Location: Vaughan College, Leicester, UK
Dates: August 17-19, 2009

COURSE TUTORS:

Professor Keith Abrams, Professor Tony Ades, Dr Debbie Caldwell, Dr Nicola Cooper, Dr Sofia Dias, Professor Alex Sutton, and Dr Nicky Welton

INTENDED AUDIENCE:

(a) Anyone undertaking or managing health technology assessments, including in the context of cost-effectiveness analysis.
(b) Statisticians, familiar with the principles of meta-analysis, who wish to learn about Bayesian methods for evidence synthesis particularly in the context of cost-effectiveness analysis.
(c) Anyone responsible for managing systematic reviews.

OVERVIEW:

This course is for health economists, statisticians and decision modellers, and systematic reviewers interested in the extension of pair-wise meta-analysis to indirect and mixed treatment comparisons, in the context of either clinical effectiveness or economic evaluation.

The course focuses on Bayesian methods for statistically combining evidence from networks of trials, integrating statistical estimation within a probabilistic modeling framework. The assumptions underlying both pair-wise meta-analysis and mixed treatment comparisons are critically examined. The course also covers methods for detecting and managing heterogeneity and inconsistency.

This is an informal, hands-on course, based on a mixture of lectures and practical work on published datasets using the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo package WinBUGS. Course tutors are available throughout to answer questions and help with exercises.

It is a collaboration between the Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester and the Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol.

FURTHER DETAILS (and booking form) can be found at:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cobm/research/mpes/mtc09.html

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

• Applying health economics in managing health services: Wednesday-Friday 12-14 August 2009
• Economic evaluation of health care: Tuesday-Thursday 18-20 August 2009
• Economics of health systems: Monday-Wednesday 24-26 August 2009

Each of the courses is free standing but participants may wish to attend two or all three courses. None of the courses assume any prior knowledge of economics.

For further information please go online

M.Sc. in Health Systems

“Strengthened health systems, ideally based on primary health care, are indeed the route to greater efficiency and fairness in health care, and greater security in the health sector and beyond.” Margaret Chan, Director General WHO, 2008

Are you seeking a career in health planning, management or policy advice? This new MSc programme in Health Systems will equip you with the requisite skills to advance your career.

This programme aims to enhance participants’ understanding of how to make health systems work better. This implies the provision of sufficient resources, the appropriate distribution of those resources and the uptake of available resources by those intended to use them.

It also involves managing multiple players in public and private, formal and informal roles and developing strategies with the best chance of bringing about positive effects.

This programme is new for 2009 and will equip its graduates with the necessary skills for careers in health planning, management and policy advice.

For further information please go online

MSc in Human Resources for Health

Much attention has been focused on the shortages of numbers of clinical health professionals, but it is increasingly recognized that these problems are worsened by a parallel crisis of effective human resource management.

Are you seeking a career in human resource management, strategy or policy advice? Do you want to help solve the escalating human resource crisis in health in your country or health care organization?

This new MSc programme will equip you with the requisite skills to advance your career in the health or social sectors.

The new MSc is an adaptation of one formerly offered by Keele University – the faculty from Keele are now associated with QMU and will be delivering key elements of this programme.

The MSc. In Human Resources for Health is designed for experienced graduates or health professionals keen to gain an understanding of how to mobilize scarce human resources to strengthen health systems internationally. The programme aims to equip participants with the necessary skills to achieve optimally sustainable deployment of personnel and ensure that users of health services are served by the most highly skilled and efficient workforce possible.

For further information please go online

Location: Oxford, England
Dates: 25-27 August 2009
Venue: St Hilda’s College

Course organizers: Prof Andrew Willan and Prof Simon Eckermann

Intended Audience:

. Health economists, evaluators of health technology assessment, pharmaco-economists, applied micro-economists, clinical epidemiologists, biostatisticians.
. Clinicians and researchers undertaking economic studies in clinical trials.
. Health sector decision and policy makers.

Overview:

The course teaches from first principles hands-on application of methods to optimally inform decision making across related health economics decisions of reimbursement, research and regulation.

Using seminar and tutorial based learning, the course provides participants with knowledge and practical skills to:

• Undertake analysis of clinical trials to optimally inform evidence based decision making under uncertainty in processes of health technology assessment (HTA), such as that for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (UK), for direct and indirect comparisons.
• Design clinical trials to optimally inform decision making within and across jurisdictions using parametric value of information methods that allow for real world decision contexts, including time, opportunity costs and option value of delay and imperfect implementation.
• Compare multiple strategies, including construction and use of expected net loss curves and frontiers, to optimally inform risk-neutral and risk-averse decision making.
• Undertake efficiency measurement across health care providers, such as hospitals, consistent with the maximizing of net benefit underlying evidence based medicine.
• Inform risk sharing and economically meaningful threshold values for net benefit.

The course simplifies and extends methods for comparing multiple strategies (the Expected Net Loss frontier), applying VoI methods (optimal trial design with parametric estimation of expected value of information) and comparing and creating incentives for providers in practice (efficiency measurement and funding consistent with maximizing net benefit and health outcomes from a budget). Course material provided includes detailed spreadsheet templates and tutorials.

Further details and registration information can be downloaded at http://clinicalchange.flinders.edu.au/economics.html.

Location: Sheffield, England, UK
Programme Start Date: September 2009

Prospective Students Career Prospects

Health economics and decision modelling is undergoing a massive expansion internationally as governments, insurers, healthcare organisations and the pharmaceutical industry meet the need to analyse the costs and benefits of health related strategies. There is an international shortage of qualified specialists at post graduate level.

This internationally focussed Masters course is intended to equip participants with the techniques and methods of health economics and modelling to meet these needs. It is ideal for students wishing to pursue a career as a professional health economist / modeller.

Opportunities exist around the world, including the USA, UK, Europe, Australia and Canada, in:

• the pharmaceutical industry
• government or other policy organisations
• healthcare purchase or provider organisations
• health related consultancy
• the medical research sector
• academia

Principal aims of the course

The role of mathematical modelling in informing healthcare resource allocation decisions has been increasing over the past two decades. The MSc in Health Economics and Decision Modelling is the only Masters programme in the UK with a specific focus on the practical application of mathematical modelling to inform healthcare decision problems. This is a truly bespoke course, bridging the gap between the underlying theory and application of mathematical modelling for decision making and more traditional health economics. The three principal aims of the course are as follows:

• Equip students with a professional level analytical skill-base required to evaluate and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare systems for which they have responsibility
• Provide an in-depth understanding of current state-of-the-art methods for mathematical modelling to support and inform evidence-based healthcare decision problems
• Provide a firm grounding for students wishing to pursue research degrees in health economics and mathematical modelling

This MSc is very focused on the techniques and methods of health economics and modelling, which are applicable to a vast range of settings.

