Robert Saunders

Robert Saunders, Ph.D., is senior research director for health care transformation at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. In this role, he oversees a portfolio aimed at improving American health care delivery and the way we pay for health care, including generating practical evidence on payment and delivery reform models, translating that evidence into federal and state policy options, and engaging public and private health care stakeholders to make sure the research is actionable and timely. Prior to joining Duke-Margolis, Saunders was a senior director and then senior advisor to the president of the National Quality Forum, where he focused on identifying quality measures for federal programs and broader strategic issues around the future of quality measurement, and a senior program officer at the Institute of Medicine, where he examined options for improving health care value and measurement. He worked on Capitol Hill during the Affordable Care Act debates and passage, managing health care legislative affairs for Representative Rush D. Holt. Saunders earned a Ph.D. from Duke University.