Members

Current Position and Professional Functions

Elham is a health economist at the Institute of Health Economics, specializing in environmental and health economics, and applied microeconomics. 

Education and Training

Elham Adibnia received her PhD in Economics, from the University of Calgary in 2021. She was the winner of 2018 Network of Alberta Health Economics (NOAHE) graduate internship award. Her PhD dissertation studied the causal effect of Ontario coal phase out on pollution, infant and adult health, local migration, and labor supply.

Research Interests and Expertise

Primary areas of interest include Health Economics, Environmental Economics, and Applied Econometrics. Current research includes the Effect of Vitamin D Deficiency on Developing Cancer in Canada; Causal Effect of Retirement on Health; Ontario Coal Plant Phase out, Environmental Regulations, Infant and adult Mortality.

Contact

el.adibnia@gmail.com

Current Position and Professional Functions

Health Economist, Institute of Health Economics

Education and Training

Dr. Akpinar has her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Ankara, completed pediatric surgery residency at the University of Akdeniz. She has a Master of Science in Health Policy Research, specializing in Health Economics from School of Public Health, University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Akpinar has over 5 years of applied research experience in Canada with more than 10 years of clinical experience as a pediatric surgeon in Turkey. Her research interests include health outcomes and health services research, with a particular interest in the cost of clinical trials for medical devices and pharmaceuticals, economic evaluations for chronic diseases and screening programs.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Snr. Health Systems Analyst, Analytics and Performance Reporting Branch, Alberta Health

Research Interests and Expertise

Philip's research interests are in development and health economics. His research area focuses on how exogenous shocks affect child health and other child outcomes in geographical areas where commodities are produced. At Alberta Health, Philip plays a key role in assessing the cost implication of implementing different publicly funded drug programs within the province.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Ms. Allu is a Knowledge Translation Broker working for University of Calgary, Division of Nephrology and Can-SOLVE CKD

Education and Training

MA in Human/Health Geography from the University of Calgary; 10+ years working in chronic disease (hypertension, kidney disease, diabetes); 10+ years in knowledge translation.

Research Interests and Expertise

Three words that describe what Selina does are: “creator, communicator, connector.” Her interests include application of knowledge translation to move evidence into practice as well as impactful and meaningful patient engagement, stakeholder relationships, creative communication and effective presentations, using social media for impact and influence in health research, and health care intervention design.

Contact

soallu@ucalgary.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Research Manager, Alberta PROMs and EQ-5D Research and Support Unit (APERSU), School of Public Health, University of Alberta

Education and Training

Fatima holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of Alberta, and an MSc in Community Health Nursing from the American University of Beirut

Research Interests and Expertise

Fatima has over 12 years of epidemiological and clinical research experience. Her research focuses on measurement of health outcomes including clinical and patient-reported outcomes (PROs), preferences measurement, and psychometrics. She serves as a consultant methodologist on several health outcome measurement projects in Canada and internationally.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Mehdee Araee is a Senior Health Economist in the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, Drug Plan and Extended Benefits Branch.

Education and Training

He has PhD in Economics from the University of Wollongong (Australia), Master of Public Policy (MPP) from Korea Development Institute (KDI) and has held postdoctoral position at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Research Interests and Expertise

Since 2019, my area of focus has been on pharmacoeconomic analyses and common modeling methods. My main research interests include topics in Pharmacoeconomics, applied health economics, policy evaluation, health services research, and global health. I have also served as a reviewer/referee for several journals and conferences including Applied Economics, The Journal of Rural Health, Preventive Medicine, Applied Economics Letters, ISPOR, Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR), etc.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Flora Au is a Health Economist in Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration (ICDC) at the University of Calgary in the Departments of Medicine, Division of Nephrology.

Education and Training

Flora has a Master in Economics from the University of Alberta

Research Interests and Expertise

Health decision and policy making through costing analyses, mathematical and decision modelling, and the analysis of administrative health data.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Ryan Au manages the Addiction Recovery and Community Health Program and Supervised Consumption Services at the Royal Alexandra Hospital which serves Edmonton's inner city population.

Education and Training

He received his MPH Health Policy and Management, BSc in Nursing, and his BSc in Biochemistry and Sociology at the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

His interests include health economics, health systems strategic planning, and health policy.

Current Position and Professional Functions

I am currently pursuing a master of public health in the University of Alberta. My current professional roles entail formulating management and financial strategies for private sector healthcare providers and healthcare manufacturers.

Education and Training

I completed my Bachelor of Science degree in York University, Toronto in Kinesiology and Health Sciences. I have experience administering private clinics, consulting and managing healthcare manufacturers and corporations dedicated to senior health. These experiences have exposed me to the economics of a set of healthcare and healthcare-related settings.

Research Interests and Expertise

My research interest is on the economic development and financial analysis of existing and emergent health promotion strategies. Currently I am focusing on two areas; economically sustainable strategies to increase the physical activity levels of Canadian university students and the financial analysis of interventions that can prevent communicable infections in Canadian long term care homes. 

Current Position and Professional Functions

Patrick Berrigan is a Research Associate specializing in health economics with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.

Education and Training

He received his: BSc – Dalhousie (Mathematics and Economics); MA – Memorial (Economics) and is currently pursuing his PhD  - Lancaster (Health Research).

Research Interests and Expertise

Primary research interests include: Societal preferences for the treatment of addictions, and economic of evaluations of children with neurodevelopment diseases/delays.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Brett is a long-time Calgaryian who was worked for the Executive Council of Alberta since 2019. He started under then-Minister of Justice and Solicitor-General Doug Schweitzer as an assistant tackling the rural crime file, continuing with Minister Kaycee Madu for a short period before moving to Health. He spent ten months as a communications advisor during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic under Ministers Shandro and Copping before being reunited with Minister Schweitzer in Jobs, Economy, and Innovation where he currently leads the digital economy file.

Education and Training

He holds degrees from Carleton University and City, University of London. Having graduated in 2019, Brett is interested in any position offering a path towards articling and hopes to be called to the bar in the future.

Research Interests and Expertise

Brett is a hard worker, a fast learner, and a quick thinker. Pleasant and professional, he is a true asset to any team.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Ikennah Browne is a General Surgeon with a clinical appointment at the University of Calgary. Additionally, he maintains a busy general surgery locum practice in Northern Alberta, The Northwest Territories and Interior British Columbia.

Education and Training

Dr. Browne received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Alberta and completed his surgical training at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. He subsequently completed the Master of Translational Medicine program, a joint program in the departments of Bioengineering and Medicine at the University of California Berkeley and U.C. San Francisco respectively. He is currently completing the Master of Health Administration program at the University of British Columbia.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Browne's research interests include assessing resource utilization in acute care surgery, as well as the impact of digital health innovation on surgical care delivery. Additionally, his interests include Health Technology Assessment, particularly related to medical and surgical device innovation.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Research Assistant, School of Public Health, University of Alberta.

Education and Training

Tapagni completed her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Alberta in the Environmental and Occupational Health Stream. Before this, Tapagni completed her Bachelor's in Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from Bangladesh and worked there as a Lecturer of Pathology. Tapagni is currently working as a Research Assistant at the Climate Health and Environment Epidemiology Research, CHEER Lab at the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Tapagni conducts scoping reviews focused on environmental health. She has also worked in the rural community settings to provide healthcare to women and older adults, worked with a team to eradicate polio from the community. As a lecturer, Tapagni worked for cancer screening and prevention programs. Tapagni is now interested to gather experience on health policy to learn evaluation and implementation of healthcare strategies.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Sudipa Chauhan is an Economic Modeler in Institute of Health Economics.

Education and Training

Dr. Sudipa received her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Jiwaji University, Gwalior, INDIA.

Research Interests and Expertise

Mathematical Modelling in epidemiology, ecotoxicology, and Integrated Pest management using ODE

Contact

schauhan@ihe.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

President/Owner, Topline Economic Consulting

Rukhsana provides professional consulting services to both the public and private sectors in the areas of: economic impact analysis, costing, budgeting, forecasting, writing systems specifications for data retrievals, writing business plans, program/business evaluations, finance management, and data retrieval/management.

Education and Training

She received a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Ottawa with a major in Public Finance, International Trade, and Labour Economics. Most of her on-the-job training is in health economics research studies and health data approval/retrieval processes for unpublished data.

Research Interests and Expertise

Prior to establishing her own consulting company, she worked with the Government of Alberta's Health Department for 18 years in various positions, and gained expertise in these areas: Health Economist, Budget Officer, Project Manager, Health Policy Analyst, and Research Data Coordinator. She has also taught health economics courses at Athabasca University. In addition, she worked with First Nations communities (Little Red River Cree Nation) to develop health data modelling for data collection from all provincial/federal health programs for First Nations.

Research interests include:

• providing health policy-makers (and other clients) evidence-based information from research studies that used appropriate data;
• promoting preventive health care to reduce the economic burden on the Alberta health system, using evidence-based research studies; and
• establishing a complete healthcare statistical reporting system for First Nations, in order to make informed decisions that will improve their health.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Program Officer, Alberta Health Services
Dr. Chuck is a Chief Health Economist at Alberta Health Services.

Education and Training

He received a MPH in Health Policy and Management and a PhD in Public Health Sciences from the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Chuck specializes in policy impact evaluation, economic evaluation, econometrics, experimental economics, Markov modelling, discrete event simulation and budget impact analysis. He has extensive experience in leading evaluation initiatives including health technology assessments for provincial ministries, health authorities, health technology assessment agencies and private industry to inform and guide health policy as well as to inform strategies for optimizing implementation of innovations into the health system.

He has produced and collaborated on a wide range of evidence-based products in various clinical areas and across a spectrum of interventions (e.g. pharmaceuticals, medical devices, programs, services and policy).

Current Position and Professional Functions

Associate Professor, University of Calgary
Dr. Clement is an Associate Professor, and Director of the Health Technology Assessment Unit within the O’Brien Institute of Public Health at the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

She received a PhD in Community Health Services specializing in Health Services Research and Health Economics from the University of Calgary, and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Health Economics from Newcastle University.

Research Interests and Expertise

Research interests include drug and non-drug technology reimbursement and cost containment policy, evidence in decision-making, and evidence in health policy development. She leads a policy responsive research unit that completes evidence synthesis, economic evaluations, health technology assessments and reassessments in response to decision-makers’ needs. In 2014, she was selected as the Canadian Harkness fellow; a unique opportunity to study US healthcare policy.