Contact us

If you would like to be considered for enrolment or would like to ask any questions regarding this Masters programme, please send your e-mail to:

HEDM Course Administrator

Alternatively, write to:

Gary Toon - Course Administrator
MSc Health Economics and Decision Modelling
School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR)
Regent Court
30 Regent Street
Sheffield
S1 4DA
United Kingdom

PLEASE NOTE: This course has now completed the final stages of development, and subject to Faculty of Medicine approval in October ‘08, will become operational in September ‘09.

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Date: November 16 to 20, 2009
Registration deadline: 31 Oct. 2009

Prof. Albert Ma (Boston University)
Prof. Pierre-Yves Geoffard (Paris School of Economics)

Presentation:

The course offers an introduction to recent advances in the economic analysis of health care systems. The course combines a presentation of theoretical and empirical developments of the analysis of health care demand, health care supply and demand for health insurance. Consequences of recent findings on the optimal regulation of health care systems are presented in details, with a specific focus on competitive health insurance markets and Managed Care.

Objectives:

Models of asymmetric information will be studied in details, as well as their applicability to the study of health insurance and health care production.

Registration:

Online until 31 Oct. 2009

Course homepage:

http://www.ssphplus.ch/phdcourses-hep

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Date: December 14 to 18, 2009
Registration deadline: November 30, 2009

Prof Maarten Lindeboom, Dr. Bas van der Klaauw (VU University, Amsterdam)

Presentation:

The aim of this course is to provide the students with state of the art econometric methods for evaluation of public policy. The course deals with theoretical literature on causal inference in lectures, but emphasis is given to empirical applications using micro data. The course therefore includes also practical computer assignments using Stata.

Objectives:

The key objective of the course is to make students familiar with empirical tools for public policy evaluation and to provide an introduction to working with micro data.

Registration:

Online until November 30, 2009

Course homepage:

http://www.ssphplus.ch/phdcourses-hep

Location: Norwich UK
Application deadline: 11/12/09

Title: An economic evaluation of total hip and knee replacement surgery using a national patient reported outcome measure

Research Question

Economic evaluation of total hip and knee replacement surgery using a new national dataset of patient related outcome measures (PROMS) for hip and knee joint replacement surgery. The project will link PROMS data to the National Joint Registry database and the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database. This will be the first analysis of its kind using nationally collected patient reported outcome measures, to determine the costs of joint replacement on a national scale, spanning public and private healthcare. The project will also be a platform for testing methods for including economics aspects in Cochrane reviews,

Research methodology

This proposal builds on an existing project by the applicants, using National Joint Registry and HES linked data-sets to assess the cost-effectiveness of the alternative prostheses used in total hip and knee replacement surgery. The existing project uses survival of the prosthesis as the main outcome measure, incorporating direct medical costs and data from a local study of the patient reported outcome measures by prosthesis. The data from these sources informs the parameters of a fully probabilistic economic decision analytic model to determine the costs effectiveness of the alternative prostheses. It is envisaged that this model will be further developed in the proposed new research to test the impact of patient reported outcomes on the models. The student will be systematically reviewing literature, analysing large datasets, building and running probabilistic markov models, A further element of the research methodology will be to collaborate on building pilot economic commentary for relelvant Cochrane reviews.

NB: Deadline for applications: 11/12/09

Students may register from 1 October 2010 for a three year full-time MPhil/PhD degree.

Funding includes UK/EU tuition fees, maintenance expenses of £13,290 and some appropriate training costs

Applicants should hold a 2:1 degree or above and a master’s degree in science, social science or health related subject or equivalent, either including the study of economics at degree level, or have successfully completed masters level health economics modules.

Applicants whose first language is not English must demonstrate evidence of appropriate English language proficiency, normally defined as minimum IELTS score of 7.5

To download an application pack, please visit http://www.uea.ac.uk/foh/PGR

Informal enquiries to: Professor Miranda Mugford M.Mugford@uea.ac.uk

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Date: December 14 to 18, 2009
Registration deadline: November 30, 2009

Prof Maarten Lindeboom, Dr. Bas van der Klaauw (VU University, Amsterdam)

Presentation:

The aim of this course is to provide the students with state of the art econometric methods for evaluation of public policy. The course deals with theoretical literature on causal inference in lectures, but emphasis is given to empirical applications using micro data. The course therefore includes also practical computer assignments using Stata.

Objectives:

The key objective of the course is to make students familiar with empirical tools for public policy evaluation and to provide an introduction to working with micro data.

Registration:

Online until November 30, 2009

Course homepage:

http://www.ssphplus.ch/phdcourses-hep

Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Dates: 10-16 January 2010

Venue: UC Berkeley School of Public Health

Website: http://ahlf.berkeley.edu/

An innovative program for senior health executives focusing on health policy and management issues of global importance. The program takes place in two intensive 1-week sessions in Berkeley and Barcelona. Participants will develop a project mentored by expert faculty advisors during the six month interim between projects.

The sixth edition of the Global Health Leadership Forum is a joint initiative of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics together with the UPF Center for Research in Health and Economics (CRES).

The Approach

The demands of day-to-day work don’t leave me– a senior health executive– time to deepen my understanding of the most salient issues affecting the future of the field.

I need to stay on top of the latest news and market trends and find out about the latest developments in Health Policy and Healthcare Systems. I need to get a clear idea of what the future holds for healthcare, both in my country and internationally.

During two intensive weeks spent surrounded by some of the world’s foremost healthcare experts, I will study the latest news and major advances in healthcare and gain the knowledge crucial to staying at the cutting edge of industry.

Immersed in a dynamic learning environment, I will share experiences, swap stories, and evaluate case studies with fellow healthcare executives in order to face the future in the best possible way. During the six-month interim between sessions, I will tackle a real issue affecting my company or profession under the guidance of an expert faculty member.

