Dr. Joanne Spetz is the Brenda and Jeffrey L. Kang Presidential Chair in Healthcare Finance & Associate Director for Research at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California San Francisco (UCSF).  Dr. Spetz directs the federally funded UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care, generating evidence to ensure an adequate workforce to provide patient-centered care to individuals with long-term care needs across the lifespan.

Dr. Spetz has expertise in the analysis of large secondary datasets, mixed-methods evaluation research, survey research, and econometric analysis. She teaches health economics and finance in the UCSF-UC Berkeley Master’s in Translational Medicine program and developed courses as a founding faculty member of the UCSF-UC Hastings Master’s in Health Policy and Law and the UCSF Master’s in Health Administration and Interprofessional Leadership (MS-HAIL) programs.

Dr. Spetz is an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She received a Mentorship Award from the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues of AcademyHealth. She was a member of the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine Committee on Consideration of Generational Issues in Workforce Management and Employment Practices and the Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Credentialing Research in Nursing. She serves on the Editorial Boards of Medical Care Research and Review and Health Services Research. Dr. Spetz received her Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University after studying economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.