Director, Center for State Health Policy
Distinguished Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
jcantor@ifh.rutgers.edu, (848) 932-4653
Joel C. Cantor (Sc.D., Johns Hopkins University) is a Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and the founding Director of the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Established 1999, the Center is a leader in health policy research and development nationally, with a special focus on informing policy in New Jersey. Dr. Cantor is published widely in the health services and policy literature on innovations in health service delivery for high-need populations and the regulation of health insurance markets. He serves frequently as an advisor on health policy matters to New Jersey state government and was the 2006 recipient of the Rutgers University President’s Award for Research in Service to New Jersey. Dr. Cantor currently leads a major study funded by the National Institutes of Health (R01MD015261) examining the contribution of homelessness to racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in health services outcomes and how permanent supportive housing can mitigate those disparities. He also is co-principal investigator of the New Jersey Population Health Cohort Study, a major new investigation of the effects of stress and resilience on population health and health equity. Prior to joining Rutgers in 1999, Dr. Cantor served as director of research at the United Hospital Fund of New York and director of evaluation research at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He received his doctorate in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Public Health in 1988, and was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Social Insurance in 2019 and of AcademyHealth in 1996.
