Dr. Koon's work focuses on understanding the forces that structure human behavior in the health policy process. He approaches policy as a contest of ideas, shaped by language and deeper value conflicts. He applies these concepts to research on health financing, health workforce development, and the regulation of harmful consumer products. Dr. Koon has published widely on “framing” and overlapping phenomena such as "sensemaking" and "narrative" in the health policy process. His work has been published in Social Science and Medicine, Health Policy and Planning, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, the Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, as well as other health policy journals. Before joining the Global Health Department at Georgetown University, Dr. Koon was a research professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He currently also serves as an Honorary Senior Researcher at the Center for Health Policy at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
In addition to research, Dr. Koon has experience in public health programming in low- and middle-income countries. In 2010-2011, he served as a technical advisor for the Southern Sudan Guinea Worm Eradication Programme in Awerial County in Lakes State, South Sudan. He has worked on evaluations of polio eradication and nurse mentoring programs in Bihar, India. In addition to this focus on human resources for health, Dr. Koon spent three years as a Health Policy Specialist on USAID's Health Finance and Governance Project. In this capacity, he provided technical assistance for countries trying to raise domestic revenues for health systems, improve the uptake of research findings, and strengthen the quality of service delivery.
Academic Appointment(s)
- Primary
- Appointment Pending - Assistant Professor, SOH - Global Health Academic Department