Core Benefits

• Fast track update of latest news; tips on identifying market risks and opportunities
• Insights on the present and future of healthcare in the current global environment
• Find practical solutions to Health Policy issues that have been converging internationally and evaluate their associated risks and opportunities
• Share experiences with other leaders in the health care sector around the world
• Enhance strategic leadership skills

Participant Profile

• Senior health executives, health ministers
• Senior policy leaders, legislators and regulators
• Senior executives of organizations (e.g. World Bank, OECD, PAHO)
• Senior executives of enterprises (e.g. insurance, pharmaceutical, health care delivery, care management)

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

PRIMARY AREAS OF FOCUS:

• Public/private health insurance combinations
• Strategies for health systems change
• Innovations in payer and health delivery connections
• Governance
• Information therapy for consumers
• Pharmaceutical innovation, pricing, and regulation
• Managing insurance and delivery performance
• Implications of technology changes on health care
• Field trips to innovative hospital, primary care centers and Kaiser Permanente

REAL WORLD CASE

Participants will tackle a real issue affecting their company or profession over the six month interim between sessions. Advised by expert faculty, participants will find viable solutions to the issue addressed and steps to implement them.

SELECTED BERKELEY SPEAKERS:

Sir Richard Feachem, UCSF, 1st Dir. Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Peter Berman, Harvard University and World Bank; Arnie Milstein, Mercer and Pacific Business Group on Health; high level officials from Kaiser Permanente; and expert faculty from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Stephen M. Shortell (UC Berkeley), Andreu Mas Colell (Barcelona GSE), Richard M. Scheffler (UC Berkeley), Guillem Lopez-Casasnovas (UPF).

Faculty advisors:

Ivan Planas (UPF), Jim Rice (Cambridge University and Integrated Health Strategies), and Alex Preker (World Bank)

CONTACT

UC Berkeley
Meg Kellogg, Program Director
UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Tel: +1 (510) 642 1631
http://ghlf.berkeley.edu/

Barcelona GSE
Carmen Estévez, Program Coordinator
Barcelona Graduate School of Economics
Email: carmen.estevez@barcelonagse.eu
Tel: +34 (93) 542 12 43
http://www.barcelonagse.eu/

Location: Berkeley, California, US and Barcelona, Spain
Dates: January 10-16, 2010 and June 27-July 3, 2010

An innovative program for senior health executives focusing on the most pressing health policy and management issues. A joint program from theUniversity of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, the UPF Center for Research in Health and Economics and the Barcelona GraduateSchool of Economics

Applications

Currently being reviewed for January and June 2010 sessions. Apply online!

Program description:

The Global Health Leadership Forum is a unique certificate program for senior health care leaders focusing on key health policy and management issues. Participants grapple in a practical manner with the issues and options that have been converging internationally, learning approaches that have been proved to work and current innovations.

Participants will benefit from the GHLF’s small, interactive workshop atmosphere which encourages interaction between speakers and participants. Each of the two six-day sessions - session one in Berkeley and the follow-up session in Barcelona 6 months later - is filled with important topics presented by world-renown faculty & expert speakers, field trips, receptions, and festive dinners. The registration cost of the program covers daily breakfast, lunch, breaks, most dinners, course materials, & hotel accomodations. For more detailed information, please visit our website: http://ghlf.berkeley.edu

The alumni network from the past six years has over 180 leaders from 43 countries. These represent senior health leaders of nations, global organizations and senior executives of enterprises such as insurance, pharmaceutical, and health care delivery.

Sample topics:

• Workshops on leadership, evidence-based management, and health system ethics
• Effective policy implementation and strategies for health systems change
• Achieving public and private health insurance mix
• Innovations in payer and health delivery connections
• Effective managed care techniques
• Using cost-effectiveness analysis to define “best coverage and delivery buys”
• Technology changes and future health care predictions
• Field trip to Kaiser Permanente including their IT and care management systems
• Health care integration
• Managing medical groups
• Pharma innovation, pricing, and regulation
• Governance
• Learnings in Health Systems reform
• UK experience with NICE (National Institute of Clinical Effectiveness).

Selected speakers:

Sir Richard Feachem, First Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Malcolm Potts, Chair of Bixby Center for Population Health and Sustainability, UC Berkeley; Ian Morrison, health care futurist; Peter Berman from Harvard University and the World Bank; Arnie Milstein, Thought Leader, Mercer and Medical Director, Pacific Business Group on Health; Philip Musgrove, Deputy Editor for Global Health, Health Affairs and former principal economist for Latin America, World Bank; Josep Figueras, Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and WHO health policy head; Rafael Bengoa, Director of Health, Basque Country; Ron Akehurst, founder of UK’s NICE; selected faculty from UC Berkeley, and several other European Universities.

Faculty directors:

Richard M. Scheffler, Dean Stephen M. Shortell (UCB), Andreu Mas-Colell (Barcelona GSE), Guillem Lopez-Casasnovas, and Vicente Ortun (UPF CRESBarcelona); FACULTY ADVISORS: Alex Preker (The World Bank), James Rice (Cambridge and Integrated Health Strategies), and GHLF Program Director, Meg A. Kellogg, UC Berkeley.

Contact ghlf with questions: ghlf@berkeley.edu or see website: http://ghlf.berkeley.edu

Location: York, UK
Dates: 11th-12th January 2010

Presented by Prof. Bill Greene Stern School of Business, New York University

Hosted by the Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG), Centre for Health Economics and Department of Economics and Related Studies University of York, 11th-12th January 2010

A two-day course focusing on the use of categorical dependent variables with wide applicability to research in health economics. The course will be delivered by Professor Bill Greene, a world-renowned expert in micro-econometrics and the analysis of categorical variables.

The course is aimed at PhD students and researchers or policy makers working in applied health economics. It will introduce participants to for categorical dependent variables with a focus on established and recently developed techniques. The course will cover continuous choice models, binary choice, and models for ordered and unordered choice. Appropriate terminology and formal methodology for estimating these models will be presented together with extensions to cover panel data, partialeffects and recent developments in the field. The focus will be on introducing the fundamental principles and terminology encountered in the literature.

The aims of the course are to introduce research professionals to the main techniques used in the analysis of individual choice. By the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• Appreciate different approaches to modelling individual choice
• Select appropriate methods for empirical estimation
• Develop an understanding of methods for estimation and inference
• Interpret results from analyses

Course content

The course will cover topics relevant to the analysis of health and health care data.

More information and a registration form can be found here.

Location: Nice (Cannes), France
Dates: January 17-21, February 7-12 and March 7-12, 2010

The next international training program of The European School of Health Economics will take place in Nice (Cannes), France on January17-21, February 7-12 and March 7-12, 2010.

