Daniel Skinner, Ph.D.

“People are sometimes surprised to learn that a political scientist is on faculty at a medical school,” Skinner said. “But politics is at the heart of the policy process, and shapes everything from how professional relationships are formed to changes in our health care system. We need to be politically astute – as well as courageous – to make good policy. We need health professionals involved in these decisions.”

Skinner teaches a range of subjects, from the nuts and bolts of Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act, to more recent questions about cost, access, and quality in American health care. His teaching emphasizes the challenges of navigating a political culture that is often at odds with what we know about best practices for delivering high-quality health care to more and more Americans, as well as the complexity of the American health care system itself.

Skinner oversees a required rotation that teaches fourth-year medical students about the foundations of health care policy and politics. He also co-directs Doctors for America’s Copello Health Advocacy Fellowship, a national program that trains medical students and physicians about policy formulation, development, and advocacy. This experience has informed his understanding of how medical education, residency, and professional practice shape health professionals’ understanding of policy. 

Skinner provides a level-headed, balanced approach to policy in the political arena and can speak expertly on many topics, including the last decade of health care reform; the prospect of establishing a national health care system; the politics of American hospitals; and the role of physicians in policy, from climate change to reproductive health care. Skinner’s work globally, especially in Cuba and Hungary, also positions him to speak on issues of comparative health policy and politics. He is also deeply engaged in health policy within Ohio, and can speak to a wide range of topics and controversies, including elections and legislative process.

Skinner has significant professional experience in political communication, both as a consultant on political campaigns and as a scholar, which has led him to emphasize the importance of effective messaging and rhetorical strategy in health politics and policy, and public health.

He speaks regularly about health care and politics throughout North America and Europe, including as a Visiting Professor at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary.

Skinner is also Editor-in-Chief of World Medical & Health Policy, a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal and hosts "Prognosis Ohio," a podcast about underlying health challenges in Ohio, affiliated with the Central Ohio NPR affiliate, WCBE.

In addition to many peer-reviewed articles published in journals such as The Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law; The Journal of Rural Health; The Journal of Medical Humanities; The Review of Politics; and Public Administration Review, Skinner is author of Medical Necessity: Health Care Access and the Politics of Decision Making (University of Minnesota Press, 2019), co-editor of Not Far From Me: Stories of Opioids and Ohio (Ohio State University Press, 2019), and co-author of The City and the Hospital: The Paradox of Medically Overserved Communities (University of Chicago Press, 2023). He is currently writing a book on the history of physician advocacy and activism, both in the U.S. and globally.

Skinner holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in political science from City University of New York, The Graduate Center.