Michael Pesko is a health economist and an Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Department of Economics at Georgia State University. Dr. Pesko’s research uses retrospectively-collected data and quasi-experimental methods to evaluate health policy changes. Dr. Pesko has published 50+ peer-reviewed papers in top health economics, health policy, and labor economics journals. Since 2016, his research has been awarded over $7 million in funding as principal investigator of three R01s from the National Institutes of Health and two Research Scholar Grants from the American Cancer Society. In 2022, he was awarded $5 million in research funding to launch a new research program to evaluate insurance mandates affecting coverage for hearing aids and cancer prevention and early detection services, and to continue e-cigarette policy evaluation research. He will carry out this research over the next five years.

Dr. Pesko is particularly interested in policy changes affecting the use of e-cigarettes. He is also a co-organizer of the Tobacco Online Policy Seminar (www.tobaccopolicy.org), a free multidisciplinary, international forum for research with tobacco policy implications using experimental or quasi-experimental study designs. Dr. Pesko is a member of the Canadian Scientific Advisory Board on Vaping Products.

Dr. Pesko was hired by GSU in 2017 as part of the second-century initiative (2CI). Prior to coming to GSU, Dr. Pesko was previously an Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and a fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He graduated with a PhD in Economics in 2012.

Follow Michael Pesko on Twitter @mikepesko.