Sara S. Bachman, PhD is Dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. Formerly she was the Paul Farmer Professor at the Boston University School of Social Work; Research Professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health; and Director of the Boston University School of Social Work’s Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health. Dr. Bachman is an expert in health care financing and organization, focusing on alternative payment strategies. She has over twenty years of experience with health policy research and program evaluation, especially in the area of health care finance, health reform, social work, and state health policy for individuals with disabilities or complex health and social conditions, including children with special health care needs. She has published on state approaches to the issue of contracting for mental health services. Dr. Bachman received her MS in Epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and her PhD in Health Policy from the Florence Heller School at Brandeis University where she was a Pew Health Policy Fellow.