Mary K. Olson

Mary K. Olson is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Health Policy Program in Tulane University's Murphy Institute, within the School of Liberal Arts. She holds a BA from Northwestern University and a PhD in Political Economics from Stanford University. Her research focuses on pharmaceutical regulation, FDA policies, healthcare innovation, and the economic impacts of drug safety frameworks. Dr. Olson has held prior roles at Yale University and Washington University. She has received grants from the National Science Foundation, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Her current research examines pediatric drug labeling's impact on prescribing practices, electronic medical records' influence on hospital performance, and cost-sharing effects in drug insurance. She served on the Institute of Medicine Committee assessing U.S. drug safety systems and was awarded the 2008 Mortar Board Teaching Excellence Award.

• Education:
• PhD in Political Economics, Stanford University
• BA, Northwestern University

Publications span FDA regulatory effectiveness, drug approval processes, and policy impacts on pharmaceutical innovation. Recent work analyzes how new clinical data in drug labels influences pediatric prescribing behavior and evaluates the unintended consequences of accelerated FDA drug reviews.

• Awards:
• 2008 Mortar Board Award for Excellence in Tenured Teaching

Grants have supported studies on FDA advisory committees, user fees' role in regulatory efficiency, and electronic health record adoption. Her work bridges economics, law, and medicine to address critical healthcare policy challenges.