The program has been running since 1996 and covers:

• The international health care environment
• Theory and methods of economic evaluation of health care programs
• Developments in health economic research

Course director:

Gisela Kobelt, European Health Economics SAS

Course advisors:

Tony Culyer, University of York
Martin Buxton, Brunel University, London
Bengt Joensson, Stockholm School of Economics
Gerard de Pouvourville, Essec, Paris
Frans Rutten, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Matthias von der Schulenburg, University of Hanover

International faculty:

• Academic health economists
• Regulators and government representatives
• Specialists from the pharmaceutical/diagnostic/medical device industries

The course provides participants with an understanding of health economics and in-depth knowledge of the methods of economic evaluation of pharmaceuticals and medical interventions. The program is designed for the needs of professionals in the pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics industry involved in the development of reimbursement dossiers and follow-up studies, as well as for government agencies and other organisations involved in health care decisions.
Participation is limited to approximately 24.

Registration

On line http://www.he-europe.com (European School of Health Economics)
Fax +33 493 605 930

Information

Tel +33 608 075 390 or info@he-europe.com

Location: University of York, York, UK
Date: 20 January 2010

Health economics information is a key element in much health services research and particularly in health technology assessments. Identifying economic evidence to inform such research can involve searches in a range of databases and using a variety of strategies. This study day will include a ‘jargon buster’ session on the basics of health economics and economic models. It will also feature presentations about key economics information resources including NHS EED, Health Economic Evaluations Database (HEED) and the CEA Registry, and explorations of options for searching to identify data for economic models. There will be opportunities for hands-on practice.

The study day presenters will be Matthew Taylor, Julie Glanville, Pauline Howarth and Nigel Thompson.

Matthew Taylor is a Senior Health Economics Consultant at York Health Economics Consortium with a Ph.D. in health outcomes research, who specialises in pharmacoeconomic modelling. Julie Glanville is Project Director - Information Services at York Health Economics Consortium and has published widely on searching for evidence and was until recently the manager of the NHS EED database. Pauline Howarth works for the publishers Wiley-Blackwell who publish HEED. Pauline is the Managing Editor of HEED and Nigel is an experienced Wiley trainer.

By the end of the training day, participants will have:

• An awareness of the basic concepts of health economics and economic models;
• An understanding of the content and approaches of selected key health economics resources;
• An awareness of the search options available to access these resources;
• Experience of searching the resources.

Who should attend?

This study day would be of interest to information professionals and researchers seeking more insight into the sources of health economics information and its uses.

For further details: http://php.york.ac.uk/inst/yhec/?q=content/finding-info

Julie Glanville
Project Director - Information Services

York Health Economics Consortium Ltd
University of York
Market Square
Vanbrugh Way
Heslington
YORK YO10 5NH

Tel: 01904 434832 (Direct) 433620 (General)
Fax: 01904 433628
email: jmg1@york.ac.uk

website: http://www.yhec.co.uk

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Dates: February 15 to 19, 2010
Registration: Online until 29 Jan. 2010
Course homepage: http://www.ssphplus.ch/phdcourses-hep

Prof. Alberto Holly (University of Lausanne)
Prof. Jaya Krishnakumar (University of Geneva)

Presentation:

The aim of this course is to provide the students with the necessary analytical tools to

• formulate appropriate econometric models
• estimate them
• and draw proper inference, using micro level data related to health issues, for instance data from health surveys.

The key features of such data sets are their qualitative nature and/or panel type structure. Hence it is important to know and be able to apply the models and methods specially designed for incorporating the particular characteristics of these data sets.

Objectives:

At the end of the course the student would know how to:

1. specify a suitable econometric model for investigating the problem under study;
2. confront the theoretical model with empirical observations; and
3. draw proper conclusions based on the results.

Location: Manchester, UK
Application deadline: Thursday 18 February 2010
Professors: Linda Davies and Dr Tim Millar

Developing effective and acceptable care models for substance use.

The objective of this project is to use health services research methods to address the development of interventions to reduce the frequency of relapse and lapses in treated drug users. It will also aim to reduce reliance on a revolving door approach to drug treatment. The studentship provides full support for tuition fees, associated research costs and an annual tax-free stipend at Research Council rates (anticipated to be £13,490). The project is due to commence October 2010 and is open to UK/EU nationals only due to the nature of the funding.

Rationale: Substance users seeking treatment typically receive a package of care over varying time periods and often have several relapses. There is limited evidence that care is effective and economical. However, the data are limited by the study designs and follow up periods used, leading to considerable uncertainty about the longer term benefits. Self management and peer support programmes may reduce relapses and associated revolving door care, but the evidence to support these and acceptability of programmes such as the 12 step plan in the UK is questioned.

A mixed methods approach will identify personal/social factors and barriers influencing attitudes to substance use and identify key substances and target groups of substance users. This information will be used to; (i) assess the current evidence base of the acceptability, effectiveness and cost effectiveness of treatment pathways to reduce substance use; (ii) develop a theoretical model of the complex relationships between health behaviours, social and environmental factors and health; (iii) assess preferences for treatment processes and outcomes; (iv) model the process and outcomes of a new intervention; (v) assess the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention and develop focussed research questions for its evaluation.

The successful candidate will join our growing team of leading health economists and collaborate with the National Drug Evidence Centre (NDEC). Both the health economics group and NDEC are part of the University of Manchester Health Methodology Research Group. They will develop and apply key health services research methods including: systematic review and analysis of quantitative and qualitative evidence; economic evaluation and modelling, statistical and econometric analysis of secondary and case linked data etc.

Upon completion of this project, the successful applicant will have gained valuable knowledge in the field of drug misuse research. This will doubtless be of significance to a range of drug misuse research posts, both academic and government.

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a minimum upper-second honours degree (or equivalent) in economics or a related quantitative discipline relevant to health services research. An understanding of the need for (and principles of) health services research and health technology assessment would be beneficial.

Please direct applications in the following format to james.k.power@manchester.ac.uk

• A CV, including full details of all University course grades to date.
• Contact details for two academic or professional referees.
• A personal statement (750 words maximum) outlining your suitability for the study, what you hope to achieve from the PhD and your research experience to date.

