The Health Economic and Policy Seminar Series

A short seminar series where guest speakers from different health policy settings are invited to discuss their time in their policy role and advise on research areas of health economics that would be most impactful if they had their time again.

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

DATE AND TIME:  4-5 pm (UK BST), 17 July 2024

LOCATION: Hybrid on Zoom and in-person in the Big Data Institute (BDI) LG 0 Seminar Room, Old Road Campus, University of Oxford, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LF

“Policymaking during the COVID-19 pandemic: reflections from a Year at the Council of Economic Advisers”

Eric Sun, Assistant Professor and Associate Division Chief, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine. 

Bio: Eric Sun (MD/PhD) is an assistant professor and Associate Division Chief in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His research interests, for which he receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, include the economics of surgical care as well as the economics of opioid use in the United States. His work has been featured in journals such as JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, the BMJ, Health Affairs, the Journal of Public Economics, the Journal of Health Economics, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives. 

From 2019-2020, he served as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, where he advised senior White House administration officials on matters related to health policy. Dr Sun received a MD from the Pritzker School of Medicine and a PhD in business economics from the Booth Graduate School of Business, both of which are at the University of Chicago. He completed a residency in anesthesiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.  

 To Join: This is a free, hybrid event, which will be taking place online via Zoom/Microsoft Teams. Please register by clicking here

PREVIOUS SPEAKERS (and recordings where available)

DATE:  June 2024

 “Data linkage and integration to improve the evidence base for public policy: lessons from the Australian experience”

Dr David Gruen, the Australian Statistician at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The symposium will also include a panel discussion with a range of speakers who will discuss improving data linkage in the UK (with comparison to the Australian experience) to improve research and public policy. 

 Bio: As the Australian Statistician, Dr David Gruen leads the functions and operations at the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Prior to joining the Australian Bureau of Statistics, he was the Deputy Secretary, Economic and Australia’s G20 Sherpa at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Before this, he held the position of Executive Director of the Macroeconomic Group at the Australian Treasury and was the head of the Economic Research Department of the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1998 to 2002. He has been instrumental in bringing about greater data linkage and integration in Australia so that researchers and government agencies can provide greater evidence for public policy development. 

 DATE: June 2024

"Ways economics can be used to reduce health inequalities"

 Dr Veline L’Esperance is an academic GP and Research Director.

Bio: Dr Veline L’Esperance is an academic GP and Research Director across the largest primary care network in England. She also serves as a senior clinical advisor to the NHS Race and Health Observatory in the area of genomics and precision medicine. She is also a member of the NICE Technology Appraisal Committee and sits on the National Genomics Board. Veline was a National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow, before obtaining an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship and NIHR Doctoral fellowship. Her research interests include primary care health economics, epidemiology and health inequalities. 

DATE: May 2024

 “From data streams to public policy dreams: Sir Bill English on the benefits of greater data integration and linkage in New Zealand”

 Sir Bill English, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand.

 Bio: Sir Bill English was the 39th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and the leader of the National Party prior to standing down from politics in March 2018. He previously held a range of Ministerial portfolios, including Finance, Health and had roles in education, housing and revenue. He was responsible for sponsoring the development of the integrated data system (IDI) in New Zealand, which agencies and researchers now use to expand the evidence base for public policy decisions.

RECORDING: Bill's talk can be viewed here

 DATE: April 2024

 “Reaching universal health coverage: lessons from the field”

 Senior economist Dr Ellen Van de Poel from the World Bank Group. 

Bio: Ellen Van de Poel is a senior health economist in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region at the World Bank. She is based in Morocco where she manages the World Bank’s health portfolio and leads on regional efforts in relation to health financing.  

RECORDING: Ellen's talk can be viewed here

 "Wellbeing-adjusted life years (WELBYs) in policy and practice"

Lord Gus O’Donnell, former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service. 

Bio: Gus O'Donnell was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the British Civil Service from 2005-2011 and in 2010, he oversaw the introduction of the first coalition government since the Second World War. He oversaw the introduction by the Office of National Statistics of the UK’s national wellbeing data.

Hosted by the REAL Demand and Supply Units:

HERC, University of Oxford and

CHE, University of York -

Supported by the Health Foundation.