Stephen L. Isaacs, J.D., is the president of Health Policy Associates in San Francisco and a principal in the consulting firm of Isaacs/Jellinek. A former professor of public health at Columbia University and founding director of its Development Law and Policy Program, he has written extensively for professional and popular audiences. His book The Consumer’s Legal Guide to Today’s Health Care was reviewed as “the single best guide to the health care system in print today.” His articles have been widely syndicated and have appeared in law reviews and health policy journals. He also provides technical assistance internationally on health law, civil society, and social policy. A graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School, Isaacs served as vice president of International Planned Parenthood’s Western Hemisphere Region, practiced health law, and spent four years in Thailand as a program officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

James R. Knickman, Ph.D., is vice president for research and evaluation at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He oversees a range of grants and national programs supporting research and policy analysis to better understand forces that can improve health status and delivery of health care. In addition, he is in charge of developing formal evaluations of national programs supported by the Foundation. He also has played a leadership role in developing grantmaking strategies in the area of chronic illness during his tenure at the Foundation. During the 1999–2000 academic year, he held a Regents’ Lectureship at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, Knickman was on the faculty of the Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University. At NYU, he was the founding director of a university-wide research center focused on urban health care. His publications include research on a range of health care topics, with particular emphasis on issues related to financing and delivering long-term care. He has served on numerous health-related advisory committees at the state and local levels and spent a year working at New York City’s Office of Management and Budget. Currently, he chairs the board of trustees of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. He completed his undergraduate work at Fordham University and received his doctorate in public policy analysis from the University of Pennsylvania.