Contact

fclement@ucalgary.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Stephen Congly is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary in the Department of Medicine. His clinical practice includes gastroenterology as well as general and transplant hepatology.

Education and Training

Dr. Congly has his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Alberta, completed internal medicine and gastroenterology training at the University of Calgary and subsequently a fellowship in Hepatology at the University of Calgary and in Transplant Hepatology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN.  He has a Master’s of Science in Health Economics, Policy and Management from the London School of Economics.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Congly’s current research interests include assessing resource utilization in liver and gastrointestinal diseases, health technology assessment in these areas as well as understanding the variability with regards to access to care and medications and strategies to reduce these barriers.

Current Position and Professional Functions

President and Managing Principal of Medlior Health Outcomes Research Ltd.

Education and Training

Tara obtained her MSc from McMaster University in the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neuroscience and Psychiatry. Tara gained her BA and MA in Physiological Sciences from Balliol College at The University of Oxford.

Research Interests and Expertise

Tara’s primary research interests are in evidence generation to inform health policy decision-making. Areas of expertise include systematic reviews, environmental scans, real world evidence and medical writing. Tara founded Medlior in 2008 with a priority for providing value and insight for health outcomes research projects through robust methodology. Tara has over 19 years of experience in roles within public sector and industry organizations. Prior roles include five years with Alberta Health Services as the Lead of Clinical Data Services and five years in HTA/Market Access roles for AstraZeneca UK, Wyeth UK and IMS Health UK. In addition, Tara gained experience as a Research Fellow for Clinical Guidelines in Chronic Conditions at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in London, UK.

Contact

tara.cowling@medlior.com

Current Position and Professional Functions

Trafford Crump is an Assistant Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

Dr. Crump has a BA in Economics from Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec, a MPA in Health Economics & Policy from New York University, New York, New York, and a Ph.D. in Evaluative Clinical Sciences from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.

Research Interests and Expertise

I am a health services researcher with an interest in improving the shared making between patients and their health care providers for “preference-sensitive” decisions. This can be achieved by providing timely and personalized information to both parties based on the patient’s unique characteristics and circumstances, the healthcare provider’s outcomes with previous patients, and the inherent risks underling the respective options available to them. To conduct this work, I draw on a rich experience with developing valid, reliable, and feasible methods for collecting primary data from patients, linking these with clinical data collected from health care providers, and estimating prediction models based on these data.

My recent research has focused on preference-sensitive decisions in urology, including treatment decisions for prostate cancer, pelvic organ prolapse, and overactive bladder. This work involves collecting patient-centered outcomes, including measures of health status, patient experience, and patient satisfaction, and linking these to clinical registry data collected as part of service delivery programs.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Associate Professor, Departments of Paediatrics and Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, and
Member: Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute O’Brien Institute of Public Health
Dr. Gillian Currie is a health economist specializing in child health at the University of Calgary. Her PhD in Economics from Yale University was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Gillian is the Section Lead for the Research Methods Team – an academic section within the Department of Paediatrics based at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Dr. Currie is a member of the Healthy Outcomes theme group within the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health, and co-organizes bi-weekly Healthy Outcome Theme Rounds. She is also the co-lead of the Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment research group in the O’Brien Institute of Public Health.

Dr. Currie has made significant educational contributions including teaching graduate courses, supervising graduate students at the PhD and MSc levels, serving on the Graduate Education Committee in the Department of Community Health Sciences, and teaching in the Department of Paediatrics’ Resident Research Course.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Currie’s research interests are in the economic evaluation of interventions and treatments that impact the health of children, and particularly in methods to understand how we value the benefits of those interventions via stated preference elicitation methods.

Current Positions and Professional Functions

Research Assistant to Dr. Frank Atkins
Catalina leads research and assists in writing economic papers for the Frontier Centre of Public Policy. She also analyses, edits and completes economic data reports for various legal proceedings.

Teaching Assistant, Microeconomics
Catalina is a Teaching Assistant at the University of Calgary and leads first year microeconomics tutorials. Topics include: trade, economic efficiency, consumer choice and behavioural economics, environmental policy, competition and antitrust policy.

Education and Training

Catalina Cuzzani holds an Honours B.A. in Economics from the University of Calgary and has over nine years of corporate experience working in financial services, legal and compliance, coupled with relevant work experience in economic research. Over the last three years she has been working for Economist Dr. Frank Atkins, assisting in research and writing peer-reviewed publications for the Frontier Centre of Public Policy.

Research Interests and Expertise

Catalina's prior work focused on public policy, laws, regulations, and externalities, her latest project analyses market power mitigation designs in electricity and natural gas markets across selected U.S. jurisdictions.

Catalina's research interests include innovation funding and government performance. Concerned by her prior research examining the lack of innovation funding in Canada she is driven to help shape policy around public funding in innovation.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Ms. Dabas is currently enrolled in a M.A. Economics program at the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

Ms. Dabas completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Economics at the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. She is currently working as a research assistant for Professor Minghsan on two projects in collaboration with CHI (Center for Health Informatics, UofC, Cumming School of Medicine) and SCN. She will also be working as a research assistant for the summer for another professor, Dr. Arvind, on a political economy paper series.

Research Interests and Expertise

Ms Dabas's research interests are in health, development, and behavioral economics. She intends to pursue doctoral studies and is working on research projects to gain more exposure and a better understanding of the issues.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Mrs. Dabravolskaj is a PhD student in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta.

Education and Training

She is currently a PhD student in Epidemiology at the University of Alberta. She obtained her Doctor of Medicine degree from her country of origin, Belarus, and completed Master of Science (Health Sciences) at the University of Lethbridge.

Research Interests and Expertise

Julia is currently interested in primary prevention of mental health problems and illnesses in the general population. Under the supervision of experienced and acknowledged researchers, Dr. Katerina Maximova and Dr. Paul Veugelers, she is planning to explore the intricate association between diet and mental health and how this knowledge may help build a stronger and healthier society.

Contact

dabravol@ualberta.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Chief Data & Analytics Officer - Data & Analytics, Provincial Clinical Excellence - Alberta Health Services

Education and Training

He received his MA in Economics, and his PhD in Health Research Methods, from the University of Calgary.

Research Interests and Expertise

Stafford’s research interests include health system demand forecasting and clinical analytics to support outcomes improvement.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Oby Ezenwamelaku is presently enrolled as a full-time MSc student in Health Economics within the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. She is undertaking her research under the guidance of Dr. Eldon Spackman.

Education and Training

Oby Ezenwamelaku earned her Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Notably, her thesis on the cost-effectiveness evaluation of Rotavirus prevalence in Nigeria played a pivotal role in making the vaccine completely affordable to families with low income in the country. After her graduation, Oby Ezenwamelaku delved into the field of health research, contributing notably to the Ministry of Health in Enugu, Nigeria. She showcased her prowess as a Health Research Officer, where she was instrumental in maintaining health databases, evaluating new medications, and closely monitoring the quality standards of over 200 pharmacy premises and 46 government facilities. Her stint as a Research Analyst at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital further solidified her position in the field. She was at the forefront of devising government health policies targeted at combating infectious diseases and played a crucial role in reviewing healthcare literature and data pertinent to rural health promotion.

Research Interests and Expertise

At the heart of Oby Ezenwamelaku's research interests lies the intricate balance between population dynamics, health budgeting, and health outcomes. She is driven by a passion to delve deep into the nuances of how health policies are crafted and translated into real-world scenarios, especially in contexts where they can influence tangible, positive changes in public health.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Director, Health Economics and Funding at Alberta Department of Health.

Education and Training

B.A Economics and Computer Science (U Winnipeg)
MA Economics (U Alberta)

Research Interests and Expertise

 Effectiveness of Health Spending; Health Economics; Fiscal Finance; Models of Health Spending;  Energy Economics; Energy Transition

Current Position and Professional Functions

Fellow, Network of Alberta Health Economists & Occupational Therapist, Home Care, Alberta Health Services.

Education and Training

Ms. Flemming has completed a Bachelor’s of Science degree specializing in Psychology and a Master’s of Science degree in Occupational Therapy through the University of Alberta. Currently, she is a PhD student in Health Services and Policy Research at the University of Alberta. Ms. Flemming has 10 years of clinical experience in home care. Her experience also includes systematic reviews regarding reporting of economic evaluations of rehabilitation interventions and the cost-effectiveness of interventions provided within home care.

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests include health policy, health services research, and health technology assessments with an overarching interest in health system improvement.

Current position and professional functions

Jane is a PhD student at the University of Calgary. 

Education and training

Jane completed her BSc degree in microbiology and her MSc in virology, and she has worked as a research assistant on a health economics trial with the University of Calgary. She is currently a PhD student in the department of Community Health Sciences.

Research interest and expertise

Jane's primary research interest is health economics, particularly the idea of preventative programs that can both be financially advantageous in the future while reducing the incidence of more severe conditions for patients. 

Current Position and Professional Functions 

Taylor Grady is currently pursuing a MA in Economics at the University of Calgary. 

Education and Training

Taylor has completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a specialization in Aquatic Resources at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

Research Interest and Expertise 

Taylor is passionate about the environmental issues and health issues in Canada. Taylor is particularly interested in the water crisis among Indigenous Communities in Canada and studied its effects on health in her undergraduate thesis.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Health Economics PhD Student, University of Calgary
Luiza Grazziotin is currently pursuing a PhD in Community Health Sciences, specialization in Health Economics, at the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

Ms. Grazziotin earned a M.Sc. in Cardiovascular Sciences and a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Ms. Grazziotin developed a foundational expertise in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) during her Master’s degree and completing a one-year HTA specialization course concurrently. Ms. Grazziotin also worked as a Research Associate at a hospital-based HTA unit, in which she gained practical experience in health services research by developing, coordinating and conducting HTA projects, systematic reviews and observational studies.

Research Interests and Expertise

Ms. Grazziotin`s research interests heath policy and health economics, with particular interest in cost-effectiveness modelling in arthritis and cancer care.

Contact

luiza.grazziotinlago@ucalgary.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Ms. Han is a Manager, Pharmaceutical Reviews at CADTH, supporting the evidence-based, drug review process.

