Recordings from the Health Economic and Policy Seminar Series
A short seminar series where guest speakers from different health policy settings are invited to discuss their time in their policy role and advise on research areas of health economics that would be most impactful if they had their time again.
Eric Sun
“Policymaking during the COVID-19 pandemic: reflections from a Year at the Council of Economic Advisers”
Date: July 2024
Eric Sun (MD/PhD) is an assistant professor and Associate Division Chief in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. From 2019-2020, he served as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, where he advised senior White House administration officials on matters related to health policy. Dr Sun received a MD from the Pritzker School of Medicine and a PhD in business economics from the Booth Graduate School of Business, both of which are at the University of Chicago.
David Gruen
“Data linkage and integration to improve the evidence base for public policy: lessons from the Australian experience”
Date: June 2024
As the Australian Statistician, Dr David Gruen leads the functions and operations at the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Prior to joining the Australian Bureau of Statistics, he was the Deputy Secretary, Economic and Australia’s G20 Sherpa at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He has been instrumental in bringing about greater data linkage and integration in Australia so that researchers and government agencies can provide greater evidence for public policy development.
Veline L’Esperance
“Ways economics can be used to reduce health inequalities”
Date: June 2024
Dr Veline L’Esperance is an academic GP and Research Director across the largest primary care network in England. She also serves as a senior clinical advisor to the NHS Race and Health Observatory in the area of genomics and precision medicine. She is also a member of the NICE Technology Appraisal Committee and sits on the National Genomics Board. Veline was a National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow, before obtaining an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship and NIHR Doctoral fellowship. Her research interests include primary care health economics, epidemiology and health inequalities.
Bill English
“From data streams to public policy dreams: Sir Bill English on the benefits of greater data integration and linkage in New Zealand”
Date: May 2024
Sir Bill English was the 39th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and the leader of the National Party prior to standing down from politics in March 2018. He previously held a range of Ministerial portfolios, including Finance, Health and had roles in education, housing and revenue. He was responsible for sponsoring the development of the integrated data system (IDI) in New Zealand, which agencies and researchers now use to expand the evidence base for public policy decisions.
Ellen Van de Poel
“Reaching universal health coverage: lessons from the field”
Date: April 2024
Ellen Van de Poel is a senior health economist in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region at the World Bank. She is based in Morocco where she manages the World Bank’s health portfolio and leads on regional efforts in relation to health financing.
Lord Gus O’Donnell
“Wellbeing-adjusted life years (WELBYs) in policy and practice”
Gus O’Donnell was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the British Civil Service from 2005-2011 and in 2010, he oversaw the introduction of the first coalition government since the Second World War. He oversaw the introduction by the Office of National Statistics of the UK’s national wellbeing data.
