Dr. Haydn Michael Primrose is a public policy and public administration scholar-practitioner whose work examines the relationship among religion, law, institutional governance, and policy implementation. 

His research asks how religious and moral claims gain public legitimacy, how they become law or institutional policy, and what happens when governments and organizations put them into practice.

His work connects public policy, public administration, political science, religion and politics, federalism, institutional ethics, healthcare governance, and organizational decision-making. He is especially interested in the gap between what a policy formally promises and what people can actually understand, access, navigate, and use.

Dr. Primrose’s doctoral research examined medical cannabis policy for people with multiple sclerosis in the U.S. states of Kansas and Colorado. The study considered how federalism, state policy variation, administrative ambiguity, professional knowledge, interest-group influence, and institutional decision-making affected the practical usability of medical cannabis policy.

His current scholarship examines medical cannabis policy across state borders, religiously affiliated healthcare systems and LGBTQ+ access, administrative burden, institutional trust, frontline discretion, referral integrity, and public responsibility in morally plural service systems. Although much of this work uses healthcare as an empirical setting, the broader research program concerns how contested religious and moral claims become public authority and how institutions distribute rights, access, responsibility, risk, and burden.

RESEARCH AND TEACHING

Dr. Primrose has served as a faculty member and curriculum consultant at multiple universities. He currently teaches political science, ethics, comparative religion, and related interdisciplinary subjects. His work includes the development of writing-intensive courses for online learners. 

His teaching emphasizes intellectual independence, careful use of evidence, clear writing, fair engagement with competing positions, and the willingness to revise conclusions when the evidence requires it. He is particularly interested in adult learning, online instruction, individualized feedback, oral examination, and assignments that require students to explain and defend their reasoning.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Primrose works in healthcare ethics and mission integration within CommonSpirit Health. His professional experience includes institutional ethics, interdisciplinary consultation, policy interpretation, organizational decision-making, professional education, and the practical governance of complex service environments. He has also held nonprofit executive leadership responsibilities involving governance, strategy, operations, staffing, partnerships, fundraising, and service delivery.

EDUCATION

• Doctor of Philosophy, Public Policy and Administration, Walden University

• Doctor of Ministry, Pastoral Counseling, Liberty University

• Master of Philosophy, Public Policy and Administration, Walden University

• Master of Public Administration, National University

• Master of Divinity, BSK Theological Seminary

• Master of Theological Studies, NationsUniversity

• Bachelor of Behavioral Science, Communication, Hardin-Simmons University
  
  

Research and teaching areas: Public policy, public administration, political science, religion and public policy, law and policy, federalism, policy implementation, administrative burden, healthcare governance, institutional ethics, organizational governance, qualitative research, and policy and legal analysis.