Director, Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice
- Research Triangle Park, NC
download imageGary A. Zarkin
Expertise
Substance Abuse Economics
Cost Analysis and Cost-Effectiveness
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Biography
Gary A. Zarkin, PhD, is director of RTI's Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Research Division. He has led or participated in several projects involving the economic analysis of drug treatment, prevention, and studies of workplace substance abuse. Dr. Zarkin has published several papers on the cost, cost-effectiveness, and the benefit-cost of substance abuse interventions. He is currently the PI on a grant funded by NIAAA to estimate the cost and cost-effectiveness of the COMBINE intervention, and he is the project director of the State Outcomes Measurement and Management System contract with SAMHSA. He previously led the development of a new method to estimate the cost of services for methadone treatment. Before coming to RTI, Dr. Zarkin was an assistant professor of economics and a research associate professor of statistics at Duke University. He has published on economics, substance abuse, and health service topics in a wide range of professional journals.
Education
PhD, Economics, University of Chicago; MA, Economics, University of Chicago; BA, Economics, University of Washington.
Selected Publications
Bray, J.W., Zarkin, G.A., Miller, W.R., Mitra, D., Kivlahan, D.R., Martin, D.J., Couper, D.J., & Cisler, R.A. (Mar 2007). Measuring economic outcomes of alcohol treatment using the Economic Form 90. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 68 (2):248-255.
Bray, J.W., Zarkin, G.A., Davis, K.L., Mitra, D., Higgins-Biddle, J.C., & Babor, T.F. (Feb 2007). The effect of screening and brief intervention for risky drinking on health care utilization in managed care organizations. Medical Care, 45 (2):177-182.
Zarkin, G.A., Dunlap, L.J., & Homsi, G. (2006 Apr). The costs of pursuing accreditation for methadone treatment sites: results from a national study. Evaluation Review, 30 (2):119-138.
Bray, J.W., & Zarkin, G.A. (Jan 2006). Economic evaluation of alcoholism treatment. Alcohol Research & Health, 29 (1):27-33.
Zarkin, G.A., Dunlap, L.J., Hicks, K.A., & Mamo, D. (2005). Benefits and costs of methadone treatment: Results from a lifetime simulation model. Health Economics, 14 (11):1133-1150.
Zarkin, G.A., Bray, J.W., Mitra, D., Cisler, R.A., & Kivlahan, D.R. (2005 Jul). Cost methodology of COMBINE. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. Supplement., (15):50-55.
Zarkin, G.A., Bray, J.W., Babor, T.F., & Higgins-Biddle, J.C. (2004). Alcohol drinking patterns and health care utilization in a managed care organization. Health Services Research, 39 (3):553-569.
Bala, M.V., & Zarkin, G.A. (2004). Pharmacogenomics and the evolution of healthcare - Is it time for cost-effectiveness analysis at the individual level? Pharmacoeconomics, 22 (8):495-498.
Zarkin, G.A., Dunlap, L.J., & Homsi, G. (2004). The substance abuse services cost analysis program (SASCAP): a new method for estimating drug treatment services costs. Evaluation and Program Planning, 27 (1):35-43.
Bala, M.V., Zarkin, G.A., & Mauskopf, J.A. (2002 Jul). Conditions for the near equivalence of cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses. Value in Health, 5 (4):338-346.