Medical Care enters a new chapter with the arrival of its new Editors-in-Chief, Drs. Amresh Hanchate and Deepak Palakshappa. The journal has long shaped health services research. It has advanced work on health policy, care delivery, equity, and methods. As the flagship journal behind The Medical Care Blog and a close partner of the APHA Medical Care Section, Medical Care holds a unique place in the field. The journal connects researchers, clinicians, educators, and policy leaders around a shared goal: improving health care and population health.
New leadership brings fresh energy and new ideas. Drs. Hanchate and Palakshappa step into these roles with deep experience in research, collaboration, and health systems thinking. They inherit a strong journal legacy and a broad scholarly community. They also face a fast-changing research landscape shaped by equity, implementation science, data innovation, and system transformation. We are excited to welcome them and to learn more about their backgrounds, priorities, and vision for the future of Medical Care.
A Conversation About the Future of Medical Care
We invited Drs. Amresh Hanchate and Deepak Palakshappa to answer five questions about their backgrounds, interests, and vision for Medical Care. They generously agreed to share their perspectives. As a way to help readers get to know the journal’s new Editors-in-Chief, we combined their responses below. Their answers offer insight into the experiences that shaped them, the values they bring to the role, and their hopes for the future of the journal and the field.
1. Both of you bring distinct disciplinary backgrounds and experiences to this role. What drew you to health services research and academic publishing in the first place, and how have those experiences shaped the way you think about the mission of Medical Care?
Dr. Deepak Palakshappa:
As a primary care physician, what first drew me to health services research was witnessing firsthand many of the current challenges with healthcare delivery. The focus of my research has been on improving the care of low-income and vulnerable populations. I still remember one patient in particular who had difficulty managing her diabetes because she struggled with having to pay for food and her medications. I see health services research as a way to improve the care we deliver to patients, and academic publishing as a means to identify what the important issues are that patients face and determine the most effective methods and care models to address those issues.
Dr. Amresh Hanchate:
I came to health services research somewhat unintentionally. My doctoral training was in economics, with a focus on development economics, and in retrospect that orientation has deeply shaped how I think about health and health systems. Development economics emphasizes that progress is not measured solely by income growth, but by access to food, nutrition, education, and health care. It also foregrounds the interconnectedness of individual outcomes with household, community, and broader structural factors. This perspective naturally translated to health services research, where similar multilevel influences shape access, utilization, and outcomes.
A second formative experience was my early involvement in a large, interdisciplinary, grant-funded UK-based study on India’s economic development. Working alongside scholars from diverse disciplines exposed me to a collaborative model in which each stage of the research process benefited from multiple perspectives. I was struck by how such team-based science could elevate methodological rigor and produce findings that were both analytically robust and policy-relevant.
These experiences continue to shape my approach to the mission of Medical Care. I view it as advancing rigorous, interdisciplinary research that generates actionable evidence, particularly on the organization, financing, and delivery of care, with attention to equity and the needs of socioeconomically vulnerable populations.
2. Medical Care has long occupied an important space at the intersection of health policy, healthcare delivery systems science, population health, and of course, rigorous methodology. What aspects of the journal’s legacy are you most excited to build upon as Editors-in-Chief?
Dr. Hanchate:
Dr. Amresh Hanchate
Given the inherently interdisciplinary nature of health services research, I view the breadth of topics covered in Medical Care as central to its continued impact and relevance. The journal’s longstanding commitment to spanning population health, health policy, healthcare delivery, and methodological innovation provides a vital platform for advancing cross-cutting scholarship that reflects the complexity of modern health systems. Building on this legacy, I am particularly interested in fostering work that examines evolving dynamics in health policy and delivery—such as corporatization, technological change, and system transformation—and their implications for access, quality, and outcomes. Equally important, I am inspired by the leadership of the departing editors, Jeroan Allison and Caterina Kiefe, whose work strengthened the journal’s focus on health equity. Sustaining and deepening this emphasis on understanding and addressing inequities will remain a priority, ensuring that Medical Care continues to publish research that is both methodologically rigorous and socially impactful.