Education and Training

MSc, Health Services Research, University of Toronto

BSc, Health Studies, University of Waterloo

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests are in health technology assessment, with particular focus upon drug funding policy, application of real-world evidence, stakeholder engagement, and value/prioritization frameworks. 

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Harback is the Director of Economics at the Institute of Health Economics (IHE).

Education and Training

She received her PhD in Economics from the University of Delaware, where she was awarded the Ryden Prize, the University’s sole dissertation prize in the Social Sciences.

Research Interests and Expertise

She has over 15 years of experience working on and leading work in applied microeconomics. In addition to health economics, her work has focused on the fields of transportation, computable general equilibrium, and environmental economics. Her work at IHE includes managing economic research for Alberta Health, leading IHE’s portfolio of economic evaluation work on mental health interventions, as well as overseeing diverse projects for regional governments, non-profits, and universities. Leveraging previous experience in aviation and transportation economics, she is leading the efforts focused on transportation within the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) funded One Society Network. From 2018 to 2021 she served as the Chair of the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board (TRB) Aviation Economics and Forecasting Committee, and remains a member.

Current Position

Mark Hofmeister is a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Fiona Clement, and works as a research analyst with the Health Technology Assessment Unit.

Education and Training

Mr. Hofmeister completed a BN at the University of Lethbridge and a BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary. He practiced clinically as a registered nurse in oncology and internal medicine, before completing an MSc in Health Economics at the University of Calgary.

Research Interests

Mark Hofmeister’s research interests focus on the generation and use of economic evidence for health technology assessment and reassessment.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Professor, University of Calgary
Dr. Aidan Hollis is a Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary, and President and a Director of Incentives for Global Health.

Education and Training

He received a PhD in Economics from the University of Toronto.

Research Interests and Expertise

Research interests include industrial organization, particularly focused on competition and innovation issues in pharmaceutical markets. He is President and a Director of Incentives for Global Health, a non-profit whose chief objective is the promotion and development of the Health Impact Fund. Prof. Hollis has also published on electricity market restructuring, international aspects of competition policy, and the economics of a historical microcredit institution. For the academic year 2003-4 he was appointed TD MacDonald Chair of Industrial Economics at the Competition Bureau, Industry Canada. Key areas of interest are the Health Impact Fund, and rewards for pharmaceutical innovation; Pricing Antibiotics for Non-Human Use; and Generic drug pricing.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Nicolas Iragorri is a MSc student specializing in Health Economics in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

Mr. Iragorri completed a BA in Economics at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia. During his undergraduate studies, he worked as a research assistant in the Department of Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology, where he helped develop national clinical guidelines for the care and treatment of diabetes. He has focused on Health Economics ever since.

Research Interests and Expertise

Mr. Iragorri is currently focusing on screening and diagnostics from a health economics perspective. His ongoing thesis project focuses on rheumatic disease. He is interested in developing a project focused on vulnerable populations and the appropriate use of economic tools to help improve health and sanitary conditions.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Ademola is currently enrolled in the PhD programme in Health Services and Policy Research at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta. 

Education and Training 

Ademola holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree (with distinctions) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, coupled with a Master of Science Degree in Population and Public Health from The University of British Columbia, Canada, a Master of Public Health Degree from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, and a fellowship in Public Health Pharmacy from West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists.

Research interests and Expertise 

Ademola’s research interests include application of patient-reported outcome measures in improving quality of care, pharmaceutical and health policy evaluation and global health. 

Current Position and Professional Functions

Director of Clinical Operations AHS

Education and Training

He recieved his Doctorate degree in Addictive disorders from the Breining institute in the USA, his MSc. in Applied Psychology, Drug Use, & Addictions from Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and his RN (mental health) designation from the University of Chester, UK.

Research Interests and Expertise

Mr. Jackson's main areas of interest are in Ethics, Education

Current Position and Professional Functions

Director of Research Collaborations, Institute of Health Economics
Dr. Jacobs is a Professor of Health Economics in the faculty of Medicine at the University of Alberta, and the Institute of Health Economics’ Director of Research Collaborations.

Education and Training

He received a DPhil in Economics from the University of York, UK.

Research Interests and Expertise

His research interests encompass costing health care services, economic evaluation analysis and health care financing issues. Dr. Jacobs is responsible for the production of the IHE In Your Pocket series of health economic statistics booklets, and is currently working on economic studies in infectious diseases and mental health.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Professor of Health Economics
Egon Jonsson is a Professor of Health Economics; adjunct at the Universities of Alberta and Calgary.

He was the CEO of the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) here in Edmonton from 2005 to 2017. During his time with the IHE, this organization grew from 5 employees to 40 and the budget increased from less than 1 million to 6 Million. 

Education and Training

Dr. Jonsson trained in his native Sweden at the Stockholm School of Economics before serving as a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academy of Sciences, and former Editor of the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, Cambridge University Press.

Research Interests and Expertise

For 15 years Professor Jonsson was Executive Director and CEO of the Swedish Agency on Health Technology Assessment (SBU). He later worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish its Health Evidence Network, which is a service for the health ministries of WHO-member states, with a focus on evidence in the field of health policy and practice. Later he was a Health Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Health in Hanoi, Vietnam. His main fields of research are in health economics and health technology assessment.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Director of Health Technology Assessment and Innovation, Alberta Health Services
Don is the Director of Health Technology Assessment and Innovation at Alberta Health Services (AHS). He is an adjunct professor at the Universities of Alberta, Calgary and Victoria. Don also serves as treasurer on the Board of Directors of Health Technology Assessment International. He is co-investigator of the Genome Canada PACEOMICS project and AGE-WELL Canada’s technology and aging network.

Education and Training

He received his MHSA, and his PhD in Educational Policy Studies, Sociology of Education, from the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Research interests include healthcare evidence-based policy implementation, leading AHS to the forefront in the use of evidence to inform health care decisions and policy with a particular emphasis on innovating and transforming the Alberta health care system to achieve improved patient outcomes. He has over one hundred publications to his credit and speaks extensively on contemporary issues in health care transformation. He is a member of the Alberta Advisory Committee on Health Technologies that assists the government in the review of health technologies and services. Dr. Juzwishin was CEO of the Health Council of Canada reporting on the progress of health care reform in Canada. Before this, he was the Director of HTA at the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research where he led a team of researchers responding to HTA requests from government, health authorities and provider organizations. Don has extensive experience in leadership with health authorities as well as government, private sector, and universities.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Health Economist, Centre for Health Informatics, University of Calgary
Shahreen is working as a Health Economist at the Centre for Health Informatics, University of Calgary. She provides expert advice on various projects encompassing economic evaluation and health economics.

Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahreen-khair/

Education and Training

Shahreen completed a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Calgary, Canada. She received a Bachelor of Social Science in Economics from BRAC University, Bangladesh. She has more than 5 years of experience working in development organizations on issues encompassing health, climate change, governance and policy.

Research Interests and Expertise

Primary areas of interest include Health Economics, Climate Change, Governance and Policy and Energy Economics.

Contact

shahreen.khair@ucalgary.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Executive Director, Alberta Health
System Funding Officer, Continuing Care Division, Alberta Health at Government of Alberta

Education and Training

He received a BSc. in Mathematics and Economics, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dee-Jay is currently supporting the Continuing Care Division within Alberta Health to better meet the needs of Albertans through system transformation. Providing and using evidence to expand appropriate access to continuing care services, promote system efficiency and build provider partnerships are key objectives for Dee-Jay.  In prior government leadership roles, he has lead teams in economics, business intelligence management, researcher information support, and pharmaceutical analytics. Dee-Jay continues to demonstrate passion for bringing evidence to healthcare in Alberta.

Contact

dee-jay.king@gov.ab.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Health Economist
Erin Kirwin is a Sr Principal Economist at the Institute of Health Economics (IHE) in Alberta, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and International Development Studies from McGill University and a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Alberta. Prior to joining the IHE, Erin was the Manager of Advanced Analytics at Alberta Health. Erin is also a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester. 

Education and Training

PhD(c) University of Manchester; MA, Economics, University of Alberta; BA Hon., International Development & Economics, McGill University

Research Interests and Expertise

Ms. Kirwin’s research interests are in cost effectiveness analysis, mathematical modelling, and econometrics.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta
Dr. Scott Klarenbach is a nephrologist and Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta. He holds the Kidney Health Research Chair, is the Chair of the Alberta Expert Committee on Drug Evaluation and Therapeutics, is the University of Alberta Co-Chair for the Real World Evidence Consortium, and member of the Canadian Task Force on Preventative Health Care.

Education and Training

He received his medical training at the University of Alberta, and completed his MSc in Health Economics at the University of York, United Kingdom.

Research Interests and Expertise

His research interests include health outcomes and health economics research; he has conducted numerous economic evaluations and health technology assessments for both chronic and acute conditions.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Ramesh Lamsal is a Research Associate at the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary.

Education and Training

He received his MSc. in Health Studies and Gerontology (concertation in health economics).

Research Interests and Expertise

His research interests include pediatric economic evaluation, measurement of health outcomes and spillover effects. He has worked on the economic evaluation of interventions for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and mental health interventions. In addition, he has expertise in quantitative analysis.

Contact

ramesh.lamsal@ucalgary.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Assistant Professor, Academic Intensivist, Clinician-Researcher, and Health Economist in the Department of Critical Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta.

Education and Training

Dr. Lau has completed a Master’s degree in Health Research Methodology under Drs. Deborah Cook, Bram Rochwerg and Feng Xie in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact at McMaster University. His thesis was on the health economic evaluation of probiotics in the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia and other healthcare-associated infections (e.g. Clostridioides Difficile associated diarrhea) as a sub-study of the international, multi-centered PROSPECT (Probiotics: Prevention of Severe Pneumonia and Endotracheal Colonization Trial).

