Professional Qualifications

• Diploma in Business & Finance (Trier)
• Postgraduate degree in International Economic Relations (Konstanz)
• Doctorate in Economics (Hamburg)

Professional Memberships

• Centre for Diet and Activity Research
• London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
• Behaviour and Health Research Unit

Research interests

• Economic consequences of (ill-)health
• economic rationales for public policy intervention in non-communicable diseases
• economic evaluation of public health interventions
• socioeconomic inequalities and determinants of health

Career summary

Prior to joining UEA I have worked for more than 5 years as an economist with the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development (Venice), where I was responsible for the research on the economics of health, and on social determinants and inequalities in health. Prior to WHO I have held a number of research positions in international organisations and academia, including the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (Florence), Hamburg University, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London), the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels), the European Commission (Brussels), and the Hamburg Institute for International Economics.

The main part of my research revolves around a range of economic aspects of public health, which includes the micro and macroeconomic consequences of (ill-)health, economic rationales for government intervention in the prevention of non-communicable diseases, and economic evaluation of public health interventions. I am working on the measurement of socioeconomic inequalities in health (including the relationship between health inequality and health on average) and on socioeconomic determinants of health. The geographic focus of my work covers high-, middle- and low-income countries. My work has been funded by the World Bank, WHO, the European Commission, DFID, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the NIHR and others.

Selected Current and Recent Projects

Co-PI, Sport4Health, Sport England, 2013-2016

Co-PI, Characterising patterns and changes in physical activity in older people and their determinants and consequences, Medical Research Council, 2013-2016

Co-PI, A randomised controlled trial to test the clinical and cost-effectiveness of primary care referral to a commercial weight loss provider, Medical Research Council - National Prevention Research Initiative Phase IV, 2012-2015

Co-PI, Establishing a Healthy Growth Trajectory from Birth: The Baby Milk Trial, Medical Research Council - National Prevention Research Initiative Phase IV, 2012-2015
The Review of Cost-Benefit Models and Their Applicability to Sport, Sport England, 2012

Co-PI, Evaluating the impact of structural policies on health, health behaviours and health inequalities, European Commission, 7th Framework Programme, 2012-2014.

Copenhagen Consensus, Perspectives Paper on Chronic Diseases

Co-PI, The health benefits of household water supplies in South Africa, DFID, 2012-2013

PI, Chair - Economics Task Group, European Review of Social Determinants of Health, WHO Europe, 2011-2012

Co-PI, The impact of recession on communicable diseases (Analytical work), European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC)

Co-PI, Policy Research Unit - Behaviour and Health Research Unit (BHRU), Department of Health, 2011-2015

Co-PI, ADDITION trial: effects of diabetes treatment on cardiovascular events at 5 years, NIHR HTA

PI, European Commission - Executive Agency for Health and Consumers, Patterns and determinants of alcohol consumption in adolescents, 01/2011-04/2012

PI, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and TB, Cost-effectiveness of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), 06-12/2010

PI, Costing evaluation of Natural England’s Walking for Health-Schemes, 01-12/2011

PI, Scoping exercise on the impact of the economic crisis on communicable diseases, European Centre for Disease Control, 2009

Co-PI, Development and evaluation of very brief interventions to increase physical activity in primary care, NIHR Programme Grant, 2010-2014

Co-PI, Addressing the social and economic determinants of obesity, European Commission (FP 6), 2007-2010

Background paper on the Impact of the Recession on health, for ECHAA Inaugural conference in London, 28/04/2009, European Centre for Health Assets and Architecture, 2009

PI, Research note on Economic Crisis and Health in the European Union, for the EC-funded European Observatory on the Social Situation and Demography, 2009

PI, Economics of NCDs in China, World Bank, 2008-2010

Contribution to Marmot Review, Health Inequalities Strategy for England post-2010; Department of Health, England, 2009

PI, The economic rationale for public policy to tackle NCDs in South Asia, World Bank

PI, Measurement of socioeconomic inequalities and determinants of health, WHO Venice Office, 2008-2009

PI, Health & economic development in the Middle East & North Africa, WHO European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, 2009-2010

PI, Does health determine educational outcomes in high-income countries?, Health Scotland, 2008-2009

Economic evaluation of economic & social policy interventions for health, WHO, 2008-2010

PI, Assessing the macroeconomic consequences of cardiovascular disease in five developing countries, IC Health, 2008-09

PI, Health and wealth in Europe, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, 2008

PI, Methodologies for the microeconomic assessment of adult ill-health in low- and middle-income countries, World Bank, 2007-08

Acting Director for the MSc in Health Economics

I teach a number of courses on public health economics, economics of health behaviour and health inequalities as part of the newly established MSc in Health Economics.