Ingbar, Mary Lee

Mary Lee Gimbel Mack Ingbar (b. 1926) was the first social scientist to matriculate for the MPH degree (1956) at the Harvard School of Public Health. As a heath economist, Ingbar studied and developed theories concerning the interaction between managerial structures of health care programs and their effectiveness in meeting constituency needs. She was a Lecturer in Medical Economics at Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Public Health Practice, a Principal Associate in Medicine and Health Policy at Harvard Medical School, and consulted on government projects concerning economic aspects of health care policies.

From the description of Papers, 1946-1996. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 231047674

Mary Lee Ingbar (MLI), PhD, MPH, is a health economist who developed theories concerning interaction between managerial structures of health care programs, and their effectiveness in meeting constituency needs. She received an SB cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1946, an AM from Radcliffe Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1948, and an PhD from Radcliffe Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1953. She then received an MPH, cum laude, from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) as a member of the class of 1956. She was the first social scientist to be allowed to matriculate for the MPH degree.

MLI has remained professionally associated with Harvard during most of her career. She was Lecturer on Medical Economics at the HSPH’s Department of Public Health Practice from 1957 to 1961, and Research Associate at the Graduate School of Public Administration from 1961 to 1966, where with Lester Taylor, she undertook the first econometric study of hospital costs using United States data. Subsequently, she worked for several years on many national and regional committees, addressing such issues as medical costs, hospital planning, day care organization, and alcoholism.

In 1972, MLI relocated to San Francisco. There she served as Associate Professor of Health in the Division of Ambulatory and Community Medicine at University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine from 1972 to 1975. From 1974 to 1975, she was also Associate Program Director of The Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar Program at UCSF.

In 1976 MLI returned east, joining HMS as a Principle Research Associate in Preventive and Social Medicine. Simultaneously, she took a one year post as Visiting Professor of Health Economics at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and the Department of Community Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. In 1977, MLI became Professor of Family and Community Medicine in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, remaining until 1982. She became Principle Research Associate in Social Medicine and Health Policy at HMS in 1980, and Principal Associate in Medicine and Health Policy in 1985, a post she held until 2003.

Throughout her career, MLI consulted on government projects concerning economic aspects of health care policy. She has held many city, state, and federal directorships and consultancies, including: Director of Program Development for the Department of Health, Hospital and Welfare of the City of Cambridge, MA, 1968-1972; Director of Research for the Office of Comprehensive Planning of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1970-1971; Regional Consultant for Health Economics and Public Health Advisor, US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Region I, Division of Finance and Health Economics, 1975-1976; and Consultant at the West Roxbury Veterans Administration Hospital in 1986.

MLI has directed or consulted on several specifically contracted, grant-funded projects, which have been the basis of much of her research and publications. These contracts include such research topics as: Economics and the Administration of Medical Care Programs, 1961-1966; Identification of the Data and Development if the Record-Keeping System Necessary to Evaluate the Cost-Benefit and/or Cost Effectiveness of Ambulatory Health Services Provided to Residents of Low Income Areas in Cambridge, MA, 1970-1972; Innovative Methods of Pricing Ambulatory Care Treatment (IMPACT) for Patients with Hypertension: A Means of Enhancing Positive Health Outcomes for Long-Term Care, 1980-1982; and Health Services Utilization and Cost Pre and Post Mental Health Treatment in Organized Fee for Service Health Care Settings: The Bunker Hill Health Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital, 1980-1982.

MLI has authored, co-authored, and edited dozens of articles, original reports, and monographs for professional publication, primarily hospital costs. Topics include a range of interests pertinent to a health economist, including efficient record-keeping, cost of nursing services, and teaching cost containment in medical schools. In 1990, MLI contributed to the inaugural issue of Thyroid, a tribute to her late husband, Sidney H. Ingbar, MD.

MLI maintains active memberships in many professional societies, including the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, the Massachusetts Public Health Association, Academy Health, the International Health Economies Association, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and the American Public Health Association, in which she has held many chairmanships and served on the Governing Council.

From the guide to the Papers, 1946-2008., (Francis A.Countway Library of Medicine. Center for the History of Medicine.)