Harvard Catalyst Profiles

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA	PhD
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA	BA

Mariam Krikorian Atkinson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Health Policy and Management department at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Atkinson's research encompasses three primary streams. In the first she studies healthcare teams, specifically interprofessional roles and responsibilities, care coordination, and innovation. Second, she focuses on patient experience and engagement in quality improvement initiatives. Last, Dr. Atkinson examines resilient organizing through the lens of crisis management. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, she analyzes the factors that make each of these areas more effective in delivering high quality and value care, primarily focusing on the hospital setting and especially as applied to clinical situations of uncertainty and ambiguity. A portion of Dr. Atkinson's research also focuses on under-resourced communities in the rural health context. Her work is published broadly and has received best paper awards by the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society. Additionally, Dr. Atkinson’s research has been awarded funding by agencies such as the National Science Foundation (award 1459996) and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01 HS028240).

In addition to research, Dr. Atkinson enjoys teaching, especially using case methods. She teaches Healthcare Organizations and Strategy (HPM 231) to Harvard’s MPH students in the Spring 2 term. Dr. Atkinson also teaches students in the year-round MHCM executive program (HCM 731), medical residents at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, PhD students in the Health Policy program (HCP 597), and in other executive programs internationally.

Dr. Atkinson earned her PhD from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, and a BA in business economics and pre-medicine from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her prior experience includes work as a valuation analyst at Ernst & Young, where she had several engagements with healthcare clients consulting on their business model and value.