Theo Schall is a 4th year doctoral candidate studying Bioethics and Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Starting in September 2023, he will be an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health & Health Sciences. Theo’s dissertation uses quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the effects of insurance denials for gender-affirming care on US transgender adults and, building on the results, develops an ethical argument for coverage. Theo’s health services research is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (T32HS000029).
Theo is currently the LGBTQI+ Health Policy ORISE Fellow in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services. From 2015-2020, he was the managing editor of the peer-reviewed journal AJOB Empirical Bioethics. Previously, he worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Medical Ethics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he collaborated on research in ethics, palliative care, and interprofessional communication. He has also worked as a Research Program Coordinator at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, as a Policy Intern at the Delaware Valley LGBT Elder Initiative, and a social worker supporting older adults and people living with HIV/AIDS. Theo received master’s degrees in Social Work (macro practice) and Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s from St. John’s College, Annapolis.
Research Interests
- Labor conditions in the health professions
- Criminalization of drug use during pregnancy
- LGBT health equity
- Insurance benefit design
Education
- MSW (macro practice concentration) and MBE, University of Pennsylvania
- BA, St. John’s College, Annapolis