Austin B. Frakt is an American health economist who holds positions with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston University, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. He is widely known as the founder and co-editor-in-chief of The Incidental Economist. His academic research has been published in major academic journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and Health Affairs. Frakt supports the use of mainstream media as a means of translating academic research into policy relevance[1] and has contributed to outlets including The New York Times and Bloomberg News. He serves on editorial boards of the academic journals Health Services Research and The American Journal of Managed Care and is a member of the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council.