Heidi Waters

Heidi C. Waters, MBA, PhD joined Walden University as a Contributing Faculty member in the College of Health Sciences DHA program in September 2020, with the primary role of advising students in the dissertation process. Dr. Waters earned her PhD in Health Services with specialization in Health Policy from Walden University and her dissertation focused on an evaluation of an integrated physical health/behavioral health program for consumers with serious mental illness. She also holds a Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Pennsylvania (1992) and an MBA from LaSalle University (2003). Her primary areas of research interest include mental health, pharmacoeconomics, health outcomes, and social determinants of health, especially for those suffering from mental health issues.

Dr. Waters has a long history of research in the pharmaceutical industry. She currently works at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization Inc. as Senior Director of Policy Research in the Value & Real World Evidence Department. Since joining Otsuka in December 2012, Dr. Waters’ research has focused on partnerships with payers and providers to conduct unbranded health services research and develop disease management programming. She also conducts research to support the value proposition of products in Otsuka’s mental health portfolio, including economic modeling and analysis of claims databases, electronic medical records, and systematic literature reviews. Dr. Waters is a member of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research (ISPOR), the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), and AcademyHealth, and serves as an editor for several journals.

Prior to joining Otsuka, Dr. Waters held positions at several Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies (2005 – 2011) in Health Economics and Outcomes Research and has experience in drug safety both at J&J and Wyeth (2001-2005). Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Waters served as Quality Improvement Director for Magellan Behavioral Health from 1999 - 2001, where she was responsible for conducting quality improvement initiatives, developing preventive health programs, and trending utilization data for both Medicaid and commercial lines of business. Her familiarity with the healthcare industry from several different perspectives has given her a well-rounded understanding of the issues confronting healthcare today.