Katherine “Kate” Ho, the John L. Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy at Princeton University, died on December 8, 2025, at the age of 53. She was surrounded by her family at the time of her passing. A memorial service is scheduled for December 27 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.
Ho joined Princeton’s faculty in July 2018 and co-directed the Center for Health and Wellbeing in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs from 2018 to 2024. Her research focused on industrial organization and health economics, examining how healthcare market structures and interactions among companies affect patients. She developed models that analyzed economic and policy issues such as prescription drug pricing, narrow provider networks, and insurer competition.
Wolfgang Pesendorfer, chair of Princeton’s economics department, described Ho as “a brilliant scholar, a charismatic teacher and a devoted adviser.” He said: “Kate was a leading scholar of healthcare markets, and her research transformed the way economists analyze these markets. Using rich data and structural models, Kate’s work showed how consolidation and competition affect patients, insurance premia and welfare.”
Janet Currie, Henry Putnam Professor Emeritus at Princeton who now teaches at Yale University, reflected on their years working together: “Kate was one of my favorite colleagues, first at Columbia, and then at Princeton, where we co-directed the Center for Health and Wellbeing for five years, co-taught health economics, and co-supervised several Ph.D. students,” she said. “In addition to being a brilliant academic, she was a dream to work with — warm and funny, super thoughtful, and very organized. No matter what happened, she was never flustered. With students she was strict but generous,” Currie added. “Even when she was gravely ill, she was concerned about her students’ futures and worked to transition them to new advisers. Her passing is a great loss, but her legacy will live on.”
Jakub Kastl noted Ho’s significant contributions to modeling bargaining between insurers and hospitals as well as competition between insurers: “She made seminal contributions to modeling bargaining between insurers and hospitals; to modeling competition between insurers; physician incentives; drug pricing,” he said. Kastl added: “She was a great scholar and tremendous adviser. She was very empathetic — all students loved her as she was a true role model — always willing to listen and offer advice… I will deeply miss her.”
Ilyana Kuziemko recounted meeting Ho during graduate school: “Even then [in 2002], her academic brilliance and kind heart were obvious,” Kuziemko said. They later became colleagues at Princeton: “Kate just seemed to excel in every role she took on: researcher, teacher, adviser, colleague friend mom. She will be missed by so many people in academia and beyond.”
Born in York England in 1972 Ho graduated from Cambridge University with a master’s degree in mathematics before earning an A.M., then Ph.D., both from Harvard University by 2005 after serving as Chief of Staff to Britain’s Minister of State for Health (1993–1997). Before joining Princeton’s faculty Ho taught at Columbia University from 2005 until 2018.
Her career included visiting positions at Wharton (University of Pennsylvania), Yale’s Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics (2009), Northwestern University’s Center for the Study of Industrial Organization (2008), among others.
Ho published widely—including articles in American Economic Review; Econometrica; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS); Journal of Political Economy—and received multiple honors such as election to the Econometric Society (2019) where she served on its council (2021–2024). In recognition for her work “Insurer Competition in Health Care Markets” with Robin Lee published by Econometrica they received The Econometric Society’s Frisch Medal (2020).
At Princeton Ho taught undergraduate courses like “Firm Competition & Strategy: A Mathematical Approach” along with graduate seminars including “Industrial Organization & Public Policy II/III” & “Health Economics II.” In 2023 she received both the Harvey Rosen Teaching Prize & Best Adviser Award from the Department of Economics.
Emily Cuddy recalled: “Kate Ho was extraordinarily generous with her time engaging deeply with every problem—at the whiteboard in margins or drafts or thoughtful conversation… holding students to highest standards while making them feel deeply supported.” Quan Le remembered that Ho “saw in her students the best versions of ourselves…never imposed others’ goals…while gently making sure that we understood our shortcomings.”
Beyond teaching editorial leadership included roles with journals such as Econometrica American Economic Review RAND Journal Journal of Economic Literature International Journal of Industrial Organization among others.
She also contributed expertise through service on panels including advising Congressional Budget Office technical reviews related specifically to health insurance simulation models.
Ho is survived by husband Victor children Oliver Eleanor father Paul Slack sister Alison Slack.
Donations may be made in memory of Katherine Ho to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
