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July 17, 2010
Phd Studentship in Health Economics and Ophthalmology: University College London
Location: Bloomsbury, London, UK
The UCL Grand Challenge PhD Studentships in Biomedicine scheme is an elite PhD training programme designed to attract researchers with the highest intellectual and scientific skills. A total of 100 Grand Challenge Studentships will be available over the next 3 years through funding provided by the UCL Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres at UCLH, Moorfields and Great Ormond Street Hospitals. Studentships are currently being advertised on a range of topics.
As part of this scheme the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the Health Care Evaluation Group in the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL are offering a three-year PhD Studentship in Health Economics or Ophthalmology on the topic of:
“Developing a New Methodology for Evaluating Health-Related Quality of Life when Assessing the Cost Effectiveness of Treatments for Age-related Macular Degeneration”
The studentship, which includes payment of fees plus a full stipend, is expected to start in October 2010. The supervisors will be Professor Gary Rubin from the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Professor Steve Morris from the Health Care Evaluation Group, Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.
The Topic
The current method for cost effectiveness analysis recommended by NICE
measures the effectiveness of a new treatment with a generic health
related quality of life questionnaire - the EQ-5D. The EQ- 5D asks five
questions about the impact of the health condition on five dimensions of
quality of life. Typically, members of the general public without the
eye condition are then asked to value the imagined health state using
experimental methods (time trade-off´,standard gamble´ techniques).
The resulting utility score is multiplied by the life expectancy of the
patient to calculate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). By comparing
QALYs, and also costs, with and without treatment, the health economist
can evaluate the cost effectiveness of treatment. Since it does not
contain a `vision´ dimension, it has been suggested that the EQ-5D is
not sufficiently sensitive to measure improvements in vision.
Alternative methods have been proposed to map visual acuity to utility
measures, but these have been criticised because they ignore important
aspects of visual impairment that are not captured by acuity
measurements.
The student will develop a model that links acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual fields to health-related quality of life measures suitable for calculating QALYS. As part of the studentship this new methodology will then be compared to the conventional NICE protocol in a separately funded clinical trial of rehabilitation for patients with AMD.
The studentship is likely to involve empirical data collection and statistical analysis of quantitative data, including cost-effectiveness modelling. Given the nature of the topic, students with interests and/or experience in health economics, use of Excel, and quantitative analysis will be at an advantage.
Details of the studentship, along with others that are available as part of this scheme, are available here (see studentship number 32):
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/courses/research-degrees/ucl-gc/project/
Application requirements, including details of funding and how to make an application, are described here:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/courses/research-degrees/ucl-gc
Further details about the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology are available here:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioo/index.htm
Further details about the Health Care Evaluation Group and the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health are available here:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology/
If you wish to discuss the studentship further please contact either Professor Gary Rubin g.rubin@ucl.ac.uk or Professor Steve Morris steve.morris@ucl.ac.uk.
