BPC Health Program Announces New Fellows
Washington, DC – This morning, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Health Program announced the addition of two new fellows, longtime pollsters Robert Blendon and Jarrett Lewis.
Robert Blendon, a professor emeritus at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard, taught courses on political strategy in health policy and public opinion polling, and directed the Harvard Opinion Research Program. During his career as a pollster, Blendon co-directed polling projects for the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation, POLITICO, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and National Public Radio and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Blendon previously served as senior vice president at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and as a senior faculty member for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Governor’s Association, and the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means. A graduate of Marietta College and the School of Business at the University of Chicago, he also holds a Sc.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Jarrett Lewis is a partner at Public Opinion Strategies, a national political and public affairs research firm, where he specializes in public policy, public affairs, and consumer research. Over the course of his career, Lewis has conducted extensive research on behalf of health systems, health care companies, and political campaigns. Previously, Lewis served as executive director of health policy at the Health Management Academy, where he advised health systems on health policy and strategy. Prior to that, he served as a strategist and pollster for the 2012 Romney for President Campaign. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Clemson University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
“Understanding public opinion is essential to achieving meaningful, bipartisan legislation,” said Marilyn Serafini, executive director of BPC’s Health Program. “Bringing Robert and Jarrett on board gives the Health Program an opportunity to focus our policy work on the issues important to the individuals who will be impacted by future legislation.”
“Given the ever-increasing polarization in the country, I believe deeply that we need to find issues that everyone can agree on,” said Robert Blendon. “Health care is an issue that binds each of us together. I am looking forward to working with the Bipartisan Policy Center to find solutions for health care and in turn, lower tensions in the U.S.”
“Voters of all political parties share common frustrations and anxieties about issues like health care,” said Jarrett Lewis. “Bringing together good ideas from all sides is critical for the health care system and our country as a whole. The Bipartisan Policy Center’s commitment to creating policy solutions and improving the U.S. health care system is an effort I am honored and thrilled to be a part of.”