I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. I am in the Division of Child Health Research and Policy (CHeRP) and the Precision Medicine Translational Research (PROMoTeR) Center and am a Member of the HMS Center for Bioethics.
My research program evaluates the clinical, patient-centered, and economic outcomes of genomic medicine. As a health economist and a scholar in the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of genomics, I develop approaches to integrate and advance health economic and ELSI research in genomics. I aim to produce evidence that informs decision making by clinicians, patients and families, and health care systems to ensure efficient and ethical implementation of genomic technologies in clinical care.
I am currently funded on a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Career Development Award from the National Human Genome Research Institute to study the family-level utility of pediatric genomic sequencing using a patient-centered approach and decision science methods. I am also the Project Director of the Precision Medicine Policy and Treatment Model (PreEMPT II) and a co-Investigator on the BabySeq Project, a randomized controlled trial of newborn genomic sequencing. My research has been published in JAMA Pediatrics, Nature Genetics, The American Journal of Human Genetics, and Genetics in Medicine. I am a section editor for Economics and Precision Medicine at Genetics in Medicine.
Contact
Email: hadley.smith@hphci.harvard.edu
Twitter: @hadleyssmith
CV and Publications
Funded Research as PI
- National Human Genome Research Institute K99HG011491, R00HG011491
- Role: PI
- Funding period: 2020-2022 (K99 phase), 2023-2026 (R00 phase)
- Mentors: Amy McGuire, Stacey Pereira, David Veenstra, Brendan Lee
- Collaborators: Tara Lavelle, Eve Wittenberg, Ashish Deshmukh
- Research: An ELSI-Integrated Evaluation of the Family-Level Utility of Pediatric Genomic Sequencing
- The goal of this research is to investigate how clinical genomic sequencing impacts families of pediatric patients. This research will develop an empirically informed framework of normative values important to families of pediatric patients, including ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI), which will then be used to elicit preferences for features of sequencing from a nationally representative sample of parents in the US. The results of this work will lead to a measure of family utility that integrates ELSI and can be used in a decision analytic model to assess the impact of genomic sequencing and the importance of including family-level ELSI considerations in such analyses.
- Family Well-Being Research Network (FAM-NET) Research Scholars Corp
- Role: PI
- Funding period: 2022-2023
- Mentor: Janel Hanmer
- Research: Health-related quality of life and family well-being in pediatric patients with genetic conditions and their families: A scoping review of the literature
- The objective of this project is to systematically describe empirical literature on health-related quality of life measurement in pediatric patients with genetic conditions and their family members and on family well-being measurement in the context of genetic conditions.
- Center for ELSI Resources and Analysis
- Role: co-PI (with Meghan Halley)
- Funding period: 2022-2024
- Value Ethics: Mapping strategies for value assessment and reimbursement of gene therapies for rare diseases
- The Value Ethics Working Group will engage a broad range of stakeholders in developing guidance for ethically justified and patient-centered value assessment and reimbursement strategies for gene therapies. Follow our activities and outputs on Twitter @GenetxValue
- Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School & Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Faculty Grants Program
- Role: PI
- Funding period: 2023
- Research: Health Care Utilization Among Families of Children with Genetic Conditions
- Recipient of the Ebert Fellowship, Harvard Medical School’s Eleanor and Miles Shore 50th Anniversary Fellowship Program for Scholars in Medicine
- The goal of this research to understand the value of genomic sequencing at the family level to inform clinical implementation and payment policy. To assess public attitudes and preferences regarding familial communication of genetic results and follow-up testing in relatives, we will conduct a population-based survey of US adults. Additionally, we will describe clinical diagnoses, health care utilization, and spending for children and their families following pediatric genomic sequencing using health care claims data.
Academic Appointments
- Assistant Professor, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute (2022-Present)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Health Policy, Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine (2019-2022)
- Adjunct Instructor, Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health (2021-Present)
Affiliations
- Global Economics and Evaluation of Clinical Genomics Sequencing Working Group (GEECS) https://www.geecsecon.org/
- Clinical Utility, Health Economics and Policy (CUHEP) Working Group, Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research (CSER) Consortium https://cser-consortium.org/
- Econ-Omics Special Interest Group, International Health Economics Association https://www.healtheconomics.org/page/EGPM
- Clinical Analytics & Decision Sciences Lab, UTHealth https://www.cadsci.com/
Teaching
- Baylor College of Medicine
- Health Policy Analysis, Assistant Course Director (2021, 2022)
- Introduction to Health Policy, Lecturer (2020, 2021)
- Medical Ethics, Small Group Leader (2020, 2021)
- Genetic Counseling Thesis Research Methods I, Lecturer (2020, 2021, 2022)
- Texas A&M EnMed
- Health Economics, Elective Instructor (2020)
- UTHealth School of Public Health
- Lecturer (2017-2021)