Dr. Lau is a member of GUIDE (Guidelines in Intensive Care Medicine, Development and Evaluation) and ACCADEMY (Academy of Critical Care: Development, Evaluation, and Methodology) groups at McMaster University.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Lau's areas of research interests are:

• Health systems outcomes research, clinical epidemiology and trials methodology (randomized control trials, observational studies)

• Health economic evaluation/technology assessment (trial-based and model-based economic evaluations: cost-effectiveness/cost-utility analyses)

• Patient-reported quality-of-life outcomes and health-utility

• Systematic reviews, meta-analysis, guideline development

• Medical informatics (utilization of large registry databases)

Current Position and Professional Functions

Thomas Lange is a Research Coordinator with the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education at the University of Calgary, and a collaborating researcher at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.

Education and Training

Mr. Lange has a BSc in Microbiology and Political Science from the University of British Columbia, and an MPP in Health and Social Policy from the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary.

Research Interests and Expertise

In his role as Research Coordinator Mr. Lange is part of an economic appraisal of pharmacogenetic interventions for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. Additional research areas include physician compensation reform and budgetary impact of public dental health care in Canada.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Research associate at University of Calgary

Education and Training

MSc. in Community Health Sciences specializing in Health Economics

Research Interests and Expertise

• Economic evaluation of primary preventive interventions on sport injuries in youth
• Cost-effectiveness and budget impact of biologic medications for rheumatoid arthritis patients
• Economic evaluation of secondary prevention of osteoarthritis

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Mo Yu Lanny Li is a general and colorectal surgeon with an academic appointment at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Education and Training

Dr. Li obtained her Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (MD,CM) degree from McGill University. She completed her general surgery residency training at the University of Alberta. She subsequently pursued colorectal surgery fellowship training at the University of Calgary and obtained her MSc in Health Economics from the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary.

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests include cost-effectiveness of surgical interventions. In particular, she is interested in health technology assessments and has studied robotic-assisted colorectal surgery implementation in the Canadian healthcare setting.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Siyuan Liu is currently a Ph.D. student in Health Services and Policy Research at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta.

Education and Training

Siyuan obtained a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Medicine and Health Management from the Renmin University of China.

Research Interests and Expertise

Siyuan is currently interested in the prevention of chronic diseases attributed to an unhealthy diet. She is planning to evaluate the health and economic impacts of taxes on foods with added and free sugars. She is good at health economic model building and policy evaluation. 

Contact

sliu6@ualberta.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Whitney is a Principal Consultant at Medlior Health Outcomes Research, where she leads the UK and Canadian HTA services.

Education and Training

As a Chancellor’s Scholar, Whitney obtained a BHSc (Hons.) from the Faculty of Medicine at University of Calgary. She went on to obtain an MSc (Merit) in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics & Political Science in the UK, where her dissertation focused on modelling infectious disease in economic evaluation.

Research Interests and Expertise

Whitney’s primary research interests are in the health technology assessment and economic evaluation. Whitney has worked in HTA and Market Access roles across the UK and Ireland, including as National Health Economics Lead for Daiichi Sankyo UK & Ireland, and as the HTA Team Leader for Pfizer UK’s Oncology portfolio. Prior to working in the pharmaceutical industry, Whitney worked as a Technical Lead in the Technology Appraisals team at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK. 

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr Lopatina is a postdoctoral fellow with IHE and NACTRC working on the evaluation of digital health technologies.

Education and Training

Elena is a physician by training, specialized in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, and holds a master’s degree in Business Management. She received her PhD in Health Economics from the University of Calgary in 2021, as well as her Masters of Science with a double-major in Innovative Project Management and Economic.

Research Interests and Expertise

Research interests include Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Health economics, and arthritis research.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calgary
Dr. Minshan Lu is a Professor in the Department of Economics at University of Calgary, an Adjunct Professor at Department of Community Health Sciences at Cumming School of Medicine and a faculty member of the O'Brien Institute of Public Health at University of Calgary. 

Education and Training

She received a PhD in economics from Boston University.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Lu has been the Lead of Health Economics at the Methods Hub, Alberta's Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) Support Unit, a Fellow at the Institute of Health Economics in Alberta, as well as a Member of Network of Alberta Health Economists (NOAHE).  She served as a member of the Science-Policy-Practice Network in Children’s Mental Health in Alberta, consultant for the World Bank, the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

She has been a Visiting Professor at University of Technology, Sydney, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), as well as Poverty Alleviation Lab at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in China.

Dr. Lu is a health economist with research program spanning the following topics: health care financing and fund allocation, economic evaluation in health care, health care disparities and vulnerable populations, economics of substance abuse and mental health, patient-centered care, Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) and integrative medicine.

Dr. Lu has published widely on a large range of lead economics, health economics, health services research, health policy, and medical journals. She has led an innovative book project funded by the Institute of Health Economics in Alberta. This commissioned volume reviewed theoretical rationales, empirical evidences, and international experiences to bring out lessons about impacts of various financing and payment models that are particularly of interest to health policy makers in Canada. Dr Lu’s level of research achievement is demonstrated by the various research awards and grants she has received.  In addition to two consecutive AHFMR Population Health Investigator awards, she has been successful in receiving various operating grants for her research from provincial, national, and international funding agencies.

Contact

lu@ucalgary.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Svare Professor in Health Economics, and
Kidney Specialists at the University of Calgary in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences
Dr. Braden Manns is the Svare Professor in Health Economics and a Kidney Specialists at the University of Calgary in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences. Dr. Manns supervises graduate students at all levels of training. He is the Associate Chief Medical Officer for the Alberta Health Services’ Strategic Clinical Networks, and co-principal investigator of the Canadians Seeking Solutions and Innovations to Overcome Chronic Kidney Disease (www.Cansolveckd.ca ), a national CIHR funded patient-oriented research network in chronic disease. He is also the co-lead of an Alberta Innovates funded inter-disciplinary team grant investigating chronic disease (www.ICDC.ca ) and holds a CIHR Foundation grant in health system funding. He has experience in pharmaceutical priority setting, having served on provincial and national committees for drug evaluation, including a term as Chair of Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee from 2006-2008. 008.

Education and Training

Dr Manns has a medical degree from the University of Toronto, and specialty training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology from the University of Calgary. He also has a Master’s in Health Economics from York University.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Manns has expertise in Applied Health Economics. His current research interests include examining the implications of patient-borne costs on care and outcomes in chronic disease, examining the cost effectiveness of strategies and health care policies for managing patients with chronic disease, and assessing the implications of different ways to pay physicians, among other projects.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary
Deborah is a health economist and health services researcher leading a programme of applied research using patient preferences, patient engagement and simulation modelling methods. Dr Marshall leads the health economics, socioeconomic benefits, patient preferences and patient engagement activities for several national and international research programmes (funded by CIHR and/or Genome Canada) in precision health and patient-oriented research to develop health economic tools and approaches to evaluate outcomes: 1) UCAN CAN-DU (Understanding Childhood Arthritis Network Canada-Netherlands) and 2) UCAN CURE (Precision Decisions for Childhood Arthritis personalized medicine networks in childhood arthritis combining genomic techniques, machine learning methods and simulation modelling to predict response to treatment and its associated health outcomes and economic impact; 3) SOLVE Care4Rare Canada - harnessing multi-omics to deliver innovative diagnostic care for rare genetic diseases; 4) TIGeR (Translational Implementation of Genomics for Rare diseases), partnership with Medical Genetics and Alberta Provincial Laboratory for the clinical application of genome wide sequencing; and 5) IMAGINE Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) Chronic Disease Network (Inflammation, Microbiome, and Alimentation: Gastro-Intestinal and Neuropsychiatric Effects, CIHR SPOR) on inflammatory bowel disease and the microbiome. She is a Founding Member of the Global Economics and Evaluation of Clinical Genomics Sequencing Working Group (GEECS).

Deborah is the Principal Applicant of the CIHR Health Systems Impact Fellowship National Training Program - "Enhancing a Community of Practice for the Health System Impact Fellowship Program: Advancing Capacity for Sustainable & Patient-Centered Learning Health Systems across Canada" to create a community of practice towards achieving high-performing, patient-centered learning health systems across Canada. In addition, she is the former chair of both the Arthur J.E. Child Chair of Rheumatology Outcomes Research; and Canada Research Chair, Health Services and Systems Research (2008 - 2018). Deborah also holds various memberships in University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services: 1) Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) Member as well as Scientific Director of Research and Partnership Evaluation and Impact; 2) O’Brien Institute of Public Health Member; 3) McCaig Institute of Bone and Joint Health Member; 4) Senior Scientist at Arthritis Research Canada.

Deborah is a founding co-investigator of the innovative Patient and Community Engagement Research (PaCER) programme at the University of Calgary which trains patients to design and conduct health research, using specific adapted methods of qualitative inquiry. She is an active member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) as the Past President of the Board of Directors, the Chair of the Dynamic Simulation Modeling Applications in Health Care Delivery Research Task Force and as a member of the Patient Preferences Special Interest Group, the Optimization Methods Task Force and co-author of related ISPOR Task Force Reports. She has also served as a member of the Board of Directors for Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) and is a member of the HTAi Patient Preferences Working Group. She was co-chair of the Scientific Research Committee and Board of Directors of the Arthritis Alliance of Canada (AAC), and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Alberta PROMs & EQ-5D Research & Support Unit (APERSU).

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Marshall has experience in technology assessment agencies, academia and pharmaceutical and diagnostics industry research settings in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Dr Marshall focuses her research program on methods to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of health care services in the context of precision medicine and patient-centeredness. Her research assesses the value of health care interventions through measurement of patient preferences, cost-effectiveness analysis, and simulation modeling of health care.

She was the Project Lead for a US National Institutes of Health Program Grant on Translational and Policy Research in Personalized Medicine, which develops evidence to assess how precision medicine can improve health outcomes. She is a founding co-investigator of the innovative Patient and Community Engagement Research (PaCER) Program at the University of Calgary which trains patients to design and conduct health research, using specific adapted methods of qualitative inquiry. Dr. Marshall is the co-lead of the Economics platform for UCAN CANDU – Canada-Netherlands Personalized Medicine Network in Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatic Disease funded by the CIHR Personalized Medicine in Inflammation Network. Dr. Marshall is also the co-lead of the Patient Engagement theme for IMAGINE (Inflammation, Microbiome, and Alimentation: Gastro-Intestinal and Neuropsychiatric Effects) – a CIHR Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) Chronic Disease Network.

