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Strategy

Professor of Strategy

Herman Smith Research Professor in Hospital and Health Services Management

Director of Healthcare at Kellogg

Portrait of Craig Garthwaite, Faculty at the Kellogg School of Management

Professor Garthwaite is the Herman R. Smith Research Professor in Hospital and Health Services, a Professor of Strategy, and the Director of the Program on Healthcare at Kellogg (HCAK). He is an applied economist whose research examines the business of healthcare with a focus on the interaction between private firms and public policies.

His recent work in the payer and provider sectors has focused on the private sector effects of the Affordable Care Act, the impact and operation of Medicaid Managed Care plans, the responses of non-profit hospitals to financial shocks, and the economic effects of expanded social insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare for All. 

Professor Garthwaite also studies questions of pricing and innovation in the biopharmaceutical sector. In this area he has examined the effect of changes in market size of investments in new product development, the evolving world of precision medicine, expanded patent protection on pricing in the Indian pharmaceutical market, the innovation response of United States pharmaceutical firms to increases in demand, and the relationship between health insurance expansions and high drug prices. 

His research has appeared in journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the New England Journal of Medicine.  In addition, he is a frequent media commentator appearing in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and The New York Times. He has also appeared as a guest on various television and radio shows such as Nightly Business Report and NPR Marketplace. In 2015, Professor Garthwaite was named one of Poet and Quants 40 Best under 40 Business School Professors.   

Garthwaite received a B.A. and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan and his PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland. Prior to receiving his PhD, he served in a variety of public policy positions including the Director of Research for the Employment Policies Institute. He has testified before the United States Senate, United States House of Representatives and state legislatures on matters related to the healthcare markets, prescription drugs, the minimum wage, and health care reforms.

About Craig
Research interests
  • Health Economics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Public Finance; Political Economy
  • PhD, 2009, Economics, University of Maryland, College Park
    MA, 2008, Economics, University of Maryland, College Park
    MPP, 2001, Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
    BA, 2000, Political Science, University of Michigan, cum laude
  • Assistant Professor of Management and Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2010-present, 2010-present
    Senior Lecturer of Management & Strategy, Donald P. Jacobs Scholar, Management & Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2009-present
  • Director of Research and Chief Economist, Employment Policies Institute, 2003-2005
    Economist, Public Sector Consultants, 2002-2003
  • Faculty Impact Teaching Award (2 Sections), Kellogg, One Term
    Chairs' Core Course Teaching Award, Kellogg, One Year
    Young Economist Award, International Institute of Public Finance, 2011
    Impact Award, Kellogg School of Management, 2010
  • Co-Editor, Journal of Public Economics, 2016-2020

Healthcare Strategy (STRTX-443-0)

The healthcare sector absorbs 17 percent of US GDP, encompassing a diverse set of industries with public, nonprofit, and for-profit buyers and sellers. It is bloated, inefficient, and ripe for innovation. How can enterprising firms develop sustainable strategies given the current and future industry structures, conduct, and government regulations? In this course, we will study and apply strategic principles in a variety of healthcare settings. In so doing, participants will become acquainted with several U.S. health sectors, regulatory oversight of these sectors, and major policy issues.

Foundations for Strategy Formulation (STRTX-431-0)

Value Creation and Capture in Chinese Healthcare (HCAKX-973-0)

Value Creation and Capture in Biopharmaceuticals (HCAKX-960-0)

Biopharmaceutical innovation results from the interaction of a complex set of firms that both generate and finance early stage products. As potential scientific innovations move through the research and development process, the various firms require both the involvement of increasingly sophisticated managers and infusions of additional capital from the private and the public market. This can often involve acquisitions or licensing with existing players - many of which have effectively outsourced large portions of drug discovery to these early stage firms. As a result, determining how value is created and captured in this area requires understanding the incentives and motivations of all of the players in the system, including but not limited to small biotechs, large pharmaceutical firms, venture capitalists, pubic investors, and private equity firms. This is true whether one is interested in operating an early stage firm, undertaking business development activities at larger firms, or being an investor in the public or private market. This course combines elements of your previous strategy, finance, and healthcare curriculum with new concepts and techniques specific to biopharmaceutical that will allow you to better understand this market. Students will apply tools of valuation and strategic decision making to both large and small firms that are attempting to develop and market new biopharmaceutical innovations. This will include both individual and group coursework requiring the use of concepts from previous finance, strategy, and economics courses - where groups will include a mixture of students with more and less backgrounds in each of these areas. After this course students will have a thorough understanding of the early stage biopharmaceutical market from both the point of view of an investor and a manager.