Dr. Palakshappa:
Dr. Deepak Palakshappa
Medical Care has stood as a leading health-services journal, renowned for its rigorous scholarship in the delivery, utilization, organization, financing, and evaluation of medical care. Its longstanding reputation is built upon publishing evidence-based research that influences healthcare policy and practice. As new editors, we hope to build upon the journal’s legacy of publishing seminal studies in areas such as patient-reported outcomes, risk adjustment, innovative use of administrative data, policy analysis, and advancing equity in healthcare access and outcomes.
3. Health services research is evolving rapidly: from new analytic methods like the incorporation of machine learning or implementation science frameworks to the growing interest in equity, systems design, and real-world evidence. What kinds of scholarship or conversations would you most like to see the journal elevate over the next several years?
Dr. Palakshappa:
As the new editors, we are inspired by Medical Care’s legacy and are committed to honoring this tradition by fostering research that reflects the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape and new fields of inquiry including care across the lifespan, social needs interventions, artificial intelligence and digital innovations, implementation science, and international comparative studies with lessons applicable to U.S. contexts. Our commitment also extends to furthering the journal’s leadership in healthcare equity by promoting research exploring the structural factors that shape access, quality, and outcomes, and by highlighting effective strategies to address persistent disparities
Dr. Hanchate:
It will be essential for Medical Care to reflect the field’s expanding scope in both topics and methods. I am particularly enthusiastic about the growing role of implementation science, which offers powerful frameworks for understanding how to translate evidence into practice and scale effective interventions. Elevating scholarship in this area can help bridge the persistent gap between innovation and real-world application.
4. For many investigators, especially early-career researchers, journals can feel both aspirational and opaque. What is your vision for making Medical Care an engaging and supportive intellectual home for authors, reviewers, trainees, and readers across disciplines?
Dr. Hanchate:
Deepak and I agree that it will be essential to create meaningful platforms for engaging our diverse audience—including early-career investigators—so that Medical Care feels transparent and supportive. We plan to leverage social media platforms such as LinkedIn and X to spotlight papers of special interest published in the journal and to actively encourage dialogue and feedback from readers and trainees. In parallel, we intend to expand opportunities for participation in the editorial process by establishing a new Associate Editor role, specifically designed to involve early- and mid-career researchers in peer review and editorial decision-making. We plan to attend multiple conferences each year to connect with presenters, foster relationships, and better understand emerging areas of inquiry. Finally, we will build on our affiliation with the APHA Medical Care Section to broaden our reach and develop new pathways for early-stage researchers, including opportunities to publish brief articles and commentaries.
Dr. Palakshappa:
For many researchers, academic journals and publishing can feel both exciting and overwhelming—often like a “black box” with unclear processes. Our goal is to make Medical Care a welcoming and supportive home where the review process is rigorous, but also transparent, efficient, and easy to navigate. We are especially committed to engaging new researchers and readers. One way we are doing this is by introducing a new Associate Editor role designed for early- and mid-career investigators, giving them the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the publishing process earlier in their careers. We also want to make the research we publish more accessible and visible. By highlighting key studies through blogs, social media, and other platforms, we aim to share important findings with a broader audience and encourage greater connection with the work featured in Medical Care.
5. If readers look back years from now and say, “This is what changed during that era of Medical Care,” what do you hope they will point to?
Dr. Palakshappa:
Healthcare in the U.S. is undergoing rapid and continuous transformation, driven by policy shifts, technological advances, and changing patient needs. Care delivery, organization, financing, and evaluation are all evolving, with growing emphasis on value-based care, efficiency, and improved outcomes. Despite progress, significant challenges remain, including rising costs, unequal access, and persistent health disparities. In this dynamic environment, Medical Care aims to both reflect and shape these changes. The journal seeks to identify emerging challenges while promoting evidence-based solutions that enhance care quality and equity. By publishing rigorous research on innovative care models and policy interventions, it contributes to informed decision-making across the healthcare system. Ultimately, the goal is for readers to view Medical Care as a trusted, authoritative source of high-quality scientific evidence—one that not only documents the evolution of U.S. healthcare, but also actively supports its improvement and ongoing pursuit of better, more equitable outcomes.
