David Grande Named Interim Executive Director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics

David Grande, MD, MPA, Professor of Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine, has been appointed interim Executive Director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI), effective July 1, 2026.

As Director of Policy at LDI, Dr. Grande has led the Institute’s policy engagement work and strengthened connections between Penn’s health services research community and federal, state, and local policymakers. He also serves as Co-Director of Penn’s National Clinician Scholars Program and as Special Advisor for Medicaid Innovation to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.

Dr. Grande’s research focuses on health care for vulnerable populations, with an emphasis on identifying and overcoming barriers to care, as well as on ethical issues related to marketing in health care and digital health information privacy. He received his MD from the Ohio State University College of Medicine, trained in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, completed an MPA at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at Penn.

Dr. Grande’s combination of clinical expertise, policy experience, and deep knowledge of LDI’s research community positions him to provide steady leadership for the Institute during this period of transition.

The search for LDI’s next permanent Executive Director is underway and is expected to conclude in fall 2026.