John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, wins national public health policy award

For nearly four decades, he has mapped inequality in American healthcare and health outcomes, revealed the effects of going without health insurance, and carefully evaluated the impacts of health policy decisions in Washington, D.C. and state capitals.

Now, John Z. Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P., has received one of the nation’s top awards for health researchers, as the 2026 winner of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation David E. Rogers Award.

The award, which recognizes major contributions to improving public health and health care, is jointly sponsored by RWJF and the AAMC, which is the national organization for medical schools and academic health systems.

Ayanian is the Alice Hamilton Distinguished University Professor of Medicine and Healthcare Policy, and Director of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. IHPI unites 840 faculty from across all three U-M campuses whose work addresses important questions in all areas of health policy and practice. 

As a practicing general internal medicine physician at U-M Health, Ayanian’s main faculty appointment is in the Division of General Medicine in the Medical School’s Department of Internal Medicine. He also holds appointments in the Department of Health Management and Policy in the School of Public Health and in the Department of Public Policy in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Before coming to U-M in 2013 as IHPI’s inaugural director, Ayanian’s work at Harvard University had informed the Affordable Care Act’s insurance options, and several National Academies reports on health disparities and uninsurance. He is also an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.

During his time at U-M, he has led the building of IHPI into one of the nation’s foremost communities for health services research and for the training of future health care and health policy scholars.

He has led a multidisciplinary team that for more than a decade has evaluated the impact of Michigan’s Medicaid expansion, providing valuable evidence to inform policymakers here and in other states. He served as founding editor of JAMA Health Forum, and currently serves as one of three co-leaders of the U-M Year of Human Health and Well-Being.