About Us

Anthony Lo Sasso, PhD, is Professor and Driehaus Fellow in the Economics Department at DePaul University in Chicago. His research spans several dimensions of health and labor economics, health policy, and health services and outcomes research. He is keenly interested in how government policies affect private sector decisions. After receiving an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) 5-year Independent Scientist Award entitled “Workplace Health Benefits and Employee Health,” his research explored the impact of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program on insurance coverage of children. An area of particular interest for Lo Sasso is the effects of health insurance benefit design on health care utilization and health outcomes. This work includes an AHRQ-funded research grant to study so-called narrow network insurance plans; a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded study to examine the impact of an expansion of mental health benefits on cost and quality of care at a large manufacturing firm; and ongoing work examining the effects of high deductible health insurance on health care use. Additionally, he served as co-investigator on an NIH-funded study examining the effects of corporate wellness programs on use of preventive services and health outcomes. Until recently (2012-2019), Lo Sasso served as the Executive Director of the American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon). With training in labor and health economics and extensive experience studying the effects of insurance in both the private and public sectors, he is a nationally recognized leader in the field.

Robert Ohsfeldt, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M University. In 2016, he was designated a Regents Professor, a prestigious award for faculty who have provided exemplary service to the university and community. Previously, he has been a Professor at the University of Iowa and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, and was employed as a manager of health outcomes research for Eli Lilly and Company, where he received the President’s Award from Lilly Research Laboratories in 2001. Dr. Ohsfeldt completed his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Houston in 1983 and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Fellow in Healthcare Finance at Johns Hopkins University and the Texas Medical Center during 1987-88. He is author or co-author of more than 160 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and is a co-author of The Business of Health (AEI Press, 2006). He has broad expertise on cost analysis and cost data, cost-effectiveness analysis, budget impact analysis, regression analysis and analyses of large administrative claims databases. Dr. Ohsfeldt has been the principal investigator for research grants funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He has served as a peer-reviewer for more than 60 scientific journals and has been a member of grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Ohsfeldt currently serves as a member of the Editorial Board for Value in Health and was a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy from 2005-2015.

Dr. Pezalla is a Senior Advisor to Avalon Health Economics, assisting in projects related to U.S. market access, U.S. payer coverage determinations, and commercialization strategy. He is Founder and CEO of Enlightenment Bioconsult, LLC, a strategic payer consultancy advising biopharmaceutical firms on access, technology assessment, and drug evaluation in the US market. His clients include established pharmaceutical firms and emerging companies with innovative therapies. Dr. Pezalla served for nine years as VP for Pharmaceutical Policy and Strategy for Aetna, and four years as VP of Clinical Services for RxSolutions. In these roles he developed programs for drug evaluation, creation of clinical policy and formulary inclusion. Dr. Pezalla also served as the leading executive for Aetna on public policy issues related to drug approval, drug pricing and regulation. He is a member of the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation NEWDIGS project and was a member of the inaugural class of Scholars-in-Residence at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. Dr. Pezalla received his BS and MD degrees with honors from Georgetown University and holds an MPH from the University of California at Berkeley. He was a Health Services Research Fellow and doctoral student at the University of Michigan Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Pezalla has published on a range of topics related to regulatory affairs/adaptive licensing and innovative healthcare financing models. Most recently Dr. Pezalla published a paper with Dr. Sam Nusbaum in JMCP on health plan member retention related to disease severity. And Dr. Pezalla recently presented at the MIT Paying for Cures conference in Washington, DC and the Pharma Pricing and Market Access Summit in Amsterdam.

Laura Bellmont, MPAS, received her degree in Masters of Physician Assistant Studies from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Institute of Health Professions. MGH is affiliated with Harvard Medical School and is its original teaching hospital. Laura is currently a Physician Assistant at Inpatient Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Prior to this position, Laura worked as a Medical Technologist II in the Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory at MGH, as a Research Assistant for the New England Primate Research Center, and a Personal Care Assistant. Laura is a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Marie Espinal, MHS, is currently practicing medicine as a certified Physician Assistant in Southern California, drawing on her diverse clinical training, research background, and leadership skills to best serve her patients. She holds a B.A in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a Master’s in Health Sciences (MHS) from Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Physician Assistant Program. She has served as a Neurosurgery Researcher for UCLA’s Neuroplasticity and Repair Laboratory, and a contributing author of numerous journal and research publications.