An epidemiologist and health policy expert, Dr. Madelon Finkel is Professor of Population Health Policy at Weill Cornell Medicine, the medical college of Cornell University. She earned her BA, MPA, and PhD degrees from New York University. Dr Finkel’s pioneering work on second surgical opinion programs in the 1980’s led to the widespread adoption and implementation of the second opinion benefit required by almost all insurance companies, corporations, and unions. Women’s health issues and the impact of climate change on the environment and health have been the focus of past and present research projects. She has served as consultant to numerous organizations, including law firms and pharmaceutical companies, in the areas of epidemiology and health care policy. She was named a Fulbright Senior Specialist awarded by The Fulbright Program, and has received numerous awards, including the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (in Education) and a Lifetime Achievement in Education award from Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr. Finkel is a prolific writer and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in the area of health care cost management, women’s health issues, and more recently on the health effects of climate change on the environment and health. She is the author of 15 books, including The Human and Environmental Impact of Fracking: How Fracturing Shale for Gas Affects Us and Our World (Finkel, 2015) and Pipeline Politics: Assessing the Benefits and Harms of Energy Policy (Finkel, 2018).