Gail Wilensky

Gail R. Wilensky is an economist and senior fellow at Project HOPE, an international health foundation. She directed the Medicare and Medicaid programs from 1990 to 1992 and served in the White House as a senior health and welfare adviser to President George H.W. Bush. Dr. Wilensky has extensive experience in health policy, particularly in areas such as Medicare, comparative effectiveness research, and military health care. She is recognized for her expertise in healthcare economics and policy.

Dr. Wilensky currently serves as a trustee of the Combined Benefits Fund of the United Mine Workers of America and the National Opinion Research Center. She is also on the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and the Board of Directors of the Geisinger Health System Foundation. Additionally, she has held the position of president of the Defense Health Board, a federal advisory board to the Secretary of Defense, and has been involved in key roles such as a commissioner on the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.

She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and has served two terms on its governing council. Dr. Wilensky is also a former chair of the board of directors of Academy Health, a former trustee of the American Heart Association, and a former or current director of numerous other non-profit organizations. She currently or previously served as a director on several corporate boards.

Dr. Wilensky testifies frequently before Congressional committees, serves as an advisor to members of Congress and other elected officials, and speaks nationally and internationally before professional, business, and consumer groups. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan and has received several honorary degrees.

From 1997 to 2001, she chaired the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, advising Congress on payment and other issues relating to Medicare. She also co-chaired the President’s Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation’s Veterans from 2001 to 2003 and served as a Commissioner on the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors in 2007. Dr. Wilensky continues to engage in high-level discussions and policy developments regarding the future of healthcare, including her leadership in the Health Care Delivery Subcommittee of the Defense Health Board.