Assistant Professor

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Department of Health System Design and Global Health

1216 Fifth Ave, Suite 559A. New York, NY 10029

aaron.baum [at] mssm.edu

Bio

My research uses methods from empirical economics and statistics to evaluate and personalize the targeting of health services and policies. I have a PhD from Columbia University, where I studied health and development economics, and a BS in mathematics from the University of Chicago. I have a primary appointment in the Department of Health System Design and Global Health at Mount Sinai and a secondary appointment in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences. I am also affiliated with the Veterans Health Administration (New York Harbor) and Stanford University School of Medicine.

I have a long-term interest in improving access to quality health care services for vulnerable populations. I was part of the team that started City Health Works in Harlem NY, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded organization that employs community workers to deliver home health coaching and care coordination services to Medicaid beneficiaries. I was also previously a technologist in residence at Cornell Tech, where I helped design a digital nutrition application to scale-up access to registered dietician services under Prof. Deborah Estrin, who was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2018. In partnership with the largest microfinance institution in Haiti, I was part of the team that developed a community health entrepreneur program that has now been scaled up to reach millions of rural, low-income women and children.

Selected Publications

Baum A, Elize W, & Jean-Louis F. (2017). Microfinance Institutions’ Successful Delivery of Micronutrient Powders: A Randomized Trial In Rural Haiti. Health Affairs.

Baum A, Scarpa J, Bruzelius E, Tamler R, Basu S, & Faghmous J. (2017). Targeting weight loss interventions to reduce cardiovascular complications of type 2 diabetes: a machine learning-based post-hoc analysis of heterogeneous treatment effects in the Look AHEAD trial. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Baum A, Song Z, Landon, B, Phillips, R, Bitton, A Basu, S (2019). Health Care Spending Slowed After Rhode Island Applied Affordability Standards To Commercial Insurers. Health Affairs.

Scarpa J, Bruzelius E, Doupe P, Le M, Faghmous J, Baum A (2019). Assessment of Risk of Harm Associated With Intensive Blood Pressure Management Among Patients With Hypertension Who Smoke: A Secondary Analysis of the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial. JAMA Network Open.

Bruzelius E, Baum A. (2019). The Mental Health of Hispanic/Latino Americans Following National Immigration Policy Changes: United States, 2014–2018. American Journal of Public Health.

Baum A, Barnett ML, Wisnivesky J, & Schwartz MD (2019). Association Between a Temporary Reduction in Access to Health Care and Long-term Changes in Hypertension Control Among Veterans After a Natural Disaster. JAMA Network Open.

Baum A, Schwartz MD (2020). Admissions to Veterans Affairs Hospitals for Emergency Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA.

MyBibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1hUPiig3uenwyI/bibliography/public/