L to R: Margaret Andrews and Jason Schwartz with their son Charlie.
Photograph courtesy of Jason Schwartz
In this feature, Diana Sanchez ’20 interviews Professor Jason Schwartz, Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health. She asks him three questions: one about scholarship, one about faith and one about leisure.
DS: What have you been working on recently?
JS: I try to better understand the ways in which the risks, benefits, safety, cost and effectiveness of medical products and technologies—pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and medical devices—are debated by medical experts and policy-makers when they assess how to regulate them. Ultimately, patients and health care providers rely on government health officials to help them have the most effective tools at their disposal, and it’s critically important to scrutinize and strengthen the ways in which medical products and other interventions are studied and evaluated so that they are best positioned to improve individual and population health. So, I work on a variety of projects that aim to understand the deliberations and decision-making processes of health officials and their expert advisors around medical technologies.
DS: In your talk at STM earlier this semester, you spoke about how your Jesuit high school education exposed you to the idea of “being a man for others.” What does “being a man for others” mean for you at this moment in your life?
JS: I feel tremendous satisfaction when I can be of service to—or a source of support—for those in my life: my family, my friends, my colleagues, my students and the communities that our work touches upon. My Jesuit education focused on putting ourselves to work in the service of others, particularly those who are vulnerable, those who are marginalized and those for whom we have special obligations to. That is a core part of my education, my faith and how I try to live my life.
DS: We students tend to see you either working at the Yale School of Public Health or with your family at STM. What do you do in your free time?
JS: I love sports: I love baseball and my Philadelphia Phillies. I have always been a passionate baseball fan, and I still travel to Philadelphia regularly to attend games in person, usually with my six-year old son. Finding balance in life is an important goal for all of us, and for me, I enjoy watching professional sports, golfing at the Course at Yale and spending time with my son and my wife. Our lives are very busy between school and work-related travel, and the ability to spend time exploring New England and our great community here in New Haven is something that I really enjoy doing.