Any enquiries relating to the project and/or suitability should be directed to Professor Linda Davies linda.davies@manchester.ac.uk. Applications are invited up to and including Thursday 18 February 2010.

http://www.medicine.manchester.ac.uk/healthmethodology/

Location: Norwich, England
Closing date: 19 February 2010

Studentships for 2009/10 and 2010/11 now available in the Faculty of Health at the University of East Anglia

Topics:

• The role of Decision Modelling within an economic evaluation

• Weighting QALYs according to severity and cause of illness

• An economic evaluation of total hip and knee replacement surgery using a national patient reported outcome measure

• The economics of EPIC: selected health economic issues using EPIC-Norfolk cohort data

• The development and application of microsimulation methods for the analysis of health and social care policies for older people

Find out more about each topic and how to contact supervisors and to apply from:

http://www.uea.ac.uk/foh/PGR/HSS

Entry requirements are stated in each individual project outline.

Stipend (currently £13,290 per annum), UK/EU fees and some appropriate training costs.

Location: University of York, York, UK
Dates: 1 to 3 March 2010

This training event is provided by York Health Economics Consortium Ltd. in collaboration with Kleijnen Systematic Reviews Ltd.

Decision makers require evidence on the costs and benefits of health technologies. Systematic reviews and economic evidence are core to formal decision making processes in healthcare. This three day training event provides an introduction to the methods of identifying and synthesising evidence for decision makers. It provides guidance, based on best practice, to those developing evidence submissions to reimbursement agencies or health care payers. The training event will comprise lectures, group work and practical sessions. There will also be ample opportunity for one-to-one discussion with the course leaders on specific issues.

This training event will be useful to those who:

• Prepare evidence submissions to reimbursement agencies;
• Want an introduction to health technology assessment (HTA);
• Want an introduction to the methods of producing systematic reviews.

It is an introduction to the following topics:

• The principles of producing a systematic review;
• The practicalities of managing a HTA project;
• The principles of economic evaluation and economic modelling;
• The information that reimbursement agencies tend to require;
• The standards for reporting systematic reviews and economic evaluations in academic journals.

Further details at:

http://php.york.ac.uk/inst/yhec/?q=news/systematic-reviews-hta

Julie Glanville
Project Director - Information Services

York Health Economics Consortium Ltd University of York
Market Square
Vanbrugh Way
Heslington
YORK YO10 5NH

Tel: 01904 434832 (Direct) 433620 (General)
Fax: 01904 433628
email: jmg1@york.ac.uk

website: http://www.yhec.co.uk

Location: Birmingham, UK
Module Dates: Mon-Fri, 9.30-5.30; 8th - 12th March 2010
Credits: 20 credits

Module Description

An understanding of the uses and limitations of modelling is an essential part of the toolkit of any Health Economist who is involved with Economic Evaluation, either as an analyst or a receiver/user of economic analysis. This module covers the full range of model types that are appropriate for use in Health Economic analysis (such as Markov models, transmission dynamic models and Bayesian approaches to modelling).

Module Attendance Required:

One week block of teaching

Academics involved in the delivery of this module

Dr Pelham Barton, Senior Lecturer in Mathematical Modelling, and,
Dr Sue Jowett, Senior Lecturer - Health Economics Unit

Fee if taken as a stand alone module

2009/10 module prices - £1400 (Public Sector), £2100 (Private Sector)

Entry Requirements

Previous knowledge of health economics and statistics equivalent to that obtained in the Introduction to Health Economics and Statistics for Health Economics modules. All applicants will be required to discuss eligibility with the Course Director at the time of applying.

How to register / apply

Contact Helen Evans, Course Administrator, 0121 414 7694, H.E.Evans.20@bham.ac.uk

Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Site: Erasmus University
Dates: March 15 - May 28, 2010

The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), the institute for Health Policy and Management (iBMG) and the Department of Public Health (MGZ) announce the first annual Diploma Course programme on “International Health and Policy Evaluation”, providing professionals and researchers with an interdisciplinary perspective on population health and health services in low- and middle-income countries. The Diploma Course consists of 10 one-week modules.

The courses are designed to provide professionals, who are involved in translating research findings into policies or the implementation of interventions, as well as (future) researchers, with essential training in health and health services research to support rational decision-making and sustainable improvements in health.

Participants’ knowledge and understanding of the subject matter is tested per block, via a formal examination and/or (individual or group) assignments. Participants in a block receive a formal certificate after completing it successfully.

For more detailed information, please visit the website: http://www.internationalhealthcourse.nl

Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Dates: March 22 to 26, 2010
Registration deadline: 6 March 2010
Venue: University of Geneva

Prof. Willard Manning (University of Chicago)
Dr. Eva Cantoni (University of Geneva)
Dr. Jean-Paul Chaze (University of Geneva)

Presentation:

Apart from providing an overview of the economic specificities of health care demand, the course will address econometric methods used for modelling different types of data on health care consumption, and provide examples drawn from real data for Switzerland or other countries.

Objectives:

The aims of the laboratory are:

• To provide an overview of the economic aspects of health care demand

• To present the econometric and statistical tools for the different types of data on health care consumption

• To apply these methods to real datasets through computation-based exercises

Registration: Online until 6 March 2010

Course homepage: http://www.ssphplus.ch/phdcourses-hep

Location: Odense
Closing date: 24 March, 2010 at 12 noon
Reference number: 351/577-105687

Job description:

The Research Unit of Health Economics at The University of Southern Denmark is advertising three PhD scholarships to be filled as soon as possible. The three positions are part of a research project entitled ‘Hospital of the Future’ funded by The Danish Strategic Research Council; the project also involves 3 post doctoral scholarships.

‘Hospital of the Future’

The project is concerned with development, adaption, and testing of methods from microeconomics and management science with the general aim of increasing hospital efficiency and effectiveness, for instance optimized patient pathways, capacity planning and utilization, and incentive schemes.

The project has three pillars, each consisting of a number of work packages, 1. Logistics and production planning; 2. Incentives; and 3. Productivity measurement and economies of scale and scope.

It is an important objective to test the methods in close collaboration with clinicians and professional hospital staff to maximize fit with and relevance for daily practice. See ‘Hospital of the Future’ at the web page http://www.healtheconomics.dk for a copy of the project description submitted to the Strategic Research Council.

It is the intention to have at least one PhD student and one post doc within each pillar who will collaborate with senior researchers.

Research environment

‘Hospital of the Future’ is a research consortium with researchers from the University of Southern Denmark, Danish Institute of Health Services Research and Copenhagen Business School. The research unit of health economics at University of Southern Denmark is the leading and largest group of health economists in Denmark with a good publication record. ‘Hospital of the Future’ will mainly be embedded in this vibrant environment and the department of Business and Economics. The research units house 12 researchers of which 6 are full professors. There are 10 PhD students. Go to ‘Hospitals of the Future’ at the web page http://www.healtheconomics.dk for CVs of senior researchers and for additional information.

