Congratulations to Dr. Anna Gage, PhD—Head Teaching Fellow of Faculty Director Sue J. Goldie’s Harvard College course—on successfully defending her dissertation, “Health System Quality Improvement Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implementation and Impact,” on April 14, 2022, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Gage’s research examines health system quality, equity in the distribution of high quality care across a population, and approaches to improve health system quality. Simultaneously, her research ties together methods from econometrics, implementation science, and geographic analysis.
Gage masterfully walked through the primary findings of her three dissertation papers, which focuses on health system quality improvement through a complex adaptive system lens. In her first paper, she evaluated the impact of performance-based financing initiatives on neonatal health outcomes in 5 Sub-Saharan African countries, finding no significant impact on mortality or birthweight. Her second paper, examining a national primary care improvement effort in Tanzania, identifies key contextual factors supporting quality improvement. Her third paper studies how providers may influence one another in providing quality care to mothers and newborns in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
Gage’s committee included Dr. Margaret Kruk, Dr. Margaret McConnell, and Dr. Sebastian Bauhoff. Please join the Incubator in congratulating Dr. Anna Gage on this major achievement!