John K. Iglehart is founding editor of Health Affairs, the leading journal of health policy thought and research. He started Health Affairs in 1981 under the aegis of Project HOPE, a not-for-profit international health education organization; that affiliation continues today. Over this same period, Iglehart also has served as a national correspondent of The New England Journal of Medicine, for which he has written more than 150 essays called Health Policy Reports. Iglehart stepped down as Health Affairs editor-in-chief in September, 2007, but returned to the position on an interim basis, prior to Alan Weil, the current editor-in-chief, assuming those responsibilities.
Iglehart was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences in 1977 and served on its Governing Council for six years (1985-1991). He also is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and serves on the Advisory Board of the National Institute For Health Care Management. Previously, Iglehart served on the boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, AcademyHealth and the Advisory Board of the National Institute For Health Care Management.
Before 1981, Iglehart served for two years as a vice president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and director of its Washington, D.C. office. During the decade 1969 to 1979, Iglehart held a variety of editorial positions, including the editorship of National Journal, a privately published weekly on federal policymaking. He holds a degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has been a journalist-in-residence at Harvard University.