In this talk, Dr Hammond will provide an overview and several current examples of new ‘systems’ approaches to population health policy and interventions facilitated by the use of complex systems modeling. He will talk about important lessons learned, limitations and key best practices, and future potential. The presentation will draw on several active research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health in the United States, including work engaging with interventions in both the US and Australia and ranging from the community to the national level.

Ross A Hammond is a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he is also Director of the Center on Social Dynamics and Policy. His primary area of expertise is modeling complex dynamics in economic, social, and public health systems using mathematical and computational methods from complexity science. His current research topics include obesity etiology and prevention, food systems, tobacco control, behavioral epidemiology, crime, corruption, segregation, trust, and decision-making.

Hammond received his BA from Williams College and his PhD from the University of Michigan. He has authored numerous scientific articles, and his work has been featured in The Atlantic Monthly, New Scientist, Salon, Scientific American, and major news media. Hammond was recently appointed by HHS Secretary Burwell to the advisory council for the National Institute of Minority Health and Health disparities. He has served on several National Research Council committees at the National Academies of Science including one assembled for a recent report on the food system, and also serves as a Public Health Advisor at the National Cancer Institute and an advisory Special Government Employee at the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. He is on the editorial boards of the journals_ Behavioral Science & Policy_ and Childhood Obesity, and has been a member of four NIH-funded research networks: MIDAS (Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study), ENVISION (part of the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research), and NICH (Network on Inequality, Complexity, and Health), and SCTC (State and Community Tobacco Control). Hammond currently holds appointments at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Santa Fe Institute, and University of Michigan. He has been a consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Food and Drug Administration, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health. He has taught computational modeling at Harvard, the University of Michigan, Washington University, the National Cancer Institute, and the NIH/CDC Institute on Systems Science and Health.