Agency for Health Care Policy and Research

U.S. Public Health Service

Department of Health and Human Services

2101 E. Jefferson St., Suite 6000

Rockville, ND 20852

Phone: 301-594-6662

Fax: 301-594-2168

lsimpson@ahcpr.gov

Dr. Simpson has served as deputy administrator of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) since September 1996. The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research is the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) lead Agency for health services research and health care quality. In the last three years, she oversaw AHCPR’s reorganizations, budget cuts and expansions, and the Agency’s transition from clinical practice guidelines to the promotion of evidence-based practice and an enhanced focus on quality measurement and improvement.

During 1998, Dr. Simpson oversaw a major effort to align the Agency’s planning, budgeting, and reporting activities to move the Agency to a more accountable and user-driven research agenda. She has also been active in national activities to advance quality measurement serving on advisory committees of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations’ Council on Performance Measurement, and the American Medical Association.

As a board certified pediatrician, Dr. Simpson also spearheads the Agency’s initiatives in promoting children’s health services research. She is an active member of the Department’s efforts to assist States in the implementation of the new Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP). She speaks and writes frequently about the opportunities and challenges for improving children’s health in this country. Dr. Simpson is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Dr. Simpson currently serves on the Editorial Board of Maternal and Child Health Journal and the Editorial Advisory Board of The Future of Children.

Prior to her services at AHCPR, Dr. Simpson was a senior policy analyst in the DHHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. She was a fellow at the Institute for Health Policy Studies, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco from 1991 to 1993; and was the director of Maternal and Child Health for the State of Hawaii from 1988 to 1990, where she oversaw the implementation of numerous innovative community-based health programs for women and children. She received a doctorate of medicine (M.B., B.Ch.) from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and earned a masters in public health from the University of Hawaii.

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