PhD students and post docs will be part of a team for each of the above mentioned pillars. Each team is headed by an experienced senior researcher.

Requirements

The successful applicant for a PhD scholarship has demonstrated research potential as reflected by for instance the grades obtained and master’s thesis. Applicants are expected to have an educational background in economics or business economics/management science/operations research at a master’s level - e.g. normally the Danish or equivalent degrees: cand.oecon., cand.polit., cand.scient.oecon., cand.merc. or a degree in civil engineering. Information about the PhD programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, can be found at: http://www.sdu.dk/sam/phduk.

The application must include a synopsis of 5-10 pages describing a research proposal related to one or more of the three project pillars. Dialogue with one of the below mentioned contact persons is possible. The proposal may be further elaborated during the first three months of employment.

Successful applicants must have a genuine interest in applied and policy oriented research within one or more of the work packages of the project apart from a sound theoretical background.

The institutional setting is the Danish hospital sector. Applicants not having such prior knowledge must acquire it early on to be able to do policy relevant research and to collaborate with hospital staff.

For non-Danes the successful applicant must acquire knowledge of Danish language, in particular reading skills, during the first year of the position.

PhD students are expected to participate actively in departmental activities and activities related to the overall project ‘Hospital of the Future’.

PhD projects must be completed in three years with Odense as place of employment.

For further information contact: professor Mickael Bech, phone: +45 6550 4234 +45 6550 4234, mbe@sam.sdu.dk or professor Niels Christian Petersen phone: +45 6550 3644 +45 6550 3644, ncp@sam.sdu.dk or professor Ole Olesen, phone: +456550 3254 +456550 3254, ole@sam.sdu.dk.

Read more:
Institute of Public Health

Application, salary, etc.:

Compensation

Employment as a Salaried PhD Research Fellow is governed by the agreement of 1 October 2008 on Graduate Employees in government appendix 5 - protocol on PhD Research Fellows. Annual starting salary level for new graduates is app. DKK 300,000 plus pension scheme.

The PhD scholarships can either be accomplished in terms of the so-called 5+3 model or the 4+4 model. Scholarships according to the 5+3 model can be given to applicants with a master’s degree and have a duration of 3 years. Scholarships according to the 4+4 model can be given to applicants, who have passed the 1st year of their master’s studies, and have a duration of 4 years.

As part of the PhD program the PhD student must complete an individual planned course program. The PhD student must also achieve teaching experience during the research education. The PhD student is expected to spend a certain period with a relevant foreign research institution, normally one semester. The research unit for health economics appoints a supervisor and possibly a co-supervisor.

Applicants for a PhD scholarship must fill in the application form available on our web page http://www.sdu.dk/sam/phduk under the section Application forms for enrolment. Here you also find guidelines for preparing your project proposal (synopsis). Furthermore, applicants under the 5+3 model should submit certified copy of Master’s degree certificate including examination results, CV, project description, information on teaching experience or other forms of knowledge communication and if relevant a list of publications.

With a view to promoting equal opportunities in academic positions, the Faculty encourages all interested persons are encouraged to apply, regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation or ethnic background.

Please send in 4 copies of the application including application form, curriculum vitae, project description (synopsis), academic diploma, list of publications if relevant and publications if any, marked “Position No. 351/577-105687” to the University of Southern Denmark, The Faculty of Social Sciences, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark. The application must reach the University not later than March 24, 2010 at 12.00 noon.

Mark application Job ID 351/577-105687 and send it to:

Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultetssekretariat
Syddansk Universitet
Campusvej 55
5230 Odense M

Location: York, UK
Dates: 24 - 26 March 2010; with optional half-day introduction to Stata 23th March

The Centre for Health Economics at the University of York is running a three-day course on Regression Methods for Health Economic Evaluation. The course is now in its third edition and it will be held from 24 - 26 March 2010 at the University of York.

The course is a mixture of taught modules and practical exercises. It is intended for people currently undertaking health economic evaluations within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, consultancy, academia or the health service who wish to learn how to use regression methods to analyse individual patient-level cost, health outcome and cost-effectiveness data.

Participants are expected to have a basic familiarity with the concepts of cost-effectiveness analysis, descriptive statistics and regression methods.

The course will cover the use of regression methods for health economic evaluation of both randomised and non-randomised data. In particular, the course will focus on the use of regression methods to analyse different types of individual patient-level data. Detailed information about the topics covered can be found on the course’s webpage below.

Throughout the course computer-based practical exercises will be used to show how the methods can be applied in the statistical package Stata. A half day introduction to Stata and the commands that will be used on the course is available on 23rd March for those less familiar with the software.

Further details and booking information is available from http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/che/training/regression.htm

Limited campus accommodation is available on request. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

We hope that you will be interested in applying for the course or that you may know of others within your organisation who might be interested in attending.

Location: York, UK
Dates: 20th-22nd April 2010

3 day computer-based course hosted by the Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG), University of York, 20th-22nd April 2010

This is a three-day course focusing on the use of applied quantitative methods for the analysis of panel data encountered in health and health care. The course is run by the Health, Econometrics and Data Group, a collaboration between the Centre for Health Economics and the Department of Economics and Related Studies at the University of York.

The course is aimed at PhD students and junior researchers or policy makers working in applied health economics.

The course will explain applied health economics methods relevant to the analysis of panel data obtained from administrative or observational sources. Topics to be covered will include an introduction to panel data techniques including linear models and fixed and random effects; instrumental variables; non-linear panel data models; dynamic models; discrete-time duration models. Throughout the course, computer-based practical exercises will be used to show how these methods can be applied using the statistical package Stata.

The aims of the course are to introduce young professionals to the main techniques used in applied health economics, and to provide practical experience with the application of such techniques. By the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• formulate empirical problems involving longitudinal micro-data on health and health care
• select appropriate econometric methods
• understand methods of estimation and be able to implement them, using appropriate software
• interpret the results of the analysis

Course content

The course will cover topics relevant to the analysis of health and health care data. Sessions will be split between lectures and computer-based practicals.

The course will be held in the EXEC/computer-training lab in the Alcuin Research Resource Centre (ARRC: http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/arrc/). The software package used for the practical examples is Stata and each participant will have access to a PC with Stata 10 installed. Stata do-files containing the code required to complete the practical exercises will be provided. A basic familiarisation with Stata will be an advantage. Further information on Stata can be found at: http://www/stata.com/

Data sources relevant to the practical exercises will be provided.

