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Jennifer M. Polinski, MPH

Jennifer M. Polinski, M.P.H. is a Visiting Research Fellow in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Research Associate at Harvard Medical School.  Her research interests focus on physicians’ prescribing behavior and patients’ initiation of and adherence to medications, particularly within the context of reimbursement policies that may impact these behaviors. She has a specific interest in government-sponsored drug benefit policies, including state pharmacy assistance programs, Medicaid, and Medicare Part D and their effects on elderly populations.  Ms. Polinski has contributed to the development and implementation of several physician-oriented education services, among them the Independent Drug Information Service (iDiS), in Pennsylvania (www.rxfacts.org) and BC Chart Insert Pilot Study (BC ChIPS) in British Columbia, Canada (www.bcchips.ca).  As a consultant for the Arthritis Foundation, Ms. Polinski authored the arthritis disease management curriculum Take the “A” Train: Get on Track to Ease Arthritis Pain, designed for residents of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Ms. Polinski graduated summa cum laude from the University of Virginia, where she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and completed her postgraduate training at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University on a Robert E. Woodruff Scholarship. She recently completed an internship at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA.