U-M experts available to discuss issues in movie, ‘Sicko’

June 29, 2007
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ANN ARBOR—Experts at the University of Michigan are available to discuss the public health issues raised in the new movie, “Sicko,” by Michigan native Michael Moore.

Experts include:

  • Peter D. Jacobson, professor of Health Law and Policy in the Department of Health Management and Policy, U-M School of Public Health, and director, Center for Law and Ethics and Health, can discuss the relationship between law and health care delivery and policy, law and public health systems, and health care safety net services. Contact him at: 734) 936-0928, or pdj@umich.ed.
  • Paula Lantz, a social epidemiologist, can talk about policy issues in women’s health and children’s health, clinical preventive services, and the role of medical care in addressing social disparities in health. Lantz is professor and chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy and is also a Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research. Contact her at: (734) 763-9902, or plantz@umich.edu.
  • Richard Lichtenstein, associate professor of Health Management and Policy, can discuss access to care for low-income and uninsured populations. He has taught graduate level courses on the U.S. health care system for 25 years He led a community-based, participatory research project to enroll uninsured children from Detroit in Medicaid. He is also interested in issues related to the diversity of the health care workforce and in the performance of multidisciplinary health care teams. Contact him at: (734) 936-1316 or lichto@umich.edu
  • Catherine McLaughlin, a professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy, focuses on HMOs, health care cost containment, the working uninsured and Medicaid managed care. She is the director of the Economic Research Initiative on the Uninsured (ERIU), which is funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. ERIU seeks to initiate, commission and disseminate original research to spark new discussions on health coverage issues. She was the vice chair of the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group, a federal nonpartisan commission created to talk to citizens nationwide about health care reform that submitted recommendations to Congress and the President in October 2006. And she is member of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Social Insurance, and the board of trustees for the American Hospital Association’s Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET). Contact her at: (734) 764-9335 or cmcl@umich.edu.
  • Dean Smith, senior associate dean for administration at the School of Public Health, can discuss the financial aspects of working with and working in health care delivery and financing organizations. He serves as consultant to numerous health services, health financing and pharmaceutical firms. Contact Smith at: (734) 936-1253; deans@umich.edu. 
  • Leon Wyszewianski, associate professor can discus a broad spectrum of health care delivery and health policy topics. His main area of interest and expertise is in the definition, measurement, and improvement of the quality of health care services.

Contact him at: (734) 936-1313.

The University of Michigan School of Public Health has been working to promote health and prevent disease since 1941, and is consistently ranked among the top five schools in the country. Faculty and students in the school’s five academic departments and dozens of collaborative centers and institutes are forging new solutions to the complex health challenges of today, including chronic disease, health care quality and finance, emerging genetic technologies, climate change, socioeconomic inequalities and their impact on health, infectious disease, and the globalization of health. Whether making new discoveries in the lab or researching and educating in the field, our faculty, students, and alumni are deployed around the globe to promote and protect our health.