Joshua Liao, M.D., M.Sc., whose career has focused on creating better health care systems by improving payment and care delivery models, has been appointed Professor and Chief of the William T. and Gay F. Solomon Division of General Internal Medicine, effective Jan. 2.

“Dr. Liao will lead a growing Division that plays a key role in our clinical and academic enterprises,” said Thomas J. Wang, M.D., Chair of Internal Medicine. “His commitment to improving health care payment and delivery, as well as his deep understanding of practice management and transformation, will be fundamental in strengthening our partnerships throughout the health system and across the University.”

Dr. Liao said he looked forward to joining an institution with a rich history of providing critical services to the community while training future clinicians, fostering leaders, and driving discovery and innovation.

“Academic institutions have an opportunity to grow and lead in a rapidly changing health care landscape,” he said. “UT Southwestern is well positioned for this type of growth, and I’m excited to contribute during this exciting time.”

Dr. Liao formerly served as Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Health Systems in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health within the University’s School of Public Health. He received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was a clinical fellow at Harvard. He also holds a master’s in health policy research from the University of Pennsylvania, where he remains an adjunct senior fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics in the Wharton School.

Throughout his career, Dr. Liao has been dedicated to policy and practice change, which he describes as the “last mile in improving health through health care.”

“I worry that no matter how promising a biomedical innovation, it will underperform its potential without reinforcing policies and programs guiding how we pay for, organize, and deliver that innovation to patients and communities,” he said. “I’m hopeful that payment and care delivery policy and programs can be harnessed to improve outcomes and combat health inequities.”

Dr. Liao founded a nationally recognized policy evaluation unit that became the formal evaluation partner for the Washington Health Care Authority, the largest purchaser of health care services in that state. In that work, Dr. Liao has conducted evaluations and analysis to inform decision-makers on health care issues including primary care delivery and telemedicine.

He provides recommendations about payment models to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through his work on the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee. Dr. Liao also serves as an expert on funding and accountability issues as part of the National Academy of Medicine’s Commission on Investment Imperatives for a Healthy Nation. He has served on national committees for the American College of Physicians, participated in a payment advisory group for the American Academy of Family Physicians, and worked with a number of state Medicaid programs on payment and delivery policy issues.

With continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Liao is currently the Principal Investigator or joint PI on grants totaling nearly $11 million.