The programme

The course will be provided by members of HEDG: Andrew Jones, Nigel Rice, Silvana Robone, Pedro Rosa-Dias and Eugenio Zucchelli.

Online registration will be available shortly: http://www.york.ac.uk/res/herc/research/hedg/index.htm

The Health, Econometrics and Data Group is supported by funding from the Economic and Social Research Council under the grant RES-060-25-0045.

Location: online
Date: July 2010

Final Prgram is available at http://www.icmpe.org/

The Training is sponsored by the Section on Mental Health Economics of the World Psychiatric Association.

The entire Training will be conducted through the website http://www.icmpe.org/

The Training material and the related references, are available to the Participants through password on the ICMPE website upon registration. It will enable participants to receive substantial information prior of the interactive events to be held at http://www.icmpe.org/ in July 2010.

The Training is comprised of the following courses:

MAPPING OF MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES WITHIN COUNTRIES Shekhar Saxena M.D., Co-ordinator of the Team Mental Health: Evidence and Research at World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

MENTAL HEALTH POLICY, SERVICES AND EVALUATION RESEARCH Howard H. Goldman MD, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA

ECONOMIC EVALUATION FOR HEALTH CARE DECISION MAKING Michael Drummond Ph.D., Professor of Health Economics, Centre for Health Economics, University of York, UK

MENTAL HEALTH FINANCING POLICY AND OUTCOMES ANALYSIS Teh-wei Hu Ph.D., Professor in Graduate School, Professor Emeritus of Health Economics, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

ECONOMIC EVALUATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH INTERVENTIONS Martin Knapp Ph.D., Professor of Health Economics, Centre for the Economics of Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London; and Professor of Social Policy, LSE Health & Social Care, London School of Economics, London UK

Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dates: 28-30 July 2010

This 3-day modeling course is to be held in the Millennium Hilton Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.

The short course has run over a period of 7 years as a successful collaboration between the Universities of York and Glasgow in the UK, and McMaster University in Canada. The Bangkok course will also involve researchers from the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP) in Thailand.

The teaching faculty for the modeling course will be:

• Mark Sculpher (University of York, UK)
• Andrew Briggs (University of Glasgow, UK)
• Elisabeth Fenwick (University of Glasgow, UK)
• Ron Goeree (McMaster University, Canada)

Tutoring will also be provided by researchers at HITAP.

This is an advanced course focusing specifically on decision modelling and intended for people currently undertaking modelling for health economic evaluation within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, consultancy, academia or the health service. It is also appropriate for those reviewing or preparing economic evaluation evidence for public health authorities.

By the end of the course participants will be expected to:

• Develop and populate a decision model
• Populate a Markov model with and without time-dependent probabilities
• Undertake probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) to reflect parameter uncertainty
• Present the results of a PSA using net monetary benefits and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves
• Assess expected value of perfect information.
• Model developed in Microsoft Excel and in Treeage
• Gather experience relating to the use of economic evaluation in public policy decisions

The course will provide an introduction to decision models including decision trees and standard Markov models. Greater sophistication will be added as building blocks over the 3-day workshop.The course involves a mixture of lectures and computer based exercises. Participants will need to bring their own laptop computers for the exercises.

Participants are expected to have attended a general advanced course in economic evaluation or be comfortable with the contents of “Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programs” by Drummond et al (Oxford University Press, 2005).

As an addition to the main teaching modules on modeling, we will have sessions at the end of Days 2 and 3 on the use of HTA in decision making. On Day 2 the focus will be on the use of model-based economic evaluation to inform policy decisions about the adoption of health technology. On the final day a session will consider the use of systematic reviews in HTA. HITAP will be leading these sessions: Dr.Yot Teerawattananon (program leader of HITAP), Dr. Sripen Tantivess (senior researcher of HITAP) and Miss Jomkwan Yothasamut (researcher).

Cost of the 3-day workshop:

PRIOR to March 1, 2010: Public/Academic Sector: $2,000 (Canadian dollars) Commercial Sector:$2,500 (Canadian dollars)

AFTER March 1, 2010: Public/Academic Sector: $2,500 (Canadian dollars) Commercial Sector:$3,000 (Canadian dollars)

If you would like more information or would like to register for the course in Toronto please contact Christine Henderson hendersc@mcmaster.ca.

To find more details about the Bangkok course and to register go to http://www.path-hta.ca/workshop.htm

A version of this course is also being run at:

• University of York (29-31 March 2010) (see http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/che/training/modelling.htm)
• University of Glasgow (15-17 September 2010) http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/healtheconomicappraisalsteam/

Location: Glasgow, UK
Dates: 4th-6th August 2010,

The Health Economics Appraisals Team (HEAT) at the University of Glasgow are pleased to announce a three day course on conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Through a series of lectures and hands-on workshops (using Stata and WinBUGS), this course will cover the principles and practice of conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of a variety of measures of treatment effects. In addition, participants will learn the important aspects of network meta-analysis, going beyond traditional pairwise techniques when comparing multiple treatment options.

The course is suitable for clinicians, health service researchers and other healthcare professionals who are involved in systematic reviews and meta-analyses as a piece of independent work or an integral part of a health technology assessment.

Participants should have knowledge of basic medical statistics. A basic appreciation of research design would be helpful, as would basic knowledge of Stata and WinBUGS. A half day introduction to Stata is available on 3 August for those less familiar with the software.

More information can be found on the course webpage see http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/healtheconomicappraisalsteam/

Further details and booking information are available from the HEAT administrator: heat@clinmed.gla.ac.uk

Location: Berkeley, California USA
Venue: University of California, Berkeley
Dates: August 9 - 13, 2010
Application deadline: April 15, 2010

This course will teach economic models and tools used to estimate workforce needs, demand, and supply. The course will provide an overview of key topical areas centered on increasing productivity, including skill mix, distribution, and incentives. It will analyze HRH policies that have strengthened health systems, such as improving health worker effectiveness, increasing re cruitment and retention, and reducing urban-rural imbalances.

Who should attend: This course is designed for managers, planners, and analysts who work in the human resources in health field within organizations such as Ministries of Health, health care facilities, aid organizations, and academic institutions, particularly those from low or middle income countries. The principles taught in the course will be applicable to all countries, but the case studies will focus on low-income countries. The case studies will include quantitative exercises, such as analyzing data.

Format and language: The format will be a combination of lectures and formal instruction, and group projects. Specifically, lectures will occur each morning, and afternoon small-group projects will apply the tools learned in the lectures. The course will be taught in English.

