Faculty

John A. Romley

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Pharmaceutical & Health Economics

Vice Dean for Research

Director, Ph.D. Programs

Programs

Bachelor of Science in Public Policy (BSPP)

Education

Ph.D. in Economics, Stanford University

Expertise

Hospital industry
Health-care productivity / efficiency
Environmental health disparities

Biography

John A. Romley, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, an Economist at the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, and an Adjunct Economist at the RAND Corporation. Dr. Romley’s research focuses on health care quality and costs, hospital markets, environmental health disparities, and pharmaceutical policy and economics. Dr. Romley’s work has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Health Affairs, Health Services Research, and other prominent journals. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle. Dr. Romley is the managing editor of Forum for Health Economics & Policy. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Economics at Stanford University, and holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and English (Phi Beta Kappa) from Amherst College.

Selected Publications

Mudumba, R., Liu, X., Davis, I., Romley, J. A., & Nieva, J. J. (2025). Real-world costs, treatment patterns, and clinical outcomes associated with treatments for advanced anaplastic lymphoma kinase–positive non–small cell lung cancer. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, 31(9) doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2025.31.9.890
Liu, X., Ferranna, M., & Romley, J. A. (2025). SA15 the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on influenza vaccine uptake by pregnant women in the US. Value in Health, 28(6), S398.
Zawadzki, N. K., Xie, F., Seabury, S. A., Romley, J. A., Fox, D. S., Gong, C. L., Zawadzki, R. S., Jiao, X., & Gu, N. Y. (2025). Measuring regional variations in US population-level health-related quality of life during COVID-19 using the EQ-5D-5L. Applied Research in Quality of Life.

View full list of publications

In The News

Science Magazine

Co-authored Goldman and Romley study finds that the Inflation Reduction Act’s out-of-pocket cap reduced insulin costs and increased usage

Featured Faculty: Dana Goldman, John A. Romley

Read: Romley interviewed about state regulators warning that a proposed partnership between CVS and a Boston health system could drive up healthcare spending

MedCityNews

Romley interviewed about state regulators warning that a proposed partnership between CVS and a Boston health system could drive up healthcare spending

Featured Faculty: John A. Romley

Read: Romley quoted in a story discussing how President-elect Donald Trump’s second term could significantly impact key industries, including technology, healthcare and agriculture

The Sacramento Bee

Romley quoted in a story discussing how President-elect Donald Trump’s second term could significantly impact key industries, including technology, healthcare and agriculture

Featured Faculty: John A. Romley

Affiliated Research Centers

Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service

The USC Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service develops evidence-based solutions to address the nation’s most pressing policy issues. Building on the successes of its flagship programs—the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, the Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service, the Center for Civic Society, and the Center for Economic and Social Research—the Institute serves as a policy laboratory to develop and test ideas generated by the USC academic community.