Dr Balasooriya's research interests lie in the field of health economics, focusing on investigating health inequalities and the impact of various factors on health outcomes. He obtained his PhD in Health Economics from Griffith University in Australia in 2022, where he researched the application of recent innovations in the study of economic inequality to the health field. After completing his PhD, he took up a position at the University of Queensland as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. In this role, he is continuing his work in the field of health economics and focusing on topics such as ageing, dementia, the health impact of sun exposure, and health inequality. He uses quantitative techniques to model the complex relationships between various health outcomes and confounding factors.
Professor Tracy Comans, a UQ Amplify Fellow at the Centre for Health Services Research, University of Queensland, and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, is renowned for her innovative application of economics in multifaceted health services contexts. Her pioneering work involves the creation of comprehensive models that extend beyond traditional economic models, enabling a broader assessment of benefits and costs.
In addition to her model development, Professor Comans applies these economic models to explore the cost-effectiveness of various health care interventions. She spearheads and cultivates health services research with a particular focus on older individuals, allied health, and rehabilitation services.
With a solid academic foundation in both physiotherapy and economics (Hons), Professor Comans brings a unique perspective to her research. Her clinical background as a physiotherapist, specializing in aged care, dementia, and rehabilitation, further enriches her work. Her expertise was recognized with a NHMRC Boosting Dementia Fellowship, which she held from 2017 to 2021.
Currently, Professor Comans is making significant strides in measuring the quality of care for older individuals. This work holds substantial potential for impacting the health and aged care industry. As our population ages, the demand for high-quality health care services tailored to the needs of older individuals is escalating. Despite this, there is a lack of agreement on what constitutes quality care for this demographic, and existing measures may not fully capture the aspects of care most important to them. Professor Comans’ work is instrumental in addressing this critical issue.
Professor Brenda Gannon is a Professor in the School of Economics and Affiliate Professor at the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland and an Affiliate Professor at the Mater Research Institute, The University of Queensland. She is also an affiliate member of CEPAR (ARC Centre for Research Excellence in Population Ageing Research). Since 2022, she is Honorary Adjunct Professor at University of Galway, Ireland. She was Director of Research in the School of Economics from 2018-2023. Professor Gannon is an international expert in the field of Health Economics of Ageing and has won over $30 million, as chief investigator, in collaborative research income, with economics, medicine and social science with academia and industry. She has developed a range of projects in Economics of Ageing on topics of dementia, physical activity and cognition, health shocks and health care utilization, and consumer directed care and home care. She has worked extensively on interdisciplinary research with gerontologists, clinicians and methodologists. Her work has been influential in the development of programs for falls preventions and informing policy on disability and social inclusion, and has positively impacted on the health of many older people across the world. Her work also spans across the lifecyle from birth, and she has worked with clinicians on trials for newborns with breathing difficulities. She is the Health Economics and Epidemiology lead for the Queensland Family Cohort (QFC) Study, the pilot led by Mater Research, and is on the QFC Governance Committee, focusing on maternal mental health, inequalities of opportunity, alcohol use and related health care use and costs.
Professor Gannon’s research carries a dual role, (1) as an applied health economist and econometrician using big and complex data, utilising health economics theory and concepts to test the validity of causal hypotheses, (2) collaborator across all Faculties leading critical economic evaluations. Her research is funded by her position as chief investigator on projects from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, EU H2020, Health Research Board, Ireland and the National Institute for Health Research, UK. She is the lead economist on projects in dementia, emergency care and paediatric care. All studies incorporate methodological innovations and applied research. She has provided advice to government at senior levels, and had a Ministerial appointment, on the Medical Services Advisory Committee Evaluation Sub-Committee 2017-2021. She sits regularly as a panel member of various NHMRC and MRFF grant review committees and has also previously appointed to the EU Commission grant panels. She has been invited to give several talks at international fora, including a key note talk on ageing and longevity at the National Academy of Medicine, Global Roadmap to Healthy Longevity, in Washington DC. Professor Gannon was an elected Professorial member of the Academic Board at UQ 2018-2022. In 2023, Professor Gannon was elected a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Christian Gericke is Clinical Dean and Professor of Medicine at the University of Newcastle, Director of Research and Neurologist at Calvary Mater Newcastle, Honorary Neurologist at the John Hunter Hospital, and Adjunct Professor of Neurology at Fiji National University. He is the Convener of the Specialist Medical Review Council (SMRC), Australian Government, a Member of the Queensland Neurology/Neurosurgery Medical Assessment Tribunal, and regularly acts as an Independent Medical Expert for the Supreme Courts of Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia, and the Queensland Coroners Court. He consults privately in Brisbane.
Before this, he was the Clinical Director of Neurology at The Prince Charles Hospital, Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland, Executive Director of Medical Services, Director of Research and Consultant Neurologist at Cairns Hospital and Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Public Health at James Cook University. He also chaired the Far North Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC).
From 2013 to 2016, he led the Wesley Research Institute, a non-profit medical research institute based at the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, as its CEO and Director of Research. In 2016/2017, he spent a sabbatical as Consultant Neurologist with a special interest in Epilepsy at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Since 2013, he has been an Honorary Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland.
From 2010 to 2012, he was Professor of Public Health and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth and Deputy Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for the English South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC).
From 2006 to 2010, he was Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Centre for Health Services Research at the University of Adelaide. He also held various roles for the Australian Commonwealth and State Governments, including as Medical Director for Safety and Quality for the State of Tasmania.
From 2003 to 2006, he was Senior Research Fellow /Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Systems Research and Management at Berlin University of Technology, one of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies hubs. He has experience working as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company and as an advisor to the European Commission, WHO, GIZ and the World Bank. His expertise and research interests are in health systems research and health policy, health services research, and the economic evaluation of health interventions. He initiated and directed a new Master's programme in Health Economics and Policy at the University of Adelaide. He is an Editorial Board Member of Frontiers in Neurology, Australian Health Review, Internal Medicine Journal and PLOS ONE.
Prof Gericke studied medicine at the Free University of Berlin and spent one year as a DAAD scholar at Tufts and Harvard Medical Schools in Boston, Massachusetts. He was awarded an M.D. research doctorate (magna cum laude) in cognitive neurology from the Free University of Berlin. After completing clinical specialist training in neurology, epileptology and clinical neurophysiology at the Charite University Hospital in Berlin and the University Hospitals of Strasbourg and Geneva, he studied tropical medicine at the University of Aix-Marseille, obtained an M.P.H. from the University of Cambridge, an M.Sc. in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics/London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, an MBA from Deakin University, and a higher doctorate (Habilitation) in health systems research from Berlin University of Technology. He also holds an Advanced Diploma in Medical Law from King's Inns School of Law in Dublin and is a Certified Independent Medical Examiner (CIME) with the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME).
He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) in Neurology, the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (FAFPHM), the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCP Edin), the