Photo of Stephen Resch, PhD

Stephen Resch is the Deputy Director of the Center for Health Decision Science (CHDS) and a Lecturer in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Steve Resch is a co-investigator on the CHOICES project. This project is focused on understanding and modeling the cost-effectiveness of interventions that can improve children’s nutrition and physical activity and reduce the prevalence of obesity, which includes modeling work, evidence reviews, and simulation modeling of the cost-effectiveness of a wide variety of interventions, from restaurant calorie menu labeling to sugar sweetened beverage excise taxes. Results from this work should begin to provide researchers and policymakers with both methods and data to use in deciding on the “best value for money” in interventions to reduce obesity prevalence in children and adults in the United States.

Dr. Resch contributes to development of the CHOICES microsimulation model, including application of best practices in cost-effectiveness analysis and decision sciences. Dr. Resch also contributes to development of tools, products and strategies to disseminate project resources and findings.

Dr. Resch’s primary research interests include the evaluation of public health programs, the improvement of health care operations, and adapting decision analytic methods to important public health challenges. Dr. Resch has had a longstanding commitment to evidence-based policy, closely coupling his research with program development and evaluation in the field. He has served as the principal investigator and/or technical leader of a diverse number of projects, ranging from the provision of primary care in US jails to the assessment of financial sustainability and human resource needs of HIV programs in Africa.

Dr. Resch holds an MPH from Yale University and a PhD from Harvard University. He teaches a core course at the Harvard Chan School on economic evaluation in the decision science curriculum at the School of Public Health, advises and mentors students and trainees.