The American Political Science Association’s Health Politics and Policy section has selected Pitt Public Health’s Miranda Yaver, PhD, assistant professor of health policy and management, for two of its annual awards. Yaver is a co-recipient of the Outstanding Public Engagement and Emerging Scholar Awards.
“It's a real honor to receive this recognition from the people who are in my scholarly home and have profoundly shaped my thinking about health politics, policy and law in more ways than I can count,” said Yaver, who added that her work wouldn’t be where it is without the support of fellow health politics and policy scholars.
Yaver’s research focuses on administrative burdens in health insurance and the politics of health reform. “I feel immensely lucky to have the kind of job that allows me to follow interesting questions, even if it involves some intellectual twists and turns,” she added.
She began studying the conflict over separation of powers in environmental regulatory policy in graduate school, later transitioning to investigations of the federal government's attempts to roll back the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and reproductive health care, along with personal experience with health insurance administrative burdens and inequities.
“There's the quip, ‘When you're a hammer, everything you see is a nail,’ but as I became immersed in the world of administrative burden, I realized that it really is in so many corners of policy delivery, and I've enjoyed finding different angles through which to shine a light on the cracks through which people can fall in our healthcare system and the broader safety net,” said Yaver.
It’s reassuring to be surrounded by people who understand there is more than one way to approach a problem, said Yaver, citing an old joke about two economists arguing over a $20 bill lying on the sidewalk. One comments on the find while the other claims, “If it was really there, someone would have picked it up already.”
“My advantage as a scholar is being able to lean into the "$20 research questions" — that is, finding understudied questions that interest me and (hopefully) matter, then finding a way to answer them that can resonate with scholars, policymakers and the broader public, and offer a path toward policy progress,” she said.
In addition to the Emerging Scholar Award, Yaver is being recognized for her community engagement, which she says is a crucial part of the “why” behind her work.
“At the end of the day, I want this research to improve policy,” she said. “Some academic subjects are abstract theorizing about problems, but health policy isn't one of them. These are policies that tangibly affect patients, health care workers and families everywhere.”
Her work in connecting with the community also goes beyond educating and mentoring students. She’s a frequent contributor to national media outlets like MS Now and The Hill and a guest on many platforms discussing both her research findings and their societal impact. In addition, she’s a familiar face to lawmakers, holding briefings with Congressional staffers on H.R. 1 and the findings from her recently published book. Her work has been cited in legislative analysis at the state and federal levels.
“Every time I dive into a new project, I realize that the problems are bigger than I realized, and what I thought might be a one-off paper or a chapter is turning out to have a life of its own,” she said, adding that the only limits are the number of hours in a day and dwindling funding for public health research in the current political climate.
-Mike Friend