Assistant Research Professor
Rutgers Center for State Health Policy

Mandi Spishak-Thomas (PhD, Columbia University) is a Medicaid research scholar at the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. She received her PhD from the Columbia School of Social Work, where her dissertation research investigated the impacts of Medicaid estate recovery on intergenerational transfers of wealth among low-income older adults. Mandi’s work understands health policies as wealth policies, investigating how Medicaid impacts intergenerational transfers of wealth, financial burden, and wealth accumulation among low-income individuals and families, especially birthing people and older adults. Her work has been presented in various disciplinary spaces, including health policy (AcademyHealth), social work (SSWR), and public policy (APPAM) and published in Contraception and Gerontology and Geriatrics Education. Prior to pursuing a PhD, she worked as a licensed clinical social worker at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Alzheimer’s Association in San Francisco, California and received a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University.