Anita Katharina Wagner, PharmD, MPH, DrPH



Email: anita_wagner@hms.harvard.edu

Anita Katharina Wagner is Associate Professor in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute in Boston, MA, USA. For the past two decades, Dr. Wagner has contributed to and led applied research and capacity strengthening collaborations to improve medicines availability, access, affordability, and use in the United States and in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Her current work includes a focus on system questions about highly-priced novel therapies.

Dr. Wagner founded and directs the global Medicines and Insurance Coverage (MedIC) Initiative, which aims to support LMIC system leaders and operational staff in the design, implementation, evaluation, and routine monitoring of evidence-informed medicines policies and programs. Under the MedIC Initiative, collaborators have begun to establish a portfolio of research on pharmaceutical policies and programs in countries working toward universal health coverage (UHC).

Dr. Wagner co-directs the Harvard Medical School Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Policy Researchand leads global MedIC Courses on Medicines in Health Systems. More than 200 professionals from governments, academia, and other organizations in more than 20 countries have participated in the courses. The first online Course on Medicines in Health Systems Working Toward Universal Health Coverage is available on the World Bank Open Learning Campus.

Dr. Wagner also serves as a pharmacoepidemiologist on the FDA’s Sentinel Initiative, a national system that tracks the safety of pharmaceuticals in the United States.

Dr. Wagner earned a Master of Public Health degree in international health and Doctor of Public Health degree in epidemiology from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. She also holds a doctorate in clinical pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences and a master degree in pharmacy.

Selected Recent Publications:

Hsu JC, Ross-Degnan D, Wagner AK, Zhang F, Lu CY. How did multiple FDA actions affect the utilization and reimbursed costs of thiazolidinediones in US Medicaid? Clin Ther. 2015 Jul 1;37(7):1420-1432.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2015.04.006. Epub 2015 May 11.

Hsu JC, Cheng CL, Ross-Degnan D, Wagner AK, Zhang F, Kao Yang YH, Liu LL Tai HY, Chen KH, Yang PW, Lu CY. Effects of safety warnings and risk management plan for thiazolidinediones in Taiwan. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2015 Oct;24(10):1026-35. doi: 10.1002/pds.3834. Epub 2015 Aug 6.

Sun J, Zhang X, Zhang Z, Wagner AK, Ross-Degnan D, Hogerzeil HV. Impacts of a new insurance benefit with capitated provider payment on healthcare utilization, expenditure and quality of medication prescribing in China. Trop Med Int Health. 2016 Feb;21(2):263-74. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12636. Epub 2015 Dec 1

Sruamsiri R, Wagner AK, Ross-Degnan D, Lu C, Dhippayom T, Ngorsuraches S, Chaiyakunapruk N. Expanding access to high-cost medicines through the E2 access program in Thailand: Effects on utilization, health outcomes, and cost using an interrupted time series analysis. BMJ Open 2016;6:e008671 doi:10.1136.

Trapp B, Okidi Ladwar D, Oteba MO, Embrey M, Khalid M, Wagner AK. Supervision, Performance Assessment, and Recognition Strategy (SPARS): Baseline facility performance and a multipronged approach for strengthening medicines management in Uganda. Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice 2016; 9:21. doi: 10.1186/s40545-016-0070-xURL.

Leopold C, Wagner AK , Lu CYL, Earle C, Nekhlyudov L, Ross-Degnan D, Wharam JF. Racial disparities in all-cause mortality among younger commercially insured women with incident metastatic breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 2016; DOI 10.1007/s10549-016-3875-z.