David A. Asch, MD, MBA is the recipient of the 2008 Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research.

View the award presentation (38 min.)

David A. Asch, MD, MBA is the recipient of the 2008 Under Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research. This award recognizes a VA researcher whose work has led to major improvements in the quality of veterans’ health care, has made key contributions to the future of health services research through excellence in training and mentorship, and has enhanced the visibility and reputation of VA research through national leadership. Through nearly twenty years as a VA health services researcher, exceptional mentor and leader, Dr. Asch exemplifies the qualities the Award represents.

Dr. Asch is the co-Director of HSR&D’s Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (Pittsburgh-Philadelphia), whose mission is to reduce disparities and promote quality in health and health care among veterans and other populations. Dr. Asch’s research aims to understand how physicians and patients behave and make medical choices in clinical, financial, and ethically-charged settings, including the adoption of new pharmaceuticals or medical technologies, the purchase of insurance, care at the end of life, organ transplantation, genetic testing, and equity. His research combines elements of economic analysis with moral and psychological theory and marketing.

In addition to conducting this dynamic research, Dr. Asch practices internal medicine at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and teaches health policy at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Asch has received several distinguished teaching awards, including the John M. Eisenberg Teaching Award, Arthur K. Asbury Award for Outstanding Faculty Mentorship, and the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Moreover, he has mentored seven HSR&D career development awardees—three of whom have won Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

Dr. Asch also is the recipient of several research awards, such as the Young Investigator Award from the Association for Health Services Research [now the Alice Hersh New Investigator Award from AcademyHealth], the Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Federation for Medical Research, and the Mid-Career Research Mentorship Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine.

Dr. Asch received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, his medical degree from Cornell University, and his MBA in Health Care Management and Decision Sciences from the Wharton School. He has been a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, a Measey Foundation Scholar, a John A. Hartford Foundation Faculty Fellow, and the recipient of two HSR&D career development awards. In addition, he is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians as well as the Institute of Medicine, and is the author of more than 150 published papers and reports.

Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Asch has worked to improve the health of veterans. It is with great pride that VA presents Dr. David Asch with the prestigious Under Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research.