Faculty

Education
Ph.D. in Policy Analysis, RAND Graduate School
Expertise
Infectious diseases
Health care costs
Global health
Economic epidemiology
Health insurance markets and benefits design
Medical innovation and regulatory policy
Medicare and aging
Biography
Neeraj Sood, PhD, is professor at the USC Price School of Public Policy with joint appointments in the USC Keck School of Medicine USC Marshall School of Business, and USC Viterbi School of Engineering. He is also a senior scholar and founding member of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. His research focuses on pharmaceutical markets, health insurance, economics of innovation, infectious diseases, Medicare, and global health. He has published over 170 papers in peer-reviewed journals in economics, medicine, and policy. His research has been supported by the National Institutes for Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF) and other prominent funders. His work has been featured in media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, U.S. News and World Report, and Scientific American. Sood holds the lifetime honorary title of National Associate of the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine, recognizing his extraordinary service to national research on matters of science, engineering and medicine. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research – the nation’s premier economic research organization, a past board member of the American Society of Health Economists, a member of the health board of advisors for the Congressional Budget Office, and scholar in residence at Amazon. Prior to joining USC, he was a senior economist at RAND and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Sood has consulted for several organizations in health including health insurers, start-ups seeking to improve value of health, pharmaceutical firms and industry groups. He has also been an expert witness on matters related to health care markets with an emphasis on pharmaceutical markets.
Selected Publications
- Is exposure to pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising for heart disease and diabetes associated with physical activity and dietary behavior?. Social Science & Medicine, 330, 116062.
- Evaluating non-pharmacological approaches to Nursing Home Dementia Care: A Protocol. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 34, 101161.
- The impact of Covid‐19 shelter‐in‐place policy responses on excess mortality. Health Economics, 32(11), 2499-2515.
In The News
Undark
Sood quoted about Jay Bhattacharya, the new Director of the National Institutes of Health
Featured Faculty: Neeraj Sood
Fresno Bee
Sood study cited, in relation to the issue of insulin affordability now influencing presidential politics
Featured Faculty: Neeraj Sood
USC Price News
Study: Mental health disparities in Los Angeles County worsened during COVID-19 pandemic
Featured Faculty: Neeraj Sood
Affiliated Research Centers
Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service
Kudos
June 22, 2023 Dr. Sood is appointed to the CBO Panel of Health Advisors.
February 4, 2022 Dr. Sood becomes a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on Community Wastewater-based Infectious Disease Surveillance.