Cynthia Boddie-Willis
Director, Health Services Policy and Research

Cynthia Boddie-Willis is The Hilltop Institute's director of health services policy and research. In this position, she manages Hilltop's initiatives in acute care policy, clinical and quality management, and research. Under her direction, Hilltop will continue to provide assistance to MCOs, state health agencies, local health departments, and other health care organizations in implementing Medicaid managed care programs; monitoring MCO performance; analyzing service utilization; identifying access barriers; evaluating the quality, affordability, and sustainability of publicly funded healthcare services; analyzing the administrative efficiency for health programs and systems; and informing health policy development. Her main research interest is in health disparities.

Previously, Dr. Boddie-Willis was the director of the Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. There she spearheaded development of a chronic disease blueprint mandated by the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council; enabled statewide, regional, and local coalitions of public and private agencies, organizations, and institutions as agents of change; and managed a multidisciplinary team of 65 professional staff. Dr. Boddie-Willis also has more than 20 years of experience as a practicing physician, providing primary care to adults in Chicago, Illinois, and Mattapan, Massachusetts. She has also worked in the health care administration field as a consultant and office managing partner.

Dr. Boddie-Willis has been principal investigator on several health-related research projects and was co-author of an article on the Stroke Heroes Act FAST Campaign, published in Preventing Chronic Disease, as well as an article on urinary c-peptide, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Dr. Boddie-Willis earned her M.D. from the University of Chicago, her M.P.H. from Harvard School of Public Health, and her B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago.