Laurel Hatt has more than 13 years of professional experience in health economics and finance, health systems strengthening, and evaluation research. She is currently the health finance lead for the $200 million USAID-funded Health Finance and Governance (HFG) project. She has evaluated numerous health finance programs using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including a microinsurance pilot in Nigeria, Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme, a health insurance program for informal sector workers in Nicaragua, Bangladesh’s demand-side financing program for maternal health services, and Mali’s fee exemption program for Caesarean deliveries. Her doctoral dissertation research analyzed risk factors for catastrophic health expenditures in Peru and measured their long-term effects on families.

From 2011-2012, she served as HS20/20’s health insurance strategy lead, managing a portfolio of health finance technical assistance in nine countries. From 2010-2013, she led a team providing health financing technical assistance to ministries of health and nongovernmental organizations in nine Caribbean countries. The work included costing analyses, National Health Accounts estimations, and Health Systems and Private Sector Assessments. Within the HFG project, Dr. Hatt is currently guiding efforts to develop and roll out metrics for measuring progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in low-income contexts. She is also supporting a cross-country analysis of how countries design and implement UHC benefits packages.

She served as co-chair of the Demand-Side Financing review team for the USAID Maternal Health Evidence Summit in 2012.

Dr. Hatt has a Ph.D. in International Health with a health economics concentration from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, and a B.A. in Politics with an international relations concentration from Oberlin College.