Heidi Russell, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Health Policy. She is also appointed as the L.E. and Virginia Simmons Senior Fellow in Health Policy and the Huffington Fellow in Child Health Policy.

Russell, a pediatric oncologist and health economist, brings a unique multidisciplinary perspective to health policy research and education. Her work has long focused on improving health systems through data-driven policy with a particular emphasis on child health. She has published extensively, including as a nonresident scholar with the Baker Institute, and has led multi-institutional research collaborations and major grant development initiatives.

Russell joins Rice’s Baker Institute from the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, where she served as professor in the Department of Management, Policy and Community Health and director of dual degrees, overseeing the strategic development of 19 programs across six campuses. She previously served as medical director of clinical systems integration at Texas Children’s Hospital, where she advanced value-based care initiatives at both institutional and state levels.