Dr. Marshall is an active member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) as the Past President of the Board of Directors, the Chair of the Dynamic Simulation Modeling Applications in Health Care Delivery Research Task Force and as a member of the Patient Preferences Special Interest Group, the Optimization Methods Task Force and co-author of related ISPOR Task Force Reports.   She has also served as a member of the Board of Directors for Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi). She is past co-chair of the Scientific Research Committee and Board of Directors of the Arthritis Alliance of Canada (AAC), and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Alberta PROMs & EQ-5D Research & Support Unit (APERSU).  

Current Position and Professional Functions

Michelle Marusiak is currently pursuing a MSc (the) in Health Policy Research and is a full-time student at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta.

Education and Training

She received her BSc Dental Hygiene Specialization from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Dental Hygiene Department at the University of Alberta and an Addiction Studies Certificate from the University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension. She provides bedside oral health care services to nursing homes residents in over 35 nursing homes in Edmonton and surrounding area.

Research Interests and Expertise

Research Interest: Cost-effectiveness and value of reducing aspiration pneumonia rates by implementing a bedside oral health care system for Nursing Home residents in Alberta. Health economics and health policy, health technology assessment, oral health systems, sustainability, health gains, and oral health care; impact and outcomes, QALY, and oral health-related quality of life in older adults. Then pursue a PhD.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Darren is a physiotherapist and is also undertaking a PhD in Health Economics under the supervision of Dr. Deborah Marshall at the University of Calgary.

Research Interests and Expertise

Darren wants to investigate the socioeconomic impacts of osteoarthritis management with the goal of improving patients’ access to evidence-based services. Darren’s thesis is centered around the cost-effectiveness analysis and budget impact assessment of the Good Life with Osteoarthritis Denmark (GLA:D) program that is being offered at community rehabilitation clinics in Alberta. GLA:D is an eight-week standardized education and exercise program internationally recognized as an evidence-based clinical pathway and early intervention to manage osteoarthritis.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Associate Professor, Departments of Family Medicine and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary
Dr. Kerry McBrien is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

She completed an Alberta Innovates Clinical Research Fellowship in Health Economics with the Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration. She received her MPH from Harvard University School of Public Health. She is an MD, with a residency in Family Medicine from the University of Toronto.

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests include health economics and health services research, with a focus on chronic disease management in primary care.

Current Position and Professional Functions

PhD Student, School of Public Health, University of Alberta

Nathan McClure is currently pursuing a PhD at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta.

Education and Training

Mr. McClure earned an MPH in Applied Biostatistics at the University of Alberta, an MSc in Mathematical Biology at Queen’s University, and a BSc (with Distinction) in Biology at the University of British Columbia. Mr. McClure has developed foundational knowledge in public health through advanced courses in health-related quality of life, epidemiology, health technology assessment, and health economics. Mr. McClure has also worked for Alberta Health Services, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the World Health Organization, through which he has gained valuable practical experience in health services.

Research Interests and Expertise

Mr. McClure’s research interests include health economics and outcomes research with particular interests in the measurement of health utility and the calculation of quality-adjusted life years.

Contact

nmcclure@ualberta.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions:

Dr. Christine Michaels-Igbokwe is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Calgary in the Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences.

Education and Training:

Dr. Michaels-Igbokwe completed her BA in Development Studies at the University of Calgary. She moved on to do a Masters in Development Economics at Dalhousie University and completed her PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Research Interests and Expertise:

Dr. Michaels-Igbokwe’s research interests include economic evaluation and stated preferences for health care services and policy interventions. She has previously worked in topic areas including sexual health and HIV services, prevention of violence against women and childhood immunization. Currently, her work focuses on children’s health and diagnostics for children with rare genetic disorders.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Afshin recently graduated from the University of Pavia in Italy with a Master's degree in Economics, Finance, and International Integration.

Education and Training

Afshin obtained his B.A. in Industrial Economics from Shahid Beheshti University and his first Master's degree in Finance and Banking from Kharazmi University both in Iran. He has 3 years of experience working as an Economic Researcher.

Research Interests and Expertise

Afshin is currently interested in health economic modeling with a focus on the pharmaceutical industry, pricing patterns, and policy evaluation in this area as he researched in his Master's thesis and working paper in Italy.

Contact:

afshin.moayedizadeh01@universitadipavia.it

Current Position and Professional Functions

Ms. Moeeni is an assistant professor in the Economics Department at the University of Regina.

Education and Training

She is a PhD Candidate in Economics at the University of Calgary, and has a MSc. in Economics from Sharif University of Technology in Iran.

Research Interests and Expertise

Areas of interest include applied microeconomics, studying labor markets and economics of the family. Particular interests include intra-household decisions, and the cost of economic sanctions on human development (health and investment in children's education).

Contact

safoura.moeeni@gmail.com

Current Position: Currently in the home stretch of my MD at the University fo Alberta, planning to specialize in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

Education: Bachelor of Commerce, specifically Operations Management (UofA); Master of Public Health specializing in Global Health at the UofA with practicum in Nairobi, Kenya; American-board Certificate in Public Health (Washington, D.C.); MD class of 2021 (UofA)

Research Interests and Expertise: My interests lie particularly within the realm of low- and middle-income countries. In particular, the economics of health innovation and repurposing existing technologies for use in low resource settings. Prior to medical school, I worked as a project manager for health development ventures throughout East Africa, focusing on areas of conflict, urban slums, and other informal economies.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Carmel Montgomery is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta.

Education and Training

Carmel completed her PhD in the Department of Critical Medicine at the University of Alberta, followed by a fellowship with NOAHE. She previously received her BSN at the University of Saskatchewan and MN at the University of Alberta. She is a registered nurse with clinical experience across a broad spectrum of patient care areas, from intensive care units to palliative home care, in addition to project management in quality and patient safety.

Research Interest and Expertise

Carmel’s research focus is evaluating clinical and cost outcomes for patients with frailty and critical illness. Currently she is working on the development and evaluation of care pathways targeting frailty across the care continuum.

Current position and professional functions:

Lead – Health Economic Evaluation, Alberta Health Services Corporate Finance

Mr. Mullie is a health economist providing guidance and economic analysis and modelling for a broad array of programs inside the healthcare system.

Education and Training:

He received his Masters of Arts in Economics, from McMaster University.

Research Interests and Expertise:

Research interests include Health Economics, resource allocation, and evidence-based decision making.

Contact

thomas.mullie@ahs.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Aidan is a PhD student at UofA's School of Public Health in the Health Services and Policy Research Program under the co-supervision of Dr. Arto Ohinmaa and Dr. Mike Paulden.

Education and Training

He received his Honours BA from University of Toronto, Trinity College and his Master of Public Administration from University of Victoria.

He's also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA-CMA) and a Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR).

Research Interests and Expertise

As a senior resource manager and funding decision-maker in the federal government, Aidan's interests are in health technology assessment and economic analysis of budget allocation.  He aims through his research to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action to close gaps in health outcomes, value Aboriginal healing practises, and engage in Aboriginal health issues. His research proposal involves culturally specific adaptations to preference-based health quality of life measures which define health states for First Nations communities.  

Current Position and Professional Functions

Research Scientist, Alberta Health Services
Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, University of Alberta
Dr. Nguyen is a Health Economist specializing in health economics, evaluation in public health, biostatistics and epidemiology.

Education and Training

He received training as a medical doctor at Hanoi Medical University in Vietnam and holds both a Master's and PhD in public health from the Umeå International School of Public Health in Sweden.

Research Interests and Expertise

Thanh is an expert in economic evaluation of health service, technology, program, and policy. He has experienced teaching health economic evaluation for MPH, PhD, and MD students and working as a consultant for the World Health Organization, World Bank, and the Ministry of Health among other organizations. He has published many journal articles and co-authored several book chapters.

Contact

tnguyen@ualberta.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Jasmine (Brown) Noble is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta in the Departments of Computing Science and Psychiatry. 

Education and Training

She received her Masters of Public Policy from the University of Calgary. She is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Jasmine’s primary research interest is in mental health and addictions. Prior to joining the IHE, she served as Principal Secretary and Policy Advisor to the late Honourable James M. Flaherty, former Federal Finance Minister, and advised him in his creation of two federal budgets. Her portfolio items included such files as natural resources, environment, industry, sales tax, tariffs, international trade and finance, and regional development. She also acted as Special Assistant to the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.

Contact

jbrown@ihe.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

2019 NOAHE Health Economics Scholar (Fellowship) Award and a Postdoctoral Fellow in Health Economics in the Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary.

Education and Training

She received a PhD in Health Services Research specializing in Health Policy and Health Economics from the University of York, UK.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Ogundeji’s research interests include the impact of value based provider payment models on quality and costs of health care. She is also interested in economic evaluation of health services, technologies, programs and policies.

Current position and professional functions 

Dr Ogundipe is a writer and researcher in health and economics related subjects.

Education and training   

Dr. Oluwatomisin received her PhD in Economics from Covenant University, Ota, and her MA in Economics from Virgina State University, USA. She has made significant educational contributions including teaching graduate courses, supervising undergraduate students, teaching and serving on the Post graduate board in the Department of Economics and Development Studies, Covenant University. 

Research interests and expertise 

Her research interest includes health interventions, such as nutrition, vaccines and development assistance for health. It extends to cover the economic evaluation of health care interventions and how these interventions can be easily accessed by the most vulnerable in the society. She has previously worked in topic areas including women’s health, substance abuse among adolescents, children’s health and childhood immunization.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Associate Professor, School of Public Health, U of A
Dr. Arto Ohinmaa is a Professor and Program Director of the Health Policy and Management program at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta, and a Research Associate at the Institute of Health Economics.

Education and Training

He received his MSc. in Economics and his PhD in Economics from the University of Oulu in Finland.

Research Interests and Expertise

His research interests include health economic analysis, health-related quality of life and PROMs measurements, assessment of telemedicine, health technology assessment, distribution of health and health care costs in the population, health care performance measurements, and economic models of preventive programs.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Oyekola Oloyede is a Consultant Physician and Clinical Epidemiologist at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, South Africa. Dr. Oyekola supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate students at different levels of training. 

