Melinda Buntin is a distinguished health economist and health policy researcher who analyzes health care delivery and costs with a focus on improving the value created by the U.S. health care system. Her research bridges health care policy and public health with the goal of providing insights and guidance to the health care sector, businesses, and policymakers, and ultimately improving health care delivery and outcomes.

Buntin leads a newly established Center for Health Systems and Policy Modeling at Johns Hopkins. The center aims to address emerging issues in health policy and build models related to health care supply and delivery. Work within the center will generate new ideas about financing and organization of health care that will achieve better value and better outcomes, and it will be a place where policymakers can bring their own ideas to be tested. Buntin is also interested in “supply side” analysis of health care, including looking at how different parts of the health care system function and developing models of the way they operate and how policies can affect them.

Buntin joined Johns Hopkins University as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in 2023 from Vanderbilt University. She is part of the Knowledge to Action and Business of Health (KABOH) cluster.