Bapu Jena is the A.F. Shugart Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is best known for his influential research in health economics, particularly his use of large-scale data and natural experiments to analyze physician behavior, healthcare spending, and patient outcomes.
“I'm like 99% excitement, 0% skepticism. I'm easy to please. In my world, when I see a paper from a journal that sends me to referee a paper, if the paper is really interesting to me, I'm usually not very skeptical. Whereas a lot of people are very skeptical. I just love the idea.”
This contrarian stance challenges the common wisdom of prioritizing skepticism in research, offering a unique perspective on idea evaluation that can spark debate.
Bapu Jena
“He looked at the dates of major music album releases on Spotify... and showed that on those same days, there seems to be this spike in traffic fatalities.”
This reveals a surprising and potentially dangerous correlation between popular cultural events and public safety, prompting deeper thought about hidden societal impacts.
Bapu Jena
“He paired that with analysis of traffic fatalities and showed that on those same days, there seems to be this spike in traffic fatalities.”
This quote highlights a surprising and counter-intuitive correlation between major music album releases and a rise in traffic fatalities, prompting curiosity about potential causes.
Bapu Jena
“I'm more interested in the idea personally.”
This quote encapsulates the intellectual curiosity that drives profound research, suggesting that the pursuit of novel ideas can be a stronger motivator than merely proving a finding.
Bapu Jena