jay Himmelstein, M.D., M.P.H.

Chief Health Policy Strategist 
Center for Health Policy and Research

Dr. Jay Himmelstein, Chief Health Policy Strategist at UMass Medical School’s Center for Health Policy and Research, is committed to improving health care and health outcomes for those served by the public sector.

A physician, researcher, and educator, Dr. Himmelstein is nationally recognized for his work in occupational and environmental health, worker’s compensation health care, disability and employment policy, and public sector health information technology policy. In addition to authoring more than 60 publications and lecturing around the world, he has received more than $25 million in extramural funding as a principal investigator on grants funded by federal agencies and national foundations.

Currently, Dr. Himmelstein is the principal investigator on the Massachusetts Medicaid Infrastructure and Comprehensive Employment Opportunities Grant (MI-CEO) funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This multi-year project aims to maximize employment opportunities for people with disabilities — through applied research as well as policy and infrastructure development at the state and national level. Dr. Himmelstein also leads the Center for Health Policy and Research's Public Sector Health Information Technology Policy Group. He is currently principal investigator on a number of projects focusing on how the public sector can leverage investments in health information technology to improve outcomes and contain costs for those served by the public sector.

Dr. Himmelstein is a Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health and Internal Medicine at UMass Medical School. During his career at UMass, Dr. Himmelstein has held numerous positions in academic administration including Director of the Occupational and Environmental Health Program (1988-1996), Director of the Center for Health Policy and Research (1997-2007), and Assistant Chancellor for Health Policy (1992-2007).

Dr. Himmelstein earned a degree in medicine at the University of Maryland. In addition to a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, he holds a Master of Public Health in occupational health and a master’s degree in physiology, both from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is board certified in internal medicine, as well as in occupational and environmental health/preventive medicine. He is also a member of the American College of Physicians.

Contact Information:

Jay S. Himmelstein, M.D., M.P.H.
(508) 856-5763
Jay.Himmelstein@umassmed.edu