Faculty and Staff Profiles

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      Dr. Albert Adelowo Okunade is a 2011-2014 Suzanne Downs-Palmer Professor of Economics and Coordinator of the Ph. D. (Business Administration) Economics Program, in The Fogelman College of Business & Economics (FCBE), at the University of Memphis. He earned his 1986 Ph.D. Economics degree at (The Sam M. Walton College of Business) University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, after earning his MS Economics, MBA and BS degrees at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. He served a faculty sabbatical in residence at Harvard University, MA. The Review of Black Political Economy nationally ranked his published research frequency and quality, measured as publications in peer-review economics journals that are indexed in the Journal of Economic Literature, in  the ‘TOP 3’ among all Black economists who earned their Ph. D. degrees at US academic institutions since 1969. Professor Okunade is the inaugural FCBE faculty to receive the University Provost’s First Tennessee Professorship Award (2007-2010), and also the first FCBE faculty to receive the Palmer Research Professorship Award (2002). He received the University’s Distinguished Research Award in Social Sciences & Business (2001), and twice (1995, 1992) received the SPUR (Superior Performance in University Research) Award. He is 1^st and 2^nd Place recipients of several annual (competitive) “Best Peer-Refereed Journal Paper Awards” in The FCBE. Professor Okunade’s teaching excellence signals include finalist (2009, 2008, 2007, & 1993) and semi-finalist (1991, 1992 & 1997) for the University’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and he is the inaugural FCBE faculty recipient of the ‘Teaching and Research Mentoring Award for Engaged Creative Teaching Excellence, Graduate (2011-12). Professor Okunade’s other professional honors and awards at the University of Memphis include (but not limited to) University Honors Program Teaching Fellowship, University College Mentoring Award, and the African & African American Studies (AAAS) Students Mentoring Award (College of Arts & Sciences) He has also received significant external recognitions and awards, including but not limited to the Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellowship (2004), from The Jack Shewmaker SIFE World Headquarters, Springfield, MO), the SHAZAM Econometrics Hall of Fame Award, from (Economics Department) at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, and the Outstanding Service Award for Meritorious Service as a Founding Board of Trustees Member, from The American Society of Health Economists (2008).

       Professor Okunade conducts applied econometrics research broadly in healthcare economics, finance and public health policy, labor economics, industrial organization, non-profit higher education financing, and applied microeconomics in general. He is faculty affiliates of the Center for Community Health (School of Public Health), Center for Healthcare Economics, and the African & African American Studies (AAAS, interdisciplinary) Program (College of Arts & Sciences) at the university. He teaches graduate MA/Ph.D. Economics courses in Decision Economics, Applied Healthcare Economics, MBA Economics for Global Executives, and undergraduate Managerial (Organizational) Economics, Economic Forecasting, and Microeconomics Principles (Honors). He has Chaired and served as members of several Honors and MA Theses and Ph.D. Dissertation Committees. Recently (May, 2012) he was appointed lead faculty for the University’s Executive MBA Program students on Study Abroad travels to foreign multinational corporations and government offices in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. He received the “Dean’s Service Award” in 2010.

       Albert has received several funded research grants (internal university and from private, non-profit  and public sector entities including medical care companies and public electric utilities), authored over 100 articles in encyclopedia, book/book chapters, …, and a number of the leading (and highly ranked) peer-refereed journals including (but not limited to) Journal of Applied Econometrics, Economics Letters (multiple), Journal of Health Economics, Review of Quantitative Finance & Accounting, Journal of Productivity Analysis, The American Statistician, Health Economics (multiple), Quarterly Review of Economics & Finance, Applied Economics (multiple), Journal of Labor Research, Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurial Journal (multiple), American Journal of Economics & Sociology (multiple), Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Health Care Finance (multiple), Journal of Health & Social Policy, Health Policy, Health Care Management Science (multiple), Ageing International, Managed Care Quarterly, Journal of Education Finance, ..... He has presented over 50 conference papers in the US and globally, e.g., Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Portugal, Senegal, UK, etc.,

       Citations to Dr. Okunade’s work numbering in several hundreds, are in leading and prestigious journals, e.g., Journal of Finance & Quantitative Analysis (JFQA), Journal of Applied Econometrics, NBER Papers, Marketing Science, Economic Modeling, Journal of Health Economics, Handbook of Health Economics (multiple publishers), The Annals of Regional Science, Health Economics, Journal of Product Innovation Management, New England Journal of Medicine, Health Economics Policy & Law, International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, Southern Economic Journal, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Applied Economics, Health Affairs, Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Higher Education, International Journal of Health Care Finance & Economics, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, American Journal of Medicine, Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research, Expert Reviews of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research, Health Policy & Planning, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, European Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Surgical Education, Journal of European Social Policy, Neuromodulation, Journal of Life Care Planning, Applied Health Economics & Health Policy…,

         Professor Okunade is a founding Board of Trustees member of The American Society of Health Economists (the leading US professional association of health economists), and an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis (Berkeley Electronics Press). He has guest edited “Special Issues” of The Quarterly Review of Economics & Finance, and Journal of Health Care Finance, served as a past Editorial Board member of the Journal of Health Care Finance and on the Board of Christ Community Medical Clinic (Memphis, TN). He is an ad hoc referee of manuscripts for high quality refereed journals, such as, Journal of Comparative Economics, Health Economics, Economics of Education Review, Journal of Higher Education, Contemporary Economic Policy, Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Health Economics, Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Advertising, The Lancet, Clinical Breast Cancer, Health Economics, European Journal of Health Economics, Bio-Med Central journals including Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, BMC Public Health, BMC Health Services Research, International Journal for Equity in Health, ….

       Dr. Albert Okunade, Chair of the Local Organizing Committees for national (1996) and regional (2011) health care economics conferences, held at the University of Memphis, has also conducted dozens of invited interviews on several emerging health and medical care economics and health policy issues on TV and in print media (local and national popular presses and trade publications).