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Len Nichols, a highly respected healthcare economist, headed New America's Health Policy Program from 1995 until 2010, when he left to become a professor of health policy and director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University. While leading the Health Policy Program, Dr. Nichols worked to expand health insurance coverage to all Americans while reining in costs and improving the efficiency of the overall health care system.

Before joining New America, Dr. Nichols was the Vice President of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a Principal Research Associate at the Urban Institute, and the Senior Advisor for Health Policy at the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton reform efforts of 1993-94. He has testified frequently before Congress and state legislators and has published widely in a variety of health related journals.

Previously, Dr. Nichols was Chair of the Economics Department at Wellesley College, where he taught for 10 years. He also served as a member of the Competitive Pricing Advisory Commission (CPAC) and the 2001 Technical Review Panel for the Medicare Trustees Reports. He was on the advisory panel to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Covering America project and has been a consultant to the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the Pan American Health Organization. Dr. Nichols received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois.