Leyla D. Karakas, PhD

Leyla D. Karakas specializes in applying economic analysis to assess competition in the healthcare industry. Her recent work includes healthcare mergers with horizontal, vertical, and cross-market components. Leyla leverages her extensive academic background, including eight years of teaching microeconomics and game theory at both the undergraduate and PhD levels, to distill complex topics into clear and actionable insights for non-technical audiences.

Before joining Bates White, Leyla was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Syracuse University, publishing research in top peer-reviewed field journals, including Journal of Public Economics, Games and Economic Behavior, and Journal of Legal Studies. Over the course of her career, she has delivered seminars at universities and presented her research at major conferences around the globe, showcasing her depth of expertise in political economy and law and economics.

Beyond casework, Leyla plays a pivotal role in mentoring and developing junior colleagues as she oversees staffing in the healthcare pod. She takes pride in fostering a collaborative environment that supports growth and success for her team, ensuring they are equipped to tackle intellectually demanding projects with confidence and precision.

PhD, Economics, Johns Hopkins University

BS, Commerce, University of Virginia

• On behalf of UnitedHealth Group, in connection with its proposed acquisition of EpiSource, which conducts risk adjustment for Medicare claims, analyzed potential competitive effects related to the transaction. The merger was completed without a second request.
• On behalf of a large hospital system, evaluated the antitrust implications of two acquisitions. Analyzed potential horizontal effects from the merger and conducted relevant cross-market evaluations.
• In the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of the pharmacy benefit management industry, on behalf of a large pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), provided economic analysis of the impact of vertically integrated PMBs on the access and affordability of medicines.
• On behalf of a hospital system, evaluated targets for potential antitrust effects and presented findings to the client.
• On behalf of UnitedHealth Group’s health services subsidiary Optum Health in its planned purchase of a large cardiology practice in Florida, evaluated the potential antitrust implications of the transaction. Concerns included effects of integration of the practice with Optum’s insurance business. The Department of Justice cleared the transaction.