She earned her Ph.D. in managerial science and applied economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where her dissertation focused on the effects of private managed care on Medicaid. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the University of Pennsylvania. Perez’s research interests include private and governmental financing of healthcare, insurance economics, and fraud enforcement regulation. Her research has been published in the American Journal of Health Economics, Health Services Research, Health Economics and the International Journal of Services, Economics and Management. She has also worked as a research assistant and programmer in the health policy division at Mathematica Policy Research.