Michael S. Sparer, J.D., Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, where he has taught for over 30 years.
He also directs the Center for Public Health Systems, which examines how America's fragmented public health infrastructure functions and how it can better serve communities.
Professor Sparer’s research examines how policy shapes politics both in health insurance systems and in local health departments. He is particularly expert in Medicaid policy and in the inter-governmental dynamics that have shaped the evolution of that program. His work on public health has also focused on federalism and on the ways in which local health departments respond to changing political and fiscal environments.
Before his academic career, he spent seven years as a litigator for the New York City Law Department. He is a three-time recipient of Columbia teaching excellence awards and former editor of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.