Welcome to the Economics Department at Queens College

QC Economics Alumni Profile

I'm Jerry Katzoff, and I graduated from Queens College with a major in economics (and a minor in math) in 1967. After a year of graduate work at the State University of New York at Buffalo, I transferred to the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where I completed my economics doctoral level course work in 1970. Like Ken Heyer, our Spring 2009 QC economic alumni profilist, I have spent a lifetime career in the federal government- I'm now in my 40th year and still going strong!

I'm currently a branch chief in the Bureau of Health Professions, part of the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). I work in our agency's central office, located in the city of Rockville, a Maryland suburb in the greater Washington DC metro area. My branch is responsible for developing policy strategies and implementing programs that support training for several health professions, including physicians , dentists , and psychologists.

In my position, one of the true highlights of my career has been working as the Executive Secretary (chief staffer) for the Federal Council on Graduate Medical Education. This council is an advisory body charged with providing recommendations to Congress and our Health and Human Services Secretary on physician workforce policy. It's a good time to be a federal civil servant, and given the push for health care reform, it's an especially good time to be a health policy analyst within the federal government!

In 1998 I was honored to receive the DHHS Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service-the highest award in the department- for my long term contributions in the field of physician policy analysis and planning. Two years later, as part of a year-long executive development program, I was privileged to work with-and shadow-Dr. David Satcher, who was then both the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Surgeon General of the United States.

A word of advice to our students: Try to keep a good relationship with your professors if you can!

In 1970, my last year as a doctoral student at CUNY, I was taking a one-on-one research tutorial with Professor Walter Eisenberg, the chair of the Hunter College Department of Economics. As the term was about to end, he and I engaged in discussions concerning my career plans, and he asked me whether I would be interested in the federal government. He indicated that he had a professional relationship with the New York Regional Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. (The commissioner, the late Herbert Bienstock, many years later retired from government and became Professor and first Chair of the Center for Urban Policy Studies at QC). If I were interested, he said, while he could not guarantee me a job offer, he could at least be instrumental in getting me an interview. The rest for me is history… I spent my first seven years in the federal government as an economist in the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics before accepting a promotional transfer to the Department of Health and Human Services.

I have great memories of QC and its economics department. It imbued me with a love of the field, and its professors showed me how rigorous a field it could be! I give tribute to among my favorite professors Dr. Babette Solon, who first introduced me to the exciting field of applied microeconomics. (I have not spoken to her since graduation in 1967. I trust that she is doing well - and that she will see this profile!)

I can be reached at jkatzoff@hrsa.gov in case any students or alumni are interested in getting in touch!

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