Catherine Pollak, PhD

Catherine Pollak, PhD, is a 2022–23 French Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice. She is a senior health economist at the Direction for Research, Studies, Evaluation, and Statistics (DREES) at the Ministry of Health in France, where she heads the division in charge of leading research and policy on health insurance and access to care. Dr. Pollak has contributed to national reforms, including “100% Santé,” and the new public supplementary health insurance scheme, “Complémentaire santé solidaire.” She recently conducted the simulations of evolution scenarios for the public–private insurance mix for the High Council for the Future of Health Insurance (HCAAM). Dr. Pollak is an associate research fellow at Paris Dauphine University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Research in Health Economics (IRDES). Her research covers a broad spectrum within policy design and evaluation, with a particular focus on health and sick leave insurance, aging, and income distribution. Dr. Pollak received both her PhD and master’s degree in economics from Panthéon-Sorbonne University. Her research project focuses on the use of behavioral nudges to improve appropriateness in prescriptions.