Boris Vabson

Boris Vabson is a senior economist at CCB at Harvard Medical School, as well as a fellow at HMS’s Department of Health Care Policy. Boris is an applied health economist who leverages large-scale data, natural experiments, and cutting edge statistical tools to study policy and business relevant topics in healthcare. His research focuses on health insurance systems and markets, with a particular focus on Medicaid and Medicare. Using causal inference methods, Boris’s research quantifies the actual, causal impact of different health insurance features on important outcomes of interest. His research has been published in leading economics, medical, and policy journals.

At CCB, Boris conducts independent research leveraging the Center’s unique health insurance data assets. He also collaborates on academic research with other center members as well as the broader Harvard community. Finally, he supports the center’s work through subject matter expertise around health care data and institutions.  

Prior to Harvard, Boris held an academic appointment at Stanford University. Boris received his Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and was also a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at NBER. He received his AB from Dartmouth in Economics and Mathematics. Alongside his academic work, Boris serves as an advisor to leading payer, provider, and healthcare technology companies, as well as entrepreneur in the health tech space.