Peter Alexander Muennig is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

researcher and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in the Department of Health Policy and Management at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Mailman School of Public Health The Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (formally the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health) is the public health graduate school of Columbia University. Located on the Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus in the ...

. He was the founding director of the Global Research Analytics for Population Health (GRAPH) center at Columbia University. His research focuses on how to maximize population health by optimizing a mix of social and

economic policies ''Economic Policy'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford Academic on behalf of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the Center for Economic Studies (University of Munich), and the Paris School of Economics. The jo ...

, particularly welfare and education interventions. This work generally combines

randomized controlled trials A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical ...

(RCTs) with

cost-effectiveness analysis Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from cost–benefit analysis, which assigns a monetar ...

. As of April 2025, Muennig has 11,845 citations, an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 55, and an

i10-index Author-level metrics are citation metrics that measure the bibliometric impact of individual authors, researchers, academics, and scholars. Many metrics have been developed that take into account varying numbers of factors (from only considering ...

of 148.

Early life and education

Muennig earned his MD from the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

in 1994 and his

Master of Public Health The Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL) are interdisciplinary profes ...

(MPH) from

in 1998. He has been a member of the

American Public Health Association The American Public Health Association (APHA) is a Washington, D.C.–based professional membership and advocacy organization for public health professionals in the United States. APHA is the largest professional organization of public health pr ...

since 1996 and has served on the editorial board of Global Public Health.

Career and research

Muennig has used

as a tool for examining the most efficient non-medical

social policies Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to Compar ...

in which to invest. He has also been the principal investigator on well over $20 million of private and federally funded welfare and education experiments to obtain causal data on their health impacts for these cost-effectiveness models. In some cases, he has worked with government agencies to evaluate changes to welfare policies that plausibly improve the health of recipients. One of his studies analyzed the United States’ nationwide transition from

Aid to Families with Dependent Children Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was a federal assistance program in the United States in effect from 1935 to 1997, created by the Social Security Act (SSA) and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Ser ...

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF ) is a federal assistance program of the United States. It began on July 1, 1997, and succeeded the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, providing cash assistance to indigent Ame ...

. He did this using two state-level RCTs

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Jobs First and the

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Transition Program that contributed to nationwide welfare reform. Muennig and his team found that even though the reform improved income for recipients on average, it also increased mortality over the long term. This was likely because some participants lost all access to income and may have ended up

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

as a result of the expiration of benefits after 5 years in the new program. Muennig has also investigated the long-term health benefits of early childhood education programs. By analyzing decades of data from families who participated in government-funded

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

programs in the 1960s and 1970s, he found that these programs not only contributed to higher earnings, but also improved health outcomes. He is currently working on a large recontacting trial for Tennessee Project STAR, an 11,600 student RCT examining the impact of smaller classroom sizes that was conducted in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in 1985–1987. Muennig has contributed to studies on

social determinants of health The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status. They are the health promoting factors found in one's living and working conditions (such as the dist ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, urban health disparities, and healthcare cost-effectiveness. He continues his work with organizations such as

MDRC MDRC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research organization based in New York City; Washington, DC; and Oakland and Los Angeles, California. MDRC conducts rigorous studies of programs and policies that affect people with low ...

and

Mathematica Wolfram (previously known as Mathematica and Wolfram Mathematica) is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allows machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network ...

to assess ongoing policy experiments. His more recent work studies the use of digital credentials to reduce barriers to welfare enrollment.

Global and urban health initiatives

Muennig has been involved in global health efforts, particularly in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, where he has run a non-governmental organization providing education and healthcare access to stateless children since 1999. He has also conducted research on

immigrant health Refugee health is the field of study on the health effects experienced by people who have been displaced into another country or even to another part of the world, as a result of unsafe circumstances such as war or persecution. People who have be ...

, urban health disparities, and the social factors contributing to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

life expectancy Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...

trends. His work on the cost-effectiveness of building parks over a major expressway in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

led to funding a $2 million

pilot study A pilot experiment, pilot study, pilot test or pilot project is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research pr ...

and congressional support for the proposed $1 billion parks project. The project is now dependent on resource allocation decisions from the

Inflation Reduction Act The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) is a United States federal law which aims to reduce the federal government budget deficit, lower prescription drug prices, and invest in domestic energy production while promoting clean energy. It was ...

Selected publications

Muennig is the author of four books and more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. * Muennig P, Reynolds M, Fink DS, Zafari Z, Geronimus AT. "America's Declining Well-Being, Health, and Life Expectancy: Not Just a White Problem." ''

American Journal of Public Health The ''American Journal of Public Health'' is a monthly peer-reviewed public health journal published by the American Public Health Association that covers health policy and public health. The journal was established in 1911 and its stated mission ...

''. 2018. * Muennig P, Caleyachetty R, Rosen Z, Korotzer A. "More money, fewer lives: the cost-effectiveness of welfare reform in the United States." ''

''. 2015. * Courtin E, Kim S, Song S, Yu W, Muennig P. "Can Social Policies Improve Health? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 38 Randomized Trials." ''

Milbank Quarterly The ''Milbank Quarterly'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed healthcare journal covering health care policy. It was established in 1923 and is published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the Milbank Memorial Fund, an endowed national foundation funded b ...

''. 2020. * Muennig P, Finn J, Johnson G, Wilde ET. "The effect of small class sizes on mortality through age 29: evidence from a multi-center randomized controlled trial." ''

American Journal of Epidemiology The American Journal of Epidemiology (''AJE'') is a peer-reviewed journal for empirical research findings, opinion pieces, and methodological developments in the field of epidemiological research. The current editor-in-chief is Enrique Schisterma ...

''. 2011. * Muennig P, Glied SA. "What changes in survival rates tell us about U.S. health care." ''

Health Affairs ''Health Affairs'' is a monthly peer-reviewed healthcare journal established in 1981 by John K. Iglehart; since 2014, the editor-in-chief is Alan Weil. It was described by ''The Washington Post'' as "the bible of health policy". Abstracting a ...

''. 2010.

Recognition and awards

* Stanford University Center for Population Health Sciences Lecture Series (2016) * Health Affairs Most Read Article (2010) * Glenda Garvey Teaching Academy (2010) * ASPH/Pfizer Early Career in Public Health Teaching Award (2008) * Academy of Distinguished Teachers (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muennig, Peter Columbia University faculty American public health doctors American epidemiologists Public health researchers American medical researchers 21st-century American physicians Harvard Medical School alumni Columbia University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people