Rate My Professor Michael French

Michael French is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy in the Miami Herbert Business School at the University of Miami, a role he has held since 2015. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Boston College in 1986, M.A. in Economics from Boston College in 1984, and B.A. in Economics from James Madison University in 1982. French joined the University of Miami in 1995, advancing through positions including Research Associate Professor, Associate Professor, and full Professor (tenure) in the Departments of Epidemiology and Public Health, Economics, Sociology, and Public Health Sciences since 2003. He previously held a tenured professorship at the Medical University of South Carolina's Department of Health Administration and Policy from 2002 to 2003, along with visiting appointments at Emory University Department of Economics in 2012, Pompeu Fabra University in 2000, and others. As Director of the Health Economics Research Group since 2003 and Research Director of Programs in Health Management and Policy since 2007, French has led significant academic initiatives in health economics.

French's academic interests center on health economics, substance abuse treatment and policy, economic evaluations of health interventions, labor market outcomes linked to substance use, alcohol and drug policy, and the economics of crime. His prolific publication record includes peer-reviewed articles such as "Are Tattoos Associated with Employment and Wage Discrimination?: Analyzing the Relationships Between Body Art and Labor Market Outcomes" (Human Relations, 2019, with K. Mortensen and A.R. Timming), "Watch for Motorcycles! The Effects of Texting and Handheld Bans on Motorcyclist Fatalities" (Social Science and Medicine, 2018, with G. Gumus), "Tattoos, Employment, and Earnings: Is There a Link in the Ink?" (Southern Economic Journal, 2016, with J.C. Maclean et al., winner of the 2016 Georgescu-Roegen Prize), "Key Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA): A Systematic Review and Presentation of Early Research Findings" (Health Services Research, 2016, with J.F. Homer et al.), "The Economic Costs of Jail-Based Methadone Maintenance Treatment" (American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2018, with B.P. Horn et al.), and book chapters like "Substance Use and School and Occupational Performance" in the Oxford Handbook of Substance Use Disorders (2014, with I. Popovici). French has served as principal investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and contributed to numerous university committees, scientific advisory boards, and editorial reviews.