Curriculum

Day 1: Health workers and labor market principles. How do health workers function within a health system? How are health workers defined (e.g., education, skills)? What factors affect the labor force supply and demand, and how are wages determined?

Day 2: Workforce need, demand, and supply. What methods are used to estimate health workforce need and demand? How is workforce supply forecasted? How can skill mix changes reduce forecasted shortages? How is inequality measured? What are the key health worker data sources?

Day 3: Incentives. How do you recruit and retain health workers? What factors affect equity and distribution, and how can you influence them? How do you recruit workers to rural areas? What incentives have been deployed and to what effect?

Day 4: Financing. How do financing choices affect the health workforce? What are the different types of healthcare financing systems that exist, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? How do countries vary with respect to public, private, insurance, and out of pocket payments?

Day 5: Policy evaluation. How do you include an evaluation component within a policy design, for example, to test the effect of incentives? How do economists and policy-makers work together, and what are examples of how they have worked together in your home country? How do global health initiatives such as the United Nations Millennium Development Goals affect workforce planning?

Instructors:

Timothy T. Brown, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Mario R. Dal Poz, MD, PhD, MSc, World Health Organization
Brent D. Fulton, PhD, MBA, University of California, Berkeley
Thomas L. Hall, MD, DrPH, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
Audrey LaPorte, PhD, University of Toronto
Alexander S. Preker, MD, PhD, The World Bank
Richard M. Scheffler, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Agnes Soucat, MD, MPH, Ph.D, The World Bank
Joanne Spetz, PhD, University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing
Kate Tulenko, MD, MPH, MPhil, IntraHealth, CapacityPlus
Marko Vujicic, PhD, The World Bank

Logistics and Details

When: August 9-13, 2010

Location: Berkeley, California. Applicants are expected to stay at the Berkeley City Club, where the course will be held along with breakfast and lunch. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704, +1-510-848-7800, guestservices@berkeleycityclub.com

Course fee: $3,200 includes breakfast and lunch, one dinner, and course materials.

Application: Individuals who are interested in admission to the course need to submit an application and curriculum vitae by April 15, 2010. Application can be found at: http://ghwen.org/training/hrh/register

Visas: Applicants are responsible to obtain a visa.

This course is being sponsored by The Global Health Workforce Economics Network (GHWEN), housed in the University of California-Berkeley, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization. The objective of the GHWEN is to promote collaboration in health workforce economics research, with an emphasis on developing evidence for actionable policy-making.

Contact:

Amy Nuttbrock, Course Coordinator
Email: amynuttbrock@berkeley.edu
Telephone: +1-510-643-4100
Facsimile: +1-510-643-4281

Brent D. Fulton, Ph.D., Academic Coordinator
Email: fultonb@berkeley.edu
Telephone: +1-510-643-4102

Location: Indiana, USA
Start date: Fall 2010

The Economics Department at IUPUI is pleased to announce a new PhD in Economics. We will be accepting our first entering PhD class for Fall of 2010. Fellowship support will be offered on a competitive basis.

The program will specialize in Health Economics. Students will begin with PhD core training in economic theory and econometrics, emphasizing microeconomic theory and microeconometrics. Specializing in health economics will allow us to offer a two-course field sequence in health economics as well as a course focusing on the institutional context of health, health care, and health insurance. Importantly, students will also take elective courses such as biostatistics, epidemiology, bioethics, or health policy, giving them a background that will facilitate working in the interdisciplinary teams with whom health economists often interact. In addition to econometric theory, we will also offer a year-long empirical econometrics sequence, emphasizing statistical packages, working with large datasets, and problems in applied econometrics. We plan strong disciplinary training in micro theory, econometrics, and health economics enhanced with exposure to other related disciplines central to health and health care.

More information on the department and the program is online at http://liberalarts.iupui.edu/~econ. Questions can be emailed to econphd@iupui.edu.

Location: Glasgow and York, UK
Dates: York: March 29 - 31, 2010; Glasgow: September 2010 (dates to be confirmed)

The Public Health & Health Policy Section at the University of Glasgow and the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York are jointly running three-day courses on advanced modelling methods to be held at venues in Glasgow and York. The next course will be held in 2010, the course will be run at the University of York from 29th - 31st March 2010. Booking forms are online now. The course will be also run in Glasgow in September 2010. Dates to be confirmed. Please contact The Public Health & Health Policy Section at the University of Glasgow directly if you would like to attend the September 2010 course.

This is an advanced course focusing specifically on decision modelling and intended for people currently undertaking modelling for health economic evaluation within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, consultancy, academia or the health service. Participants would be expected to have attended an advanced course in economic evaluation such as the Expert Workshops in the Socio Economic Evaluation of Medicines run by the University of York.

Further details and booking information is available from the following links York based course or Glasgow based course.

Location: Leicester, UK
Venue: Vaughan College
Dates: September 20-22 2010

Overview

This course is for health economists, statisticians and decision modellers, and systematic reviewers interested in the extension of pair-wise meta-analysis to indirect and mixed treatment comparisons, in the context of either clinical effectiveness or economic evaluation.

The course focuses on Bayesian methods for statistically combining evidence from networks of trials, integrating statistical estimation within a probabilistic modeling framework. The assumptions underlying both pair-wise meta-analysis and mixed treatment comparisons are critically examined. The course also covers methods for detecting and managing heterogeneity and inconsistency.

This is an informal, hands-on course, based on a mixture of lectures and practical work on published datasets using the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo package WinBUGS. Course tutors are available throughout to answer questions and help with exercises.

It is a collaboration between the Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester and the Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol.

Intended Audience

• Anyone undertaking or managing health technology assessments, including in the context of cost-effectiveness analysis,
• Statisticians, familiar with the principles of meta-analysis, who wish to learn about Bayesian methods for evidence synthesis particularly in the context of cost-effectiveness analysis,
• Anyone responsible for managing systematic reviews.

Course Faculty

Prof Keith Abrams,
Prof Tony Ades,
Debbi Caldwell,
Nicola Cooper,
Sofia Dias,
Prof Alex Sutton and Nicky Welton

Course Pre-Requisites

Participants should be familiar with the basic principles of meta-analysis, and have a good working knowledge of logistic regression and statistical interaction. Experience with probabilistic decision analysis in cost effectiveness analysis would be an advantage, but is not necessary.

Further Details and Registration Forms from:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cobm/research/mpes