Elizabeth Howe Bradley (born 1962) is the eleventh President of Vassar College, a role she assumed on July 1, 2017. Bradley also holds a joint appointment as Professor of Political Science and Professor of Science, Technology, and Society.
Previously Bradley was Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy and Founder and Faculty Director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute at Yale University. She was also the Head of Branford College at Yale University. In 2018, she was named a member of the Council of Foreign Affairs and elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Bradley has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and has co-authored three books including The American Healthcare Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less.
Education and early career
Bradley graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. She received an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1986 specializing in Health Administration and Organizational Behavior. She earned her Ph.D. in 1996 from Yale University with a concentration in health policy and health economics.
Bradley was a hospital administrator at Massachusetts General Hospital before leading the Health Management Program at the Yale School of Public Health, Health Policy and Administration. She coordinated health management teaching efforts in joint programs for business and medical students at Yale University.
Research and publications
Bradley's research focused on strengthening health care systems around the globe, including within the US, UK, China and several countries in Africa. Domestically, she has contributed to several projects including improving quality of cardiovascular care within hospital settings, understanding the relationship between state level social service spending and health outcomes, and improving the transition from acute to hospice and palliative care.
Articles and chapters
Bradley has published more than 335 peer-reviewed papers, some of which include:
Leveraging the Social Determinants of Health: What Works? The Impact of Reported Hospice Preferred Practices on Hospital Utilization at the End of Life Variation In Health Outcomes: The Role Of Spending On Social Services, Public Health, And Health Care, 2000–09 Patterns of collaboration among health care and social service providers in communities with lower health care utilization and costs Association between community social capital and hospital readmission rates Management Matters: A Leverage Point for Health Systems Strengthening in Global Health District-level health management and health system performance
Books
Shortell and Kaluzny's Healthcare Management: Organization, Design and Behavior, 7th edition (Clifton Park, NY: Delmar, 2019). The American Health Care Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less (New York, NY: Perseus Book Group, 2013). Public and Private Responsibilities in Long Term Care (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).
International work
Bradley has led health system strengthening projects in international settings including China, Ethiopia, India, Liberia, Rwanda, South Africa and the United Kingdom and with Vassar is implementing a liberal arts curriculum in collaboration with the University of Global Health Equity and Partners in Health in Rwanda.
Bradley first arrived in Ethiopia in 2006 as part of an international coalition that included the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute (GHLI), the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Harvard University, and others. Dr. Tedros Adhanom, then the Minister of Health, asked Bradley to advise 90 hospital CEOs and senior managers as part of the Ethiopian Hospital Management Initiative. Later, Bradley served as the principal investigator for the Ethiopian Hospital Management Initiative, a program run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to improve the functionality and quality of government hospitals in Ethiopia. She also served as the principal investigator for a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Developing the Long-Term Capability of Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program Platform. Bradley’s efforts focused on healthcare leadership capacity and management systems to advance Ethiopia’s healthcare reform.
Bradley also assisted in establishing the Rwanda Human Resources for Health Program, which was recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative for its innovativeness. She was also the recipient of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant that developed a framework of diffusion, dissemination, and widespread take up of health innovations.