In late 2019, the Division of Health Policy and Insurance Research (HPI) opened the call for nominations for the inaugural Aaka Pande and Sumit Majumdar Memorial Award. The award was established in response to the untimely passing of Drs. Pande and Majumdar, as a means of honoring their legacy of dedication to rigorous science for impactful population health benefit.

HPI is honored to announce the 2021 winner of the award:

Kara Zivin, Ph.D., M.S., M.A., Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Health
Management Policy at the University of Michigan

The review committee received numerous outstanding nominations and finally chose Dr. Zivin based on her submission “Trends in Suicidality 1 Year Before and After Birth Among Commercially Insured Childbearing Individuals in the United States, 2006-2017”, a study published in the November 2020 issue of JAMA Psychiatry.

This landmark research on the undertreatment of growing pregnancy-related depression and suicidality is both scientifically rigorous and translational for policymakers. Dr. Zivin has also contributed op-eds and podcasts in leading news outlets (e.g., STAT News) to call attention to the need for policy action. Her courageous public discussion of overcoming her own severe depression during pregnancy serves as a role model for healing others. The committee was also struck by Dr. Zivin’s outstanding scholarly articles that have attracted worldwide attention: over 10,000 scientists have cited her work.

With this award, HPI seeks to annually recognize the talents of outstanding research fellows making significant contributions to constructive health policy dialogue through exceptional papers, highly regarded blogs or op-eds. For more information on the award, please visit the award website.