SAN FRANCISCO –The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, announced today that John R. Graham has joined PRI as director of Health Care Studies. Mr. Graham will direct the Institute’s research and outreach efforts in health care policy, addressing Medicare and Medicaid reform, tort reform, drug pricing and importation, consumer-driven health care, and many other issues.

“We are delighted that John will be leading our health care studies area,” said Sally C. Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute. “John has made outstanding contributions to health care policy research, particularly in the area of prescription drug regulation. In addition, his work exposing the pitfalls of Canada’s single-payer system is an invaluable resource for policymakers, the media, and all of those who are interested in the future course of the U.S. health care system. With the addition of John Graham, we now believe that PRI’s expertise in comparative studies of the U.S. and Canadian health care systems – a free-market versus single-payer system – is unequalled.”

Mr. Graham was previously director of Health and Pharmaceutical Policy Research at the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading free-market think tank. He is the author of a number of papers on prescription drug regulation, managing public drug benefit programs, pricing medicines, and the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada into the United States. He has also written numerous articles on intellectual property law, financing of hospitals, medical savings accounts, and other aspects of health policy for the Fraser Institute’s monthly journal, Fraser Forum, as well as for a number of newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Graham speaks frequently on health care reform on radio and television, and at conferences in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has also worked as a management consultant and investment banker in Canada and Europe and has previously served as an infantry officer in the Canadian Army in Canada, Germany, and Cyprus.

John R. Graham received his M.B.A. from the London Business School (England) and his B.A. (with Honors) in economics and commerce from the Royal Military College of Canada.