John E. Schneider, PhD – CEO & Principal
John E. Schneider is the CEO and founder of Avalon Health Economics. Dr. Schneider was one of the founding partners of the Health Economics Consulting Group, LLC (HECG), which formed in 2004. HECG merged with the UK-based Oxford Outcomes in 2009, and from 2009-2013 Dr. Schneider served as Senior Director of the U.S. health economics operations of Oxford Outcomes, which also included facilitating integration between Oxford Outcomes and ICON plc in 2011. He started Avalon Health Economics in 2013 by bringing together the consulting practices of several industry and academic colleagues, building on what he started with HECG in 2004. Prior to starting HECG, Dr. Schneider was on the faculty in the Department of Health Management and Policy and the Department of Economics at the University of Iowa. His PhD is in Health Services and Policy Analysis from the University of California Berkeley, with a concentration in health economics. He has over 25 years of experience studying economic and organizational aspects of the health care industry, including professional appointments at the Center for Health Economics Research (Waltham, MA; now part of RTI International), and the California Association of Health Plans (Sacramento, CA).Dr. Schneider has also served as a consultant to managed care organizations, state health departments, trade associations, medical device manufacturers, large pharmaceutical companies, and others. He has also served as an expert witness in several legal proceedings. Dr. Schneider’s expertise include: economic evaluation of new pharmaceuticals, devices, and diagnostics (including outcomes research and other forms of technology assessment); pricing and reimbursement; analysis of medical care costs (costs of illness; valuation of medical services and supplies); health insurance & managed care; regulation, hospital competition, and health care markets; specialty hospitals; physician ownership; contracting; antitrust; and trademark infringement. Some of his research has been published in Medical Care Research and Review, International Journal of Healthcare Finance and Economics, Tobacco Control, Health Economics Review, Health Affairs, Inquiry, Health Services Research, Review of Industrial Organization, International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, American Journal of Medical Science, Prevention Science, and Health Care Financing Review. He is co-author of The Business of Health (AEI Press, 2006).

Andrew Briggs, D.Phil, MSc – Director & Principal
Andrew Briggs, D.Phil, MSc, is a Director at Avalon Health Economics. Dr. Briggs is primarily responsible for project direction, scientific advising, and training and mentoring of our health economists and researchers. He has extensive experience conducting economic evaluation analyses globally, and adapting models across health systems. Andrew has a DPhil in Health Economics and an MSc in Applied Statistics, both from the University of Oxford. He currently holds the Lindsay Chair in Health Economics at the University of Glasgow, and has acted as advisor to the UK Department of Health, the UK National Institute of Clinical Excellence and a number of pharmaceutical companies. Andrew is an integral part of Avalon’s capability in health economics. He has extensive experience of all aspects of health economic evaluation, policy and reimbursement processes. He has published extensively on the topic of cost effectiveness analysis and economic evaluation, and served on numerous committees on economic evaluation methodology and standard practices, including four ISPOR Task Forces on Good Research Practices (Clinical Trials, Modelling, Risk Sharing and Health State Utility Measurement). He is also lead author of the widely cited textbook Decision Modeling for Health Economic Evaluation (with Karl Claxton and Mark Sculpher; Oxford University Press 2006) and is an editor at the journal Health Economics. He is currently on sabbatical at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York where he is looking at the value of oncology products.

Cara M. Scheibling – Vice President & Principal
Cara Scheibling is a Vice President & Principal at Avalon Health Economics. She has her MBA from University of Tennessee. In addition to her role in business management and development, Cara’s focus is on cost accounting, cost analysis, and economic valuation. With more than 10 years of experience in health economics, Cara has developed expertise in developing cost estimates for economic models of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, developing unit cost measures for model adaptations, and estimating reasonable costs of medical services in a variety of health care litigation applications. In addition to experience and skills in cost modelling in Excel, she has extensive experience in health policy analysis and technical writing. Prior to joining Avalon Health Economics, Cara has been a Health Economist and Policy Analyst at Oxford Outcomes, Ltd. At Oxford, she contributed to studies of ambulatory surgery center economic impact, orthopedic surgeon ownership of ancillary services, hospital access, and cost analysis for litigation support projects and health policy analyses. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Business from Drew University.

Anthony Lo Sasso, PhD
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.

Laura Bellmont, MPAS
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.