Christopher Ruhm is Professor of Public Policy and Economics with appointments in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and the Department of Economics. 

Prior to joining UVA, he held faculty positions at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Boston University, and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Brandeis University. During the 1996-97 academic year he served as Senior Economist on President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. He is currently a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Germany, Associate Editor of the Southern Economics Journal and Journal of Population Economics, Editorial Board member of the Journal of Labor Research, Steering Committee member of the Southeastern Health Economics Study Group and Vice President of the Southern Economic Association.

His recent research has focused on examining how various aspects of health are produced – including the rise in obesity and relationship between macroeconomic conditions and health – and on the role of government policies in helping parents with young children balance the competing needs of work and family life.  His earlier research includes study of the determinants of health and risky behaviors, effects of job displacements and mandated employment benefits, transitions into retirement, and the causes and consequences of alcohol and illegal drug policies. His research been funded by a diverse set of organizations including the U.S. Department of Labor, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Russell Sage Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.