Bio
Elbert Huang is a professor of Medicine, director of the Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy at the University of Chicago. From 2010-2011, he served as a senior advisor to Richard Kronick in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services. Huang is a practicing primary care doctor who studies clinical and health care policy issues at the intersection of diabetes, aging, and health economics. His research has provided the theoretical and evidence-base foundation for the concept of personalizing diabetes care goals as well as the contemporary natural history of the disease in older people. Huang’s research has directly influenced modern diabetes care clinical practice guidelines for older people that now emphasize 1) individualization of glycemic goals, 2) the role of patient treatment preferences, 3) the clinical importance of hypoglycemia, and 4) management of geriatric conditions. He is an expert in the use of computer simulation models of chronic diseases. As a primary care doctor on the South Side of Chicago, Huang routinely sees how gaps in our patchwork of safety net policies lead to critical deficiencies in care over a lifetime from young adulthood, middle age, to old age. Huang’s central policy interest is to strengthen the primary care safety net in order to improve the health of vulnerable populations. Specific areas of policy expertise include the 1) Diabetes/Obesity Epidemic, 2) the Aging Population and Long-Term Care, 3) the Rising Cost of Prescription Drugs such as Insulin, 4) the Value of Federally Qualified Health Centers, and 5) the Primary Care and Geriatrics Workforce.