Essay · September 2026 · Updated October 2026
Data Doesn't Decide
An essay on making the assumptions and trade-offs behind a decision explicit.
Read the essay → · 4 min read
Lina Song · Decision scientist, scholar, and founder
Putting rigorous analysis within reach.
My research examines how institutional choices shape healthcare. I’m now building on that work to make rigorous analytical methods more accessible beyond dedicated research teams.
Harvard PhD in Health Policy / Decision Science · Former Assistant Professor (tenure track), UCL School of Management
A question from my research
One policy. Different estimates.
Did removing a price barrier bring more people in for screening?
In our 2019 study of Medicare colonoscopies, the estimated increase in screening after the 2011 cost-sharing policy change depended on how screening and diagnostic procedures were classified.
- Same policy change
- Same claims data
- A different rule for what counts as screening
A different estimate of the policy's effect
For me, this illustrates one part of access to analysis: being able to examine how an answer was produced, not only receive the result.
Lina D. Song and colleagues · Health Services Research · 2019
Why access became my question
From access to care to access to analysis.
My research has examined how institutions, incentives, and resources shape healthcare. That work has led me to a related question: who has the capacity to use rigorous analysis when a difficult choice has to be made?
Ideas worth examining.
On access to analytical capability, the choices that shape healthcare, and what an answer depends on.
Building
From research to usable analysis.
At Doogooda, I’m working to translate healthcare economics, disease modelling, and causal research into software for healthcare operating decisions. This is one practical expression of my wider aim: making rigorous methods more usable beyond dedicated research teams.
For 2026–27, Doogooda is a member of Harvard Innovation Labs’ Launch Lab X accelerator (venture profile) and part of Creative Destruction Lab’s CDL-Wisconsin Health & Wellness program.
Speaking & media
Ideas for public conversation.
Talks and conversations about access to rigorous analysis, the choices that shape healthcare, and what evidence can—and cannot—tell us.