Education and Training

Dr. Oloyede is a Fellow College of Physicians of South Africa and holds a Ph.D. from Walden University in Minneapolis, USA. Also, he did a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Health Economics at the University of South Wales, UK.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Oloyede is interested in health economics and evidence-based health policy. His doctoral dissertation examined a genetic disorder - sickle cell hemoglobin in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, he has previously worked on topics such as diabetes mellitus complications and vulnerable populations.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Pandey is a health economist at the Institute of Health Economics, specializing in applied microeconomics with focus on environmental, health and policy issues.

Education and Training

Himani Pandey received her PhD in Economics from University of Alberta in 2021; Previous: M.Sc. Economics with specialization in Environment and Resources, TERI University, Delhi, India; B.A. (Hons) Economics, University of Delhi (Sri Ram College of Commerce), India

Research Consultant – Ministry of Science and Technology, India – conducted economic impact evaluations of scientific technologies; Research Associate – TERI (The Energy and Resource Institute) and SANDEE (South Asian Network for Development and Environment) – Developing economic compensation models for biodiversity conservation in coffee plantations of Southern India

Research Interests and Expertise

Interested to pursue research in environment, resources and health related aspects of Economics. I believe that these areas share the common techniques of assessing implicit valuation as also other concepts of microeconomics which hold a particular importance to my research interests.

Skilled with the techniques of Advanced Econometrics and working with ‘big-data’, I am working in my thesis to make use of micro-level data for assessing the localized impacts of mining on individuals in India through various channels such as education, health and labor market movements.

I have also recently completed a report outlining and evaluating the linkages between the supply and demand side models of estimating the cost-effectiveness thresholds which was prepared for and presented to PMPRB, Canada.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, University of Alberta

Education and Training

He received a BA in Economics at the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Health Economics at the University of York, and a PhD from the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Mike Paulden, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta. His research interests are in health technology assessment, with a particular focus upon the integration of social values into the methods used for the economic evaluations of health care technologies.

Contact

paulden@ualberta.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Analyst, Alberta Health Services
Shainur Premji is currently a Senior Analyst within the Research and Innovation department, Population, Public and Indigenous Health portfolio of Alberta Health Services.

Education and Training

Shainur completed a joint Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Economics Honours, and a Master of Science degree in Health Research Methods at the University of Calgary

Research Interests and Expertise

Shainur provides health economics support to various projects that have a population and public health lens. Currently, Shainur is completing a cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis of postpartum depression screening versus not screening in Alberta, examining the cost per additional case diagnosed and cost per quality-adjusted life year using data inputs from the All Our Babies Cohort and administrative data. This research will be used to inform a standardized population and public health strategy to screen for postpartum depression across Alberta.

In addition to her health economics contributions, Shainur has an extensive background in qualitative and quantitative health research methods and program evaluation, with more than ten years of applied experience. Previously, she has traveled to the Philippines to develop a framework to evaluate the organizational and policy impacts of a local electronic health information system developed and implemented at the grassroots level.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Mohammad Pulok is a senior analyst in health economics with Alberta Health Services. He conducts economic evaluation of public health policies in Alberta.

Education and Training

Mohammad obtained his PhD in Health Economics from the University of Technology Sydney. He completed an MSc. in Health Economics and Policy from Barcelona School of Economics on top of his MSc. in Economics from Stockholm University. He has recently completed postdoctoral training in health services research from Dalhousie University.

Research Interests and Expertise

Mohammad has research interests in inequity in health and healthcare, evaluation of public health policy, health economics of frailty, and development economics. He has expertise in quantitative methods to measure and explain socioeconomic inequality in health and healthcare. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles to date and his publications have appeared in the leading field and interdisciplinary journals including the European Journal of Health Economics, Social Science & Medicine, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Health & Place, Age & Ageing, Health Policy, etc.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Adult Neurology Resident Doctor, University of Alberta; Health Policy Masters Student, Stanford University; Board Director, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada

Education and Training

H.BHSc, University of Calgary 2014; MD, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, 2018; Neurology Post-graduate Training, University of Alberta, 2024; Masters, Stanford University, 2023

Research Interests and Expertise

Improving access to neurological care through decision analysis and implementation science methodology; Health system payment models; Rural and Remote health systems and care access

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Quinn is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Health Economics in the Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary.

Education and Training

Dr. Quinn received a PhD in Social Policy, specializing in health policy and health services research, from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She received a BA in Community Health from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Quinn’s research focuses on the design and impact of different provider payment, delivery, and management approaches in health care. She has also been involved in policy efforts to improve the uptake of screening and brief intervention for risky alcohol use in primary care and training efforts to advance the integration of behavioral health and medical care. Dr. Quinn has expertise in mixed methods approaches.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Manager, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, AmerisourceBergen Innomar Strategies

Hena is a health economist who graduated from the University of Calgary with an MSc in Health Economics funded by the SVARE Chair in Health Economics. She also holds a BSc in Biological Sciences and a BA in Economics . She is currently working at Innomar Strategies on the health economics and outcomes research consulting team. Her role is to help improve patient access to medications, and is involved in pharmaceutical drug submissions for CADTH, pCODR, and private payers.

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests are in pharmacoeconomic evaluations, budget impact analysis, and public and private reimbursement for pharmaceutical drugs. Ms. Qureshi is also passionate about public health work, and using evidence based research to inform and improve public health decision-making through a systematic and objective approach. She is actively using her knowledge-translational skills by partaking in healthcare activities/initiatives to actively engage with the intergenerational public.

Contact

hqureshi@innomar-strategies.com

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Principal Economist with the Institute of Health Economics. CIHR Health System Impact Postdoctoral Fellow with University of Alberta and Alberta Health.

Education and Training

Ellen Rafferty holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences from the University of Calgary and a Masters of Public Health and PhD from the University of Saskatchewan. Her PhD thesis was titled "Economic evaluations of vaccines in Canada: Exploring the epidemiologic and economic impact of chickenpox vaccine strategies in Canada using an agent-based model".

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Rafferty’s research examines the epidemiologic and economic impact of public health policies, such as estimating the cost-effectiveness of immunization programs. She is interested in the incorporation of economics into immunization decision-making, and to that aim has worked with provincial and national organizations, including Alberta Health and the National Advisory Committee on Immunizations.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Ms. Rahmanzadeh is currently pursuing a Master of Science in General Public Health at the University of Alberta. 

Education and Training

Ms. Rahmanzadeh completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, and her Master of Science in Nursing at Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Services. She has 6 years of experience as a claim examiner in a health insurance company. She has valuable experience in the economics of healthcare and health-care related settings.

Research Interests and Expertise

Ms. Rahmanzadeh's research interest is introducing cost-effective medical treatments and packages of care for occupational and vulnerable social groups.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Razavilar is a Health Economist & Data Analyst at the Institute of Health Economics.

Education and Training

Dr. Razavilar received an MA in Economics from York University in Toronto, and a PhD in Economics from the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Health Economics, Applied Microeconomics, Applied Econometrics

Contact

nrazavilar@ihe.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Economist with Planning and Performance - Alberta Health Services

Education and Training

Jerry Ren holds a PhD from Dalhousie University.

Research Interests and Expertise

System dynamics modelling, simulation modelling, health system performance, healthcare demand forecast and capacity planning, health analytics business intelligence, econometrics, pharmaceutical and health system policy.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Health Economics MSc Student, University of Calgary

Elissa Rennert-May is currently pursuing a MSc in Community Health Sciences, specializing in Health Economics, at the University of Calgary. She is also an Infectious Diseases Physician with the University of Calgary Department of Medicine.

Education and Training

Dr. Rennert-May completed her medical degree at the University of Toronto and did her specialty training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Rennert-May is interested in health economics and health policy with a particular focus on the cost-effectiveness of different Infection Prevention and Control and Antimicrobial Stewardship interventions and programs.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Heath is presently a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, enrolled in the Health Policy and Research stream investigating Social Prescribing in Alberta. He previously managed a Primary Care Network in Alberta and the NWTs from 2016-2020, and prior to that Heath was a Health Services Operations officer both domestically and abroad, to include Afghanistan.

Education and Training

Heath received his Master’s in Healthcare Administration from UBC, and has a post-graduate certificate in Health Services Management from Ryerson University along with being a Certified Healthcare Executive and member of the Canadian College of Health Leaders. He received undergraduate honours degrees in both Business Administration and Economics from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.

Research Interests and Expertise

Health Policy and Health Economics, Primary Care Modeling, Quality Improvement in Healthcare.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Patrick Rosser is a writer, researcher and contract policy analyst.

Education and Training

Mr. Rosser holds a Masters in Public Policy focused on Healthcare and Social Policy and an Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with a biological sciences minor.

Research Interests and Expertise

Patrick’s research interests and expertise are in healthcare efficiency, resource allocation, seniors’ healthcare issues, pharmacare and social policy; explicitly, addiction, food safety and other health related social policies.  Specific focus is given to the behavioral aspects of decision making and how tax relief and subsidies affect healthcare decisions on individual and systemic bases.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr Round is currently Chief Scientific Officer at the Institute of Health Economics and Professor of Health Economics at the University of Alberta..

Education and Training

He obtained his Ph.D. in Health Economics from the University College London, University of London, and also holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Economics from the University of Manchester.

Research Interests and Expertise

Jeff specializes in decision analytic modelling and HTA, and his research encompasses both applied and methodological topics in health economics and economic evaluation. Recent applied research projects include evaluations of interventions in palliative and end of life care, elder care and dementia, interventions for the treatment of depression, and polypharmacy and medicines management. He has published work across these areas in leading clinical, health economics, and health services and policy journals. A recent paper on the societal costs of providing care at the end of life was recognized as the Research Paper of the Year for 2015 in the journal Palliative Medicine. In 2016, he published an edited book, Care at the End of Life: An Economic Perspective. His primary methodological interest is the assessment of the equitable distribution of health gains within economic evaluations and statistical methods for the estimation of health state utilities.

Current position and professional functions

Director, Clinical Analytics at Alberta Health Services, Alberta Health Services
Dr. Ryan is Director, Clinical Analytics in Analytics (DIMR) at Alberta Health Services. His team helps AHS’s Strategic Clinical Networks access and interpret healthcare data with a view to improving clinical and organizational performance. Dr. Ryan joined AHS in 2012 since that time has also held positions in Priorities and Performance and in the Finance group.

Education and Training

He received his PhD from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and has a background teaching business, in university administration, information technology and finance.

