Tara Lavelle is an Assistant Professor at the Tufts Medical Center Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies and an Investigator at the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health. Her research addresses a range of topics related to the cost and value of health care services delivered in the United States. Dr. Lavelle is particularly interested in advancing the use of comparative and cost-effectiveness research in vulnerable populations, including children and individuals with mental illness. Previous work includes the development of novel methods for evaluating health and economic outcomes of childhood illness, and assessing preference-based quality of life and work productivity outcomes in caregivers. Dr. Lavelle earned her PhD in Health Policy with a concentration in Decision Science from Harvard University in 2012.