Meet Gerry Richardson, Professor of Health Economics at University of York who also holds several roles across NIHR with the Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber and the RSS University of York and Partners. As a methodologist for the NIHR RSS Specialist Centre for Public Health, Gerry is part of a team of skilled methodologists and specialises in health economics.
Health economics is about using resources efficiently to improve the population's health. Health economic analysis and evaluation forms an integral part of the public health guidance development process. Health economics is about ensuring interventions are good value for money. This means asking for what it costs does it generate the outcomes we want to see. A study would test if something works, and we then answer the next question - is it worth paying for or could the money be better spent on something else.
The queries people have come with have been much more broad questions, so people want to know which study design to use, as they are often early in their research pathway - so research interested and taking the first steps to being research active.
A lot of the advice I have given has been around the importance of having a health economist on the research team. It is nearly always mandatory in public health research. Also ensuring that the teams have included a comparator in their design - something against which their intervention can be compared. A lot of people who have approached us haven’t understood that a comparator is essential.
I talk to people from all over England and this is a different role for me, and it’s satisfying helping people.
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