Research Interests and Expertise

Research interests include healthcare research, evidence-based decision making, and statistical and economic modelling.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Sabrina is currently a full time MSc student in Health Policy Research, School of Public Health, University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Jeff Johnson.

Education and Training

Born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sabrina is a physician by training. She received a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from University of Dhaka in 2015, and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the North South University in 2019. In between, Sabrina started her career as a public health professional in the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). Upon joining the Tuberculosis team and working in close collaboration with National Tuberculosis Program (NTP), Bangladesh in the policy advocacy stream, she discovered her passion for evidence based policy research.

Research Interests and Expertise

Sabrina’s research interests include health economics and health outcomes with particular interest in policy translation

Contact

ssaba@ualberta.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Internal Medicine Specialist
Dr. Khal Salem is an Internal Medicine Specialist (private practice in Edmonton, Alberta). He served as the Welland hospital site chief of Internal Medicine and medical director of Cardiac Rehabilitation in the Niagara Health System, Ontario, Canada, and had held a position of Chair of Cardiac rehabilitation and heart failure oversees in the Arabian Gulf area.

Education and Training

He had his Internal Medicine training in the United states, and Cardiology/Echocardiography training at McMaster university. He has obtained both the FRCPC and ABIM designation, and holds a Master degree in Health Administration credentialing from the University of Regina, SK, and is currently enrolled in a Master of Health Economics (Cardiovascular diseases) at the world renowned London School of Economics (LSE).

Research Interests and Expertise

His research interest is in the field of Cost-effectiveness and Cost-Utility Economic evaluation methods.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Behnam Sharif is a Research Scientist and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Community Health Sciences Department, Cumming School of Medicine at University of Calgary.

Education and Training

Dr. Sharif completed his PhD at School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia in 2014 and worked as a research fellow at Statistics Canada-Health Analysis Division, and Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Sharif’s areas of interest are at the interface of Health Services Research and Computer Simulation Modelling. He is broadly interested in development of data-driven computational tools to aid in health-policy decision making for chronic diseases.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Currently, Umer is working in financial and contractual compliance for an engineering firm. With over 15 years of experience in accounting and finance he felt like it was time to start a new journey 

Education and Training

Umer is in pursuit of an MSc in Health Economics & Health Policy from Brunel University London, UK, having begun the masters program late 2022 and graduating in 2024.

Research Interests and Expertise

Umer hopes to develop expertise in economic analysis and evaluations to ensure effective allocation of resources and policy development in pursuit of an exciting and rewarding career as a health economist.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Program Director, Improving Health Outcomes Together, Alberta Health Services

Education and Training

Mr. Sidra has worked in the health system for many years starting his career in Environmental Public Health. He earned a Master’s in Business Administration at the University of Alberta, and is currently pursuing a PhD at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta. He is passionate about health system improvement including economic and health outcomes improvement. In his current role as Senior Program Director, Improving Health Outcomes Together, he works with various areas across Alberta Health Services to help improve clinical appropriateness and health outcomes. Michael is also a sessional lecturer in Public Health at Concordia University of Edmonton.

Research Interests and Expertise

Mr. Sidra’s research interests include health economics and health outcomes with particular interest in quality and health system improvement.

Contact

Michael.Sidra@ahs.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Amandeep is currently a graduate student at the University of Lethbridge specializing in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Education and Training

Amandeep completed a Bachelor's in Indian System of Medicine from Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, India and an MBA in Hospital Management from Panjab University, India. He has experience working with multi-specialty hospitals as a coordinator and as a research cum monitoring officer with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India under the Maternal and Child Health project at state and national level. He also completed a Master degree with a focus on Digital Health from Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia. He did a fellowship on Health Technology Assessment from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, India. He also acquired statistica skills through a certificate in Medical Statistics from Stanford University. 

Research Interests and Expertise

Amandeep's prior work focused on monitoring of health services delivery including vaccination at grass root level. His research interests include Health services research, Impact of digital health innovations on maternal and child health service delivery, Economic impact of Substance abuse on the family's financial stability. His expertise includes Patient / client Interviewing skills, data collection and analysis, report writing. 

Contact

amandeepsingh.null2@uleth.ca 

Current Position and Professional Functions

Health Economist, Kidney Health Research Group, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta.

Education and Training

Dr. So holds a PhD in Health Services Research (Health Economics) and a MA in Economics from the University of Calgary.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. So’s research focuses on economic evaluation of interventions and drugs, and costing studies using administrative data.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Executive Director, Clinical Workforce Planning - Health Professions Strategy and Practice, Alberta Health Services
Dr. So is the executive director for Clinical Workforce Planning - Health Professions Strategy and Practice, Alberta Health Services

Education and Training

He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Calgary, and Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbia.

Research Interests and Expertise

His research interests include statistical modelling and forecasting for health human resources, microeconometrics pertinent to healthcare policy, health outcomes, and health economics research.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary
Dr. Spackman is an assistant professor, in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

Eldon holds a BA and MA in Economics from the University of Calgary and a PhD from the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program at the University of Washington. He joins the University of Calgary from the Centre of Health Economics at the University of York in the UK.

Research Interests and Expertise

Eldon is a health economist with an interest in methods for sustainable health care. He is particularly interested in assessing the value and opportunity costs of health care technologies and interventions. His recent research is about how to take into account evidence uncertainty in decision making and understanding the health lost when diverting funding to new health investments.

Contact

eldon.spackman@ucalgary.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Policy Director  – Institute of Health Economics.  John provides leadership for many of the IHE’s policy engagement programs and provides policy advice and consultation to government and health system partners on a number of provincial and national initiatives related to health policy and health services organization and design.

Education and Training

He received his BA in English/History, and his MPM (Masters of Public Management) from the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

International health policy, stakeholder and community engagement in policy development, health system design, and strategic planning for health systems.

Contact

jsproule@ihe.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Duncan heads Alberta Health Services’ Organizational Ethics office. His role includes supporting the Executive Leadership Team in resource allocation and leading policy-level decision-making.

Education and Training

He received his MA in Applied Ethics from Utrecht University (focus on Public Health Ethics) and his Master of Health Administration from the University of British Columbia (Capstone: Physician governance structures and change management).

Research Interests and Expertise

Duncan’s interests and expertise include decision sciences, values-based decision-making, resource allocation/priority setting/assessment in healthcare, the intersection of health ethics and economics in value prioritization frameworks.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Sumner is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary, Director of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute at the Foothills Medical Centre, and co-chair of the Arrhythmia Working Group Strategic Clinical Network.

Education and Training

• MSc. (2018) in Health Economics, Management, and Cardiovascular Outcomes at the London School of Economics
• M.D.: Queen’s University at Kingston
• Internal Medicine: Dartmouth College (USA)
• Cardiology, Echocardiography, Electrophysiology: McMaster University
• Health Economics, Management, and Cardiovascular Outcomes: London School of Economics and Political Science (London, UK)

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Sumner's research interests and expertise are cardiac device implant technology and innovation, as well as health care financing: physician and hospital payment models.

Current Position and Professional Functions

John Taplin is an MSc student at the University of Calgary under the supervision of Dr. Fiona Clement and works as a research analyst with the Health Technology Assessment Unit. John is an advanced care paramedic with Alberta Health Services in Calgary. He is the recipient of the 2017 EMS Research Education Development Studentship bursary through the EMS Foundation.

Education and Training

John completed his BA in Economics at the University of Calgary. He has previously worked in EMS management for Siksika Nation and as a Policy Analyst with Alberta Health.

Research Interests and Expertise

John’s research interests include addressing health inequities, collaboration to improve Indigenous health outcomes, and economic evaluations of Emergency Medical Services. John brings a front-line perspective and is passionate about evidence-informed health policy development. 

Contact

jgtaplin@ucalgary.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Andrews is a current Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta working under Dr. Linda Woodhouse. He is a physiotherapist trained in Ghana and a student member of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association.

Education and Training

Andrews completed his physiotherapy degree in Ghana (2010) and completed a master’s degree in Health and Rehabilitation at the University of Southampton (2016) in the UK. Andrews has undertaken courses in HTA from the School of Public Health (University of Alberta) and an internship program with the Alberta PROMs and EQ-5D Research and Support Unit (APERSU). With support from supervisors, mentors and colleagues, Andrews has undertaken research into the discriminative validity of the EQ-5D-5L and SF-12 in people with arthritis and conducted a mini HTA on the use of ReWalk (TM) within the province.

Research Interests and Expertise

Andrews’s doctoral study focuses on developing a Competency Framework for Advanced Physiotherapy Practice. He has interests in Health Care Economics, Health Technology Assessment, Global Health and Health Policy Development. He is passionate about strengthening health systems, especially in developing countries, through HTA and Health economics.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Economist (Health), Alberta Health
Ms. Timson is a Senior Economist, Health Economics and Funding Branch, Health Standards, Quality and Performance Division with Alberta Health. In this role, she specialises in the analysis of health expenditure and utilization over time and across jurisdictions, and provides information and evidence to support senior level decision making and programs and policies within the ministry.

Education and Training

She received a Bachelor of Economics and a Diploma in Business Administration from Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus and University of Jos, Nigeria respectively. In addition, she has Masters of Arts in Economics from Carleton University, Canada.

Research Interests and Expertise

Ms. Timson’s research interests include the drivers of health system costs, health care financing and economic incentives, and application of behavioral economics to health care. She also has an expertise in ensuring relatively complex information is presented in a simple and digestible way.

Current Position 

Retired after a career spanning the years 1961 to 2021. Currently a community board member for a Primary Care Network and member of the Audit Committee. These are non-compensated positions; however, there are opportunities for Institute of Corporate Directors training and networking with physicians and other health professionals.  I also maintain my membership in the Economics Society of Northern Alberta and try to participate in webinars provided by the Macdonald - Laurier Institute, the Economist, and other organizations. I maintain a strong interest in the delivery of health services and health economics.

Education and Training

Received a Master of Health Services Administration and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Economics, both from the University of Alberta and a Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology from the University of Alberta Hospital. This was supplemented with many management courses and other courses such as International Law and Introductory Physiology, both from Duke University and Public Sector Finance, University of Alberta.

