Maria Polyakova

Contact information:
Center for Health Policy
Encina Commons, Office 182
615 Crothers Way
Stanford, CA, 94305
Tel: (650) 498-7528
Email: maria.polyakova at stanford.edu

Appointments

• Associate Professor of Health Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine
• Associate Professor of Economics (by courtesy), Stanford University
• Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
• Stanford MS in Health Policy Program Director
• Editor, Journal of Health Economics
• Research Associate, NBER (Health Care and Public Economics)
• Research Network Affiliate, CESifo Munich
• Research Fellow, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin
   

Education

• PhD, Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2014
• BA, Economics & Mathematics, Yale University, 2008
   

Biography

Maria Polyakova, PhD, is Associate Professor of Health Policy at Stanford School of Medicine and Associate Professor (by courtesy) of Economics at Stanford University, where she is also a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and an Editor of the Journal of Health Economics. Her research spans many areas of health economics, including health insurance, healthcare labor markets, and individual decision-making in health and healthcare, united by a central question: do markets and government policy effectively serve individuals and families, or do they introduce distortions? Her ongoing work focuses on how families navigate prolonged health shocks. Professor Polyakova is the 2026 recipient of the Kate Ho ASHEcon Medal, awarded by the American Society of Health Economists to the early-career economist who has made the most significant contributions to the field. She received her BA in Economics & Mathematics and German Studies from Yale University in 2008 and, after working as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, completed her PhD in Economics at MIT in 2014