Diane Alexander

Diane Alexander
  • Assistant Professor of Health Care Management

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    3641 Locust Walk
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Links: Personal Website

Overview

Diane Alexander is an Assistant Professor of Health Care Management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research is predominantly in health care, studying the economics of the provision of health care services and the actions of health care providers. More broadly, she is also interested in the interactions between environmental policies and health, as well as between health care and education. Her work has been featured in media outlets including the Washington Post, Bloomberg, CityLab, Vox, and Scientific American, as well as podcasts such as Freakonomics radio and Vox’s The Weeds.

She has studied the roles played by new types of providers in health care delivery, focusing on retail and urgent care clinics; the role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in access and health; and how payment incentives influence physician decision-making. In a strand of work focusing on the interaction of environment and place on health outcomes, she has studied the role of residential segregation in explaining persistent racial health disparities, and the effect of pollution on health, utilizing the excess diesel emissions from the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal as a natural experiment.

Prior to joining Wharton, Alexander was an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. She received a B.A. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.

Continue Reading

Teaching

All Courses

  • HCMG1010 - Health Care Systems

    This introductory course takes a policy and politics angle to health care's three persistent issues - access, cost and quality. The roles of patients, physicians, hospitals, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies will be established. The interaction between the government and these different groups will also be covered. Current national health care policy initiatives and the interests of class members will steer the specific topics covered in the course. The course aims to provide skills for critical and analytical thought about the U.S. health care system and the people in it.

  • HCMG8410 - Intro Health Mgmt & Econ

    This course provides an introduction to the field of health care economics and management. Using an economic approach, the course will provide an overview of the evolution, structure and current issues in the health care ecosystem. It examines the unique features of health care services, products and markets, with a specific focus on the changing relationships between patients, physicians, hospitals, insurers, employers, communities, and government. In particular, the course focuses on three broad segments of the health care industry: payors, providers, and producers. NOTE: This is a required course for Wharton Graduate Health Care Management majors.

  • HCMG9051A - HCMG PhD Research Seminar

    Graduate research seminar for doctoral students in health care management. The goal of this seminar is to develop doctoral students' research and presentation skills. Presenting students will receive feedback on their research in progress and their presentation skills. Discussions of student presentations will develop doctoral students' understanding of the research process and give them an opportunity to learn about and develop their presentation skills. Other doctoral students interested in health economics and health care management are encouraged to attend. HCMG 9051 must be taken prior to HCMG 9052.

  • HCMG9051B - HCMG PhD Research Seminar

    Graduate research seminar for doctoral students in health care management. The goal of this seminar is to develop doctoral students' research and presentation skills. Presenting students will receive feedback on their research in progress and their presentation skills. Discussions of student presentations will develop doctoral students' understanding of the research process and give them an opportunity to learn about and develop their presentation skills. Other doctoral students interested in health economics and health care management are encouraged to attend. HCMG 9051 must be taken prior to HCMG 9052.

  • HCMG9052A - HCMG PhD Research Seminar

    Graduate research seminar for doctoral students in health care management. The goal of this seminar is to develop doctoral students' research and presentation skills. Presenting students will receive feedback on their research in progress and their presentation skills. Discussions of student presentations will develop doctoral students' understanding of the research process and give them an opportunity to learn about and develop their presentation skills. Other doctoral students interested in health economics and health care management are encouraged to attend. HCMG 9051 must be taken prior to HCMG 9052.

  • HCMG9052B - HCMG PhD Research Seminar

    Graduate research seminar for doctoral students in health care management. The goal of this seminar is to develop doctoral students' research and presentation skills. Presenting students will receive feedback on their research in progress and their presentation skills. Discussions of student presentations will develop doctoral students' understanding of the research process and give them an opportunity to learn about and develop their presentation skills. Other doctoral students interested in health economics and health care management are encouraged to attend. HCMG 9051 must be taken prior to HCMG 9052.

  • HSOC4980 - Honors Thesis

    Research and writing of a senior honors thesis under faculty supervision.

Knowledge at Wharton

Has Media Bias Become More Prevalent in Cable News?

A team of researchers from the Computational Social Science Lab at the University of Pennsylvania find that cable news has increasingly diverged from broadcast news in the topics covered and language used.…Read More

Knowledge @ Wharton - 6/17/2025
Timing Is Power: When to Lead and When to Hold Back

Stepping up at the right time can give you a competitive edge, experts from Wharton and Columbia write in this Nano Tool for Leaders.…Read More

Knowledge @ Wharton - 6/17/2025
The Future of Healthy Aging and Retirement

As populations age and lifespans increase, retirement systems, health care, and financial planning must adapt, according to speakers at the 2025 Pension Research Council Symposium.…Read More

Knowledge @ Wharton - 6/17/2025