Team directory
Team directory
Cormac O'Dea, Assistant Professor of Economics
Cormac O’Dea is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Yale University. He is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research interests are in household saving, retirement and intergenerational links in economic outcomes.
A. David Paltiel, Professor of Public Health (Health Policy); Professor of Management; Co-Director, Public Health Modeling Concentration; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
The objective that guides Dr. Paltiel’s scholarly activities is to promote a reasoned approach to decision making and resource allocation in public health and medicine. Trained in the field of Operations Research, Dr. Paltiel designs and implements policy models and cost-effectiveness analyses. He has a special interest and expertise in HIV/AIDS and has published broadly on the cost-effectiveness of testing, prevention, treatment, and care, both in the United States and around the world.
Rohini Pande, Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics
Rohini Pande is the Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
Limor Peer, Associate Director for Research & Strategic Initiatives
Office Location: 24 Hillhouse Avenue
Phone: 203-432-0054
Email: limor.peer@yale.edu
Danielle Petrafesa, Financial Assistant
Address: 24 Hillhouse Avenue
Phone: 203-432-9736
Email: danielle.petrafesa@yale.edu;
Benjamin Polak, William C Brainard Professor of Economics; Professor of Management
Professor Polak is an expert on decision theory, game theory, and economic history. His work explores economic agents whose goals are richer than those captured in traditional models. His work on game theory ranges from foundational theoretical work on common knowledge, to applied topics in corporate finance and law and economics. Most recently, he has made contributions to the theory of repeated games with asymmetric information. Other research interests include economic inequality and individuals’ responses to uncertainty.
Yuting Qian, ISPS Graduate Policy Fellow 2025
Yuting Qian is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Health Policy and Management, with a concentration in Economics. She holds an MS in Health Policy and Economics from Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University. Her research interests include public policies and the health of the aging population, particularly people with cognitive impairment. Her current work examines disparities in dementia diagnosis and the impact of diagnosis on the health and economic well-being of older adults.
Kyle Thomas Ramos, Dahl Scholar, 2024-2025
Kyle Thomas Ramos is a third-year student originally from Stuart, FL, pursuing a simultaneous BA/MA in Political Science and an advanced language certificate in Spanish. Under the advice of Professor Christina Kinane, Kyle Thomas studies the interbranch politics of the Federal Judiciary. His research focuses on the strategic creation of judicial vacancies by judges and the methods governing parties employ to entrench their influence in the judiciary, particularly when facing electoral defeat.
Shir Raviv, External Postdoctoral Associate (Columbia University)
Shir Raviv is a political scientist who studies the politics of using AI in public policy implementation. She employs experimental methods to investigate how citizens perceive and react to the use of data-driven algorithms in high-stakes domains such as criminal justice, policing, welfare, and education. She also examines how their views change after receiving information or having personal experience with the technology. Before joining Columbia University in September 2023, Dr. Raviv earned her Ph.D. and M.A.
Alison Renna, ISPS Graduate Policy Fellow 2024
Alison Renna is a PhD candidate in Religion and Modernity and the History of Science and Medicine at Yale University. As an ISPS Fellow, Renna is researching the effect of the reception of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1904 decision Jacobson v. Massachusetts on the preamble’s status in constitutional law. Through this ISPS fellowship, Renna is researching the consequence of returning the preamble to constitutional interpretation, with a focus on how returning “ourselves and our posterity” as equal stakeholders in US law would re-shape environmental law in the United States.