Y. Claire Wang, M.D., Sc.D.
Current Title: Associate Deputy Director
Current Organization: Delaware Department of Health and Social Services
Expertise:
At time of Fellowship
Dr. Claire Wang is a seasoned physician epidemiologist with over two decades of leadership across academia, government, and the nonprofit sector. Her work has consistently focused on behavioral health, disease prevention, and health policy—driven by her guiding mission: bringing people together to magnify impact. She is proud to serve as the founding Executive Director of the Impact Collaborative.
Prior to this role, Dr. Wang served as Associate Deputy Director at the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. There, she led major initiatives including the statewide expansion of the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the implementation of e-referral and care coordination platforms statewide, and the evaluation of the State’s Overdose System of Care. She previously held tenured academic appointments at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the New York Academy of Medicine. She is the author of more than 85 peer-reviewed publications and was named an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine by the National Academy of Medicine. As a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, she served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration.
Dr. Wang holds degrees from the National Taiwan University and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her husband.
Fellow in 2015-2016
Associate Deputy Director
M.D., Sc.D.
State at beginning of Fellowship
Placement(s):
Specialty/Discipline
Fellowship Year Biography
Incredible work since Fellowship
Y. Claire Wang is an associate professor of health policy and management at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She co-directs the Obesity Prevention Initiative, a cross-disciplinary team focusing on environmental and policy approaches to preventing obesity at the community level. She is also the faculty director of the MPH certificate in comparative effectiveness and outcomes research, and teaches decision analysis and economic evaluation of health technologies to graduate students and clinical scientists.
Wang’s research often applies mathematical modeling to synthesize evidence for informing policy and practice. She is particularly interested in the distribution of modifiable risk factors (e.g. diet, physical activity, and smoking) and their joint implications on disease burden in the whole population and among demographic subgroups. Her current research focuses on developing and evaluating policies to promote healthy choices and to address the obesity epidemic in adults and in children, especially in terms of cost-effectiveness and downstream health and cost impact.
Wang is a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and of The Obesity Society. She serves on the advisory committee of AGree, a cross-sector initiative funded by nine of the world’s leading foundations to drive positive, transformative change in the food and agriculture system.
Wang has an MD from National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, as well as an MS in epidemiology and an ScD in health policy and decision sciences from Harvard School of Public Health.(Updated 09.01.15)
Current Info:
Current Title:
Current Organization: Delaware Department of Health and Social Services
Expertise: