Gail Wilensky, Ph.D.
Economist and Senior Fellow
Project HOPE

Gail Wilensky, Ph.D. is an economist and Senior Fellow at Project HOPE and currently serves as president of the Defense Health Board.. Her primary areas of expertise involve the policies and politics of health care reform, particularly Medicare and changes in the health care environment. A secondary area of expertise involves military health care. Dr. Wilensky was a member of the 2007 President’s Commission on the Care of Returning Wounded Warriors. From 2006 to 2007, she co-chaired the DoD Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care. From 2001 to 2003, she co-chaired the President’s Task Force to Improve Health care Delivery for Our Nation’s veteran’s, which addressed health care for both veterans and military retirees. From 1997 to 2001, she chaired the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission which advises Congress on payment and other issues relating to Medicare. She also served as Deputy Assistant for Policy development to President George H.W. Bush, advising him on health and welfare issues. Prior to this, she served as the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, overseeing the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Dr. Wilensky is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and serves as a trustee of the Combined Benefits Fund of the United Mine Workers and the National Opinion research Center and is a former chair of the board of directors of Academy Health and a former trustee of the American Heart Association. Dr. Wilensky is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees and has published extensively. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.