Research Interests

Pursued research on hospital operating costs and physician compensation and later as an associate with a consulting firm focused on research projects related to crown corporations and public utilities.   With the mounting concern about patient safety and quality of care, the last few years of my career in health care were spent leading the accreditation initiative in a congregate living facility and managing clinical programs in a primary care network.

Current Position and Professional Functions

NHS England Director of Service Development-Population health analytics,  Integrated Service Development, Clinical Stewardship for Value,  Governance and Outcome based Contracting

Education and Training

2009 Advanced Value Management Certification (AMS) 2009 Diploma in Business Consulting (AMS) 2000 MBA Health Economics Research and Management (Keele) (MBA) 1998 Postgraduate Diploma in Economic Research Keele (Distinction) 1989 IPFA Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accounting (Liverpool JM) (Qualified member and examiner) 1985 BSc (hons) in Economics and Economics Policy (Loughborough) Credentials and Professional Membership by peer review 2013 Fellow Chartered Management Institute (CMI) 2013 CMI- Chartered Manager 2011 Institute of Value Management 2009 Institute of Consulting 2008 Fellow -Institute of Leadership and Management, City and Guilds

Research Interests and Expertise

Publications Canadian Health Service Research Foundation, Expert Panel (clinical management systems) member 2012. Management on demand-journal of care service management JCSM vol 2 issue 3 2007 Why do we need a culture for Innovation- BJHCM December 2008, HFMA Telehealth- knowledge exchange 2012, “practice makes perfect” ; Pulse- practice based commissioning 2008. Public Private Partnerships Healthcare Management Forum, for the Canadian Health Management Association 2021.           

National Speaking  DoH – learning from FT’s; training for FT’s; HSJ: working with foundation trusts; primary care report: working with foundation trusts; HFMA: managing risk, HFMA ICS development -value; National Actuaries conference: modeling and forecasting; Kings Fund national summit on funding NHS ; Kings Fund Annual conference: Clinical engagement; Nuffield Health Policy Summit: financial challenges. US-UK knowledge sharing integrated care roundtable [sponsored by Dept of Business ] 2021.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Mr. Tran is Senior Principal Economist at the Institute of Health Economics, and a Pharmacist by training.

Education and Training

PhD in Health Services and Policy Research at the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Main research interests and expertise are HIV/AIDS, monitoring and evaluation, health system strengthening, health information management system, cardiac health, health outcomes and health services research, and health economic evaluations.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Third year PhD student in Pediatric Department at the University of Alberta and a medical doctor by training.

Education and Training

She received her Master in Epidemiology from University of Alberta and Master in Biomedical Engineering from Nanyang Technology University, Singapore. 

Research Interests and Expertise

Health services research, Maternal and child health outcomes, health economics,  health economic evaluations, health information management system and infectious disease surveillance system.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Ueyama is the Associate Director of Economics at the Institute of Health Economics.

Education and Training

Doctor of Philosophy, Policy Analysis and Management 2009
Cornell University, New York, USA
Major Field: Health Economics
Minor Fields: Education Economics, Family Economics
(Transferred from Columbia University, New York, USA; Ph.D. program in Economics and Education)

Master of Science, Policy Analysis and Management 2007
Cornell University, New York, USA
Master of Public Administration 2004
Cornell University, New York, USA

Bachelor of Arts, Economics 2000
Keio University, Tokyo, Japan

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Ueyama's key area of interest is the empirical health economic analysis on the non-medical and medical determinants of health, including studies on health insurance, health systems, and health policy (non-medical) and health services evaluation (medical). Additional interests include healthcare access and health disparities in low and middle income countries as well as economics of health among vulnerable populations such as elderly and children.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Modeller in the Analytics and Performance Reporting Branch at Alberta Health.

Education and Training

Marie (Betsy) Varughese has a PhD in Applied Mathematics-Public Health from the University of Alberta and a Masters in Epidemiology at the University of Guelph.

Research Interests and Expertise

Betsy expertise includes mathematical modelling (dynamic systems and stochastic), epidemiology, and public health. Her PhD research focused on modelling tuberculosis transmission in Indigenous communities in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Some of her research interests include modelling of infectious diseases (e.g. tuberculosis, influenza, shingles, and MRSA), social determinants of health, population health, the use of surveillance data in predictive modelling, and the dispensation patterns of pharmaceutical drugs in Alberta. Currently, she is particularly interested in using health economic principles in mathematical models, which can help provide more meaningful and important information to policy makers.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Project Research Assistant, University of Alberta
Project Research Assistant for Dr. Christopher McCabe. He is also collaborating with researchers at the University of British Columbia to combine probabilistic models of stem cell processing with models of costs and outcomes of treatment to inform early stage R&D planning.

Education and Training

He received his applied training in health policy and economics from working for and with Prof. McCabe and his Bachelor of Social and Economic Sciences (Field: Political Economy) from University of Graz, Austria. There – and alongside taking Masters level courses – he got empirical research opportunities while working for Joanneum Research GmbH and Verkehr Plus GmbH.

Research Interests and Expertise

His primary research focus is the efficient design of research and development processes, e.g., for stem cell technologies, using beta cell transplantation in type 1 diabetes as the primary example. He recently published a working paper that addresses the problem of model calibration in the presence of competing risk bias. A tentative description of this method can be found on the Open Science Framework (doi 10.17605/OSF.IO/AJQCF).

Contact

wallnerklemens@gmail.com

Current Position and Professional Functions

Jillian is currently a Post Doctoral Scholar in Health Economics at the University of Calgary. She also works in Alberta as an Internal Medicine Physician.

Education and Training

She completed her medical training at the University of Calgary including a Doctor of Medicine (2014), Internal Medicine Residency (2017), and General Internal Medicine Residency (2019). She completed a Masters of Science in Health Economics from the University of York in 2020.

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests lie in the evaluation of new models/programs for healthcare delivery, currently focusing on outpatient care programs.

Education and Training:

PhD in Health Services and Policy Research, and MA in Economics from University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Jian’s PhD thesis and her NOAHE Fellowship project are on mental health services and economics. Her research interests include economic evaluation of health services, technologies, programs and policies.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Analyst with Health Technology Assessment and Innovation, AHS; Assistant Clinical Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta

Education and Training

PhD in Medicine (specialization in Health Economics) and MA (Economics) from the University of Alberta

Research Interests and Expertise

Arianna’s research interests include health technology assessment, evidence informed decision making, economic modelling, and knowledge translation.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Jiabi Wen is currently a Ph.D. student in Health Services and Policy Research at the School of Public Health, University of Alberta.

Education and Training

Jiabi received her MSc in Health Policy Research at the University of Alberta. Before this, she received a BSc (Mathematics) and a BEcon(Economics) at the Renmin University of China.

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests are quality of life measurements and health economics. She is good at econometric applications in health sciences.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Krystle is currently a graduate student undertaking her MSc in Kinesiology at the University of Calgary and working as a Research Associate in the Health Policy division at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.

Education and Training

Krystle recently completed her Masters in Public Policy at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary in the fall of 2017, specializing in health policy. Following her MPP, Krystle worked as a Research Associate in the Social Policy and Health area of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, working primarily in the Health Policy arena. Krystle’s current work primarily involves supporting a number of projects in the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Research Program, conducting research and analysis of policies, programs and supports as they relate to persons with developmental disabilities using qualitative and/or quantitative methods of data collection. Prior to her MPP, Krystle earned a BSc in Biological Sciences and a BA in Development Studies from the University of Calgary in 2012. Krystle has also undergone extensive study and training in refugee and forced migration issues, including (but not limited to) a certification from York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies.

Research Interests and Expertise

Krystle is passionate about public health and the utilization of policy to better support vulnerable populations. A keen interest in concussion research and policy led Krystle to complete her MPP Capstone Project on the topic, undertaking an exploratory analysis of concussion policy in the Alberta education system. This has translated to further graduate study in the investigation of health outcomes following implementation of clinical pathways and procedures, specifically in the area of concussion, with a focus on healthcare utilization and cost.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Danica is a Health Economist at the Institute of Health Economics (IHE), Alberta, and an NSERC and One Society Network Research Associate with the OSN Health Care research team.

Education and Training

She is a Health Services and Policy Research PhD student at the University of Alberta and has a Master of Arts in Economics and a Bachelor of Mathematics.

Research Interests and Expertise

She is interested in multidisciplinary research, particularly in the links between epidemiology and economics.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Health Economist, Institute of Health Economics
Dr. Yan is a Senior Principal Economist at the Institute of Health Economics.

Education and Training

He received a DPhil in Economics from the University of York, UK.

Research Interests and Expertise

His research interest is in health economics with focuses on modelling analysis and statistically exploring health policy implications based on data from health care administrative records and clinical studies.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Youssef is a Health Policy Advisor in the Pharmaceutical and Supplementary Benefits Division at Alberta Health.

Education and Training

She is a pharmacist by training and holds a PhD in pharmacology from the Alberta Diabetes Institute at the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests are in pharmacoeconomics, health systems, and evidence-based health policy.

Current Position and Professional Functions

Senior Health Economist, Alberta Health Services
Dr. Zarrabi is a Senior Health Economist with Alberta Health Services.

Education and Training

He received his MA in Economics from the University of Isfahan, and his PhD in Economics, specializing in Health Economics, from the University of Calgary.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Zarrabi’s research interests include applications of economic theories in health research and health innovative technologies, value for money, equilibrium, efficiency, and sustainability of healthcare systems and whether personal choices are protected within the systems.

Contact

mahmood.zarrabi@ahs.ca

Current Position and Professional Functions

Dr. Zwicker is the Director of Health Policy at the School of Public Policy and an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, at the University of Calgary. She is a Canada Research Chair in Disability Policy for Children and Youth and Deputy Chief Scientific Officer for Kids Brain Health Network.

Education and Training

She received a Master of Public Policy from the University of Calgary, and a PhD in Physiology from the University of Alberta.

Research Interests and Expertise

Her research interests are in health policy with a focus on child health. She leads a research program that is focused on better understanding the impact of early diagnosis and early intervention for children with developmental disabilities. Dr. Zwicker is funded by the Network of Centers of Excellence called Kids Brain Health Network and the CIHR SPOR network called CHILD-BRIGHT. She works collaboratively with both Dr. Wendy Ungar and Dr. David Whitehurst to lead the health economics core for these networks.

Contact

zwicker1@ucalgary.ca