Abt Opens in Atlanta; Hires and Promotes in Massachusetts

In the US, healthcare and government researcher Abt Associates has opened an office in Atlanta, while appointing Dr Hong Wang as a Senior Health Economist and promoting Nandini Hadker to Executive Director at its offices in Massachusetts.

The new Atlanta base has been set up to facilitate collaboration, access and enhanced services for the firm's long-time client, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It will initially be headed by VP and Deputy Director for Domestic Health, Scott Royal, who is an epidemiologist who has worked extensively with the CDC both during and prior to his three-year tenure at Abt.

Says Kathleen Flanagan, Group VP for Social, Economic and Health Policy: 'We are confident that our new Atlanta office will enable us to strengthen communications with our CDC contacts, maximize project continuity, and enhance both the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of our project work'.

In Cambridge, Mass., Wang joins with more than 20 years' experience in research, teaching, and consulting in health policy internationally. Most recently he was a Faculty Member at Yale University, while in China he was Deputy Director of both the National Health Economic Institute of the Ministry of Health in Beijing, and the Department of Health Economics at Beijing Medical University. He received his MD from Beijing Medical University, and his PhD in Population Health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wang's new responsibilities will include overseeing and guiding the health financing and economics activities of the Health Systems 20/20 project, and ensuring its quality; and leading strategic technical assistance and applied research assignments.

According to Tessie San Martin, Group VP for International Development: 'Dr Wang's very practical experience provide him with a very rich perspective which will be invaluable to our client.'

Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions (ABS), which provides clinical, health economic, and strategic commercialization solutions, has promoted Hadker to oversee the strategic commercialization practice. She holds an MA in Economics from Boston University and her work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed, scientific healthcare journals including The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and Haemophilia. She has also been a featured speaker at many professional conferences, especially in the area of new product planning and pharmaceutical pricing.

Already an active member of the firm's senior management team, her new role involves helping physicians and hospitals identify, assess and quantify opportunities, navigate complex marketplaces, and position themselves with their customers.

Steven Fosburg, President of ABS commented: 'We expect great things from Nandini. As the group is poised for significant growth in the coming year, she is the right candidate to lead that effort.'

Abt was founded in 1965 and employs over 1,000 staff in offices in five US and numerous overseas cities. In July last year, the firm acquired public opinion and public policy surveys specialist SRBI for an undisclosed sum.

Web site: www.abtassociates.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

• Abt Associates
• All news