Jennifer Prah, PhD
Scholar
- Amartya Sen Professor of Health Equity, Economics and Policy | University of Pennsylvania
- Germany | South Korea | Taiwan, Province of China | United States
- Governance | Health and human rights | Healthcare Access | Healthcare Financing | Healthcare Policy | Intimate Partner Violence Prevention | Social determinants of health
Languages: English (native), French (limited working proficiency)
Bio statement
Dr. Prah is an internationally leading scientist and scholar of global and domestic health policy and public health. She conducts theoretical and empirical studies of health equity to reduce global and national health inequities, especially among women and children. Dr. Prah draws on her training in political economy, health policy, international relations, comparative social research and law to cross disciplines and reexamine the values and principles that underlie health policy and public health and apply these principles empirically. She created the Health Capability Paradigm, challenging existing approaches and illuminating optimal health policies and laws.
She has developed an empirical approach to evaluate public health programs and health policies as they measure up to that paradigm, including the Health Capability Profile. Dr. Prah’s scholarship has critically scrutinized the existing global health architecture in order to identify more effective global health policy responses linking public policy and law to global health theory at the global and national levels. Dr. Prah’s research studies critical health policy and public health problems such as the equity and efficiency of health system access, financing, resource allocation, policy reform, the social determinants of health, the health capability profile and domestic violence and abuse. Her research is conducted internationally and nationally, including work in Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Malaysia, Morocco, South Korea, South Africa, Taiwan, the United States and Vietnam.
Recent global health projects
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded research project on relationship of values, principles and norms to institutions, policies, practices and behaviors related to COVID-19 in South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and U.S.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded research project on Health Capability Profile related to COVID-19 in South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and U.S.
Selected publications
Xu, X., Lazar, C. M., & Ruger, J. P. (2021). Micro-costing in health and medicine: a critical appraisal. Health Economics Review, 11(1), 1-8. https://healtheconomicsreview.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13561-020-00298-5.
Ruger, J. P. (2020). Social justice as a foundation for democracy and health. bmj, 371.
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4049.
Ruger, J. P. (2020). The injustice of COVID-19: we need a moral constitution for our planet's health. The Lancet Planetary Health, 4(7), e264-e265. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)3047-9/fulltex1t.
Ruger, J. P., Zhang, K., & Turner, E. N. (2019). Justice for Women and Society: The Case of Obstetric Fistula. Geo. LJ, 108, 1717. https://www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-law-journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2020/06/Ruger-Zhang-Turner_Justice-for-Women-and-Society-The-Case-of-Obstetric-Fistula.pdf.
Prah Ruger, J. (2020). Positive public health ethics: toward flourishing and resilient communities and individuals. The American Journal of Bioethics, 20(7), 44-54. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15265161.2020.1764145
Ruger, J. P., & Horton, R. (2020). Justice and Health: The Lancet-Health Equity and Policy Lab Commission. Lancet (London, England), 395(10238), 1680-1681. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673620309284.
Last Updated: 08 July 2026