Darius Lakdawalla tapped as first holder of Quintiles Chair
USC School of Pharmacy Dean R. Pete Vanderveen has named Darius Lakdawalla as the first holder of the Quintiles Chair in Pharmaceutical Development and Regulatory Innovation.
The Quintiles Chair was established in 2011 with the purpose of recruiting a world-class expert with the interdisciplinary knowledge of both health economics and regulatory policy. The chair provides leadership in scholarship and research at the intersection of these two disciplines, contributing to the ultimate shaping of the future of health care.
“After a comprehensive national search and the evaluation of a slate of impressive candidates, the committee found Dr. Lakdawalla to have the qualifications and the vision to hold this important chair,” Vanderveen said. “He is uniquely experienced in both health economics and regulatory policy, which will allow him to lead our work that will ultimately promote innovation in health.”
Lakdawalla joined USC in 2009 when the university established the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, a collaboration between the School of Pharmacy and the USC Price School of Public Policy.
“I am excited to work at the intersection of two critical areas in health policy,” Lakdawalla said. “The collaboration [of two schools] places USC at the forefront of innovative health policy research.”
Lakdawalla, who came to USC as a professor at USC Price School, now assumes a primary appointment at the School of Pharmacy. The school also houses the USC International Center for Regulatory Science, which will interface with Lakdawalla in his new role.
The Quintiles Chair allows USC to proactively address the shift in the regulatory environment for biopharmaceutical products in today’s global marketplace. It also supports research on ways to streamline the delivery of products to market in cost-effective ways.
Lakdawalla primarily studies medical innovation and the organization of health care markets. He also explores the behavior of patients, health care providers and health care firms. For example, he has looked at the social consequences of health insurance, the decisions of firms that assess whether to pursue the development of a risky new medical technology and how health care providers cope with the risk of medical malpractice, among other topics in health policy and innovation.
He also focuses on understanding the long-term consequences of health policy and regulation for future generations of patients. His studies have investigated intellectual property and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory exclusivity for drug-makers, the design of incentives for medical innovation and the long-term impact of pharmaceutical price regulation.
His work has been published in leading journals of economics, medicine and policy, including Health Affairs, Medical Care, The New England Journal of Medicine and Archives of Internal Medicine, among others.
Lakdawalla is a research associate at The National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass., and an associate editor at The Review of Economics and Statistics. He received his PhD in economics from The University of Chicago and his Bachelor of Science in mathematics and philosophy from Amherst College.
Darius Lakdawalla joined USC in 2009 when the university established the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. (Photo/Tom Queally)