Dr. Lisa Simpson has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of AcademyHealth since 2011. A nationally recognized health policy researcher and pediatrician, she is a passionate advocate for the translation of research into policy and practice. Her research, and over 100 articles and commentaries in peer reviewed journals, focuses on the role of evidence and data to improve health and health care, particularly for children and populations who have been historically marginalized or excluded. Before joining AcademyHealth, Dr. Simpson spent eight years as a professor of pediatrics, first as an Endowed Chair in Child Health Policy at the University of South Florida and then as the Director of the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati. She served as the Deputy Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality from 1996 to 2002. Dr. Simpson serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Accountable Care and the National Health Council and the Editorial Board of HSR, an official publication of AcademyHealth. In October 2013, Dr. Simpson was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies. Dr. Simpson earned her undergraduate and medical degrees at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, a master's of public health at the University of Hawaii and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health services research and health policy at the University of California, San Francisco.