The Health Economics Research Centre (HERC) at Oxford Population Health recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. From small beginnings, HERC has developed into a unit of more than 40 staff and students developing strategies to optimise the allocation of limited healthcare resources.
HERC began as a one-man team: Professor Alastair Gray, who later became HERC’s first Director. “I was working for the Open University in Oxford, and was approached by various researchers from Oxford University’s Department for Public Health (the fore-runner to Oxford Population Health) who needed health economics input for their projects, for instance, a major review on Hormone Replacement Therapy commissioned by the Government. It became clear that there was a real need for health economics expertise based within the department itself, and I was offered a permanent position in 1996.” Professor Gray explained.
“As the group began to grow, there was a risk that health economists would be scattered across different research institutes and I was keen to try to build a critical mass in one place. This way, researchers could develop long-term careers in health economics, and we could create teaching courses and other training opportunities for students to gain experience.” Professor Gray said.
HERC’s research portfolio covers both international and UK-focused issues, with topics including health and social care services, infectious diseases, genomic technologies, and major chronic illnesses. The group frequently collaborates with other Oxford University departments, overseas health economics groups, and clinical trials research units, including those at the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol and Aberdeen.
Professor Philip Clarke, the current Director of HERC, indicated that HERC’s research will continue to evolve to address new questions, both for the UK and globally, with a wide range of collaborators: “Health economics by its nature is very much multi-disciplinary research. HERC has been instrumental in bringing together researchers from different disciplines, including a recent symposium to look at ways to best tackle COVID-19, which brought together researchers from across the University. In addition, HERC’s teaching now has a global reach, as its range of virtual courses have been attended by over 600 participants from across the world.”
HERC celebrated its 25th anniversary last week with an event at Merton College (more information available here). This featured a variety of presentations by current staff, students, and alumni. You can view these presentations by visiting the HERC@25 webpage. We present a selection below.
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Emeritus Professor Alastair Gray
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Oxford Population Health recently refreshed its branding to demonstrate the particular focus of the department on population health science. This new visual identity reflects the purpose of the department and clarifies the relationship between the department, the University, and the six longstanding research groups within the department. The HERC newsletter has also been updated as part of this branding exercise – we hope you like our new look!
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