Karen Minyard, Ph.D., has been director of the Georgia Health Policy Center (GHPC) since 2001 and is also a research professor with the Department of Public Management and Policy. Minyard connects the research, policy, and programmatic work of the center across issue areas including population health, health philanthropy, public and private health coverage, and the uninsured.
Minyard has experience with the state Medicaid program, both with the design of program reforms and external evaluation. Her research interests include financing and evaluation of health-related social policy programs; strategic alignment of public and private health policy through collective impact; the role of local health initiatives in access and health improvement; the role of targeted technical assistance in improving the sustainability, efficiency, and programmatic effectiveness of nonprofit health collaboratives; and health and health care financing.
In addition to overseeing the center’s overall strategic vision, Minyard plays a leadership role in several center projects that weave together the key learnings, skillsets, and areas of expertise of the GHPC, including evaluation, technical assistance, policy and economic analysis, backbone and organizational support, health and health care financing, health system transformation, Health in All Policies, and rural health. She is currently co-principal investigator and spearheading evaluation efforts for the GHPC’s national coordinating center, Bridging for Health: Improving Community Health Through Innovations in Financing, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She also serves on the executive trio of the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement, along with the Atlanta Regional Commission and the United Way of Greater Atlanta.