I am Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Global Health and Development and Co-Director of the Global Health Economics Centre. I have over 15 years of research experience working in low- and middle-income countries, applying an economics lens to the understanding of how health systems work and how they can perform better.
I first developed an interest in health economics while working at the Ministry of Health, Rwanda on a two-year placement with the Overseas Development Institute Fellowship Scheme. I did my doctorate at LSHTM, spending two years in Nepal carrying out research as part of a UK government-funded project evaluating a national maternal health financial incentive programme.
Much of my work involves the evaluation of policies that seek to increase patient demand for healthcare or improve the quality of care. I work on topics ranging from health financing and provider payment reforms to management practices and the private sector. My research has been published in medical journals as well as health and development economics journals.
I was recently a member of two commissions: the WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission "A future for the world's children?" and the Lancet Global Health Commission on financing primary health care: putting people at the centre.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I am Module Organiser of the term one module, Introduction to Health Economics. I also teach on other modules, including Economic Analysis of Health Policy and Evaluation of Public Health Interventions.
I am a tutor for students and Deputy Chair of the Exam Board for the MSc Health Policy, Planning, and Financing, run jointly by LSE and LSHTM.
I supervise PhD students with an interest in health systems research in low- and middle-income countries, strong quantitative skills and a background in economics. My current doctoral students are: Henry Cust, Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, Jennifer Ljungqvist, Stephen Dorgan, and Charlotte Ward.
Research
My research uses insights and methods from economics to study a wide range of questions concerning health systems in low- and middle-income countries. I have a keen interest in financial incentives, impact evaluation, the economic consequences of ill health, equity in health financing, maternal and newborn health and, more broadly, the interaction between health and development.
My PhD research was based on an evaluation of a nationwide financial incentive programme for maternal health in Nepal. This interest in financial incentives - both demand and supply-side - has continued with research in India, China, Tanzania and Brazil.
Current and recent research projects include: 1) Understanding and enhancing approaches to quality improvement in small and medium-sized private facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, funded by the Health Systems Research Initiative; 2) Lancet Global Health Commission on primary health care financing; 3) Equi-PMAQ, a MRC-funded health systems research project on pay-for-performance in Brazil; 4) IMPRESS, an NIHR-funded project on the role of hospital management in improving quality of care for small and sick newborns in Malawi; and 5) NEST360.
Selected Publications
