John Mackowiak
What is your HE-Artist talent or skill? Please describe.
It’s more of an addiction than a talent or skill. I have always liked fixing things. My grandfather was the same way. As a child I had everyone’s unwanted or crashed bikes in my garage, and I would make useable bikes out of many useless bikes. Then it was old cars and now it’s houses. I have more houses than I can fix, and more tools than I have time to use, but I still love it. Some people are sculptors in clay or marble, I pretend to sculpt with 2x4s, tile, pex, and romex.
How long have you been doing this?
When we negotiated our first contract on a house, we did not qualify for a mortgage which gave us a completed house. So as part of the contract with the builder, I worked on the construction crew pouring footings, framing, siding, boxing, etc. While in grad school, we also built our own kitchen and bath cabinets, built the deck, laid brick etc, painted and did the interior trim. I have not stopped since then.
What makes you love doing this?
You get to envision and draw different options, and then after you build what you draw, you can step back and see your vision turn into reality (and you have some sore muscles and a few scrapes to show for it).
What is your current job?
I recently started serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy (JMCP) published by AMCP. The journal has a great history, but just like with my house hobby, I look forward to the opportunity to make some improvements. My current goals are to streamline the manuscript review process, refine the supplement offering, increase submissions, and take JMCP aggressively into the digital publishing and app era. I see the purpose of a scientific journal editor is knowledge transfer, not just selecting manuscripts to be published. Action follows purpose.
In a way, it’s the same job I had since I finished grad school at UNC, it just evolves and broadens a little every year or so. I am still conducting my outcomes research projects for clients through my company (Center for Outcomes Research). But now instead of just looking for stages to show my work, I am managing and improving the JMCP stage to showcase the work of others. We welcome the work of HealthEconomics.Com readers.
How long have you been working in the field of health economics and outcomes research?
I can’t believe that in the mid 80’s I was doing projects to determine the economic impact of home health care reimbursement as a means to reduce total health care costs in the US. That start led to many projects looking at the budget impact or cost-effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, devices, or diagnostics. It’s still fun to figure out the most efficient way to get to an answer.
And now a few questions just for fun!
- What was your favorite food when you were a child?
Anything with mushrooms, and root beer (but not together). Some things don’t change. - What’s the #1 most played song on your iPod or musical device?
When I run, drive, sit, or ski; I often play talk radio where I am the guest, and sometimes I am two guests presenting both sides of an argument. I also play all the songs I know. I can go to the best parts of each song and adjust the volume without ever touching a button. [I have resisted buying an iPod partly because my internal iPod has been playing loudd and clear all my life. Yes, I do hear voices. :-)] - What sound do you love?
The silence you hear when you ski fast in deep fresh snow and the skis are almost silent. - If you could throw any kind of party, what would it be like and what would it be for?
My wife and I have thought of having a dinner party where we invite one couple, and they have to invite a couple they think we don’t know, and each next couple invites another couple from a different network until you get to 10 people. Every couple (except the first and last invited) knows 2 couples, but also does not know 2 couples. It could be a fun, or not, but it would be good party to try. - If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?
I would love to have a mentor, but a name does not occur to me. - If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?
I’d like to have a few beers (weekly) with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and others in the months leading up to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. I wonder what were they thinking and what were their biggest fears that they never told anyone. I want to learn how you develop the courage and confidence to be so independent? - What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
The first big purchase was a teal blue station wagon for $400 to dive to Utah to ski with my ski-buddy Ken for a few weeks (sleeping and cooking in the car). Then we sold it for $385 as soon as we got back 3 weeks later.
