Senior Policy Researcher; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy
He/Him
Jonathan Cantor is a senior policy researcher at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. His primary research interests focus on health policies related to substance use disorder, mental health, and health behaviors. He employs theoretical frameworks and research methods from health economics, policy analysis, and public health.
He is currently leading a team of researchers in developing and utilizing the Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Tracking Repository. This repository is the first national longitudinal database of licensed substance use disorder treatment facilities, covering the period from 1975 to the present, and mental health treatment facilities from 2008, 2012, and 2015 to the present. The substance use disorder data have been used to examine the availability of treatment for older adults through three separate grants from the National Institute on Aging. Additionally, the mental health data have been used to quantify the availability of inpatient psychiatric bed capacity through a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.
He has published articles in journals including JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, Health Affairs, Journal of Health Economics, and New England Journal of Medicine.
He received his Ph.D. in public administration from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.
Ph.D. in public administration, New York University; M.S. in policy analysis, Cornell University; B.S. in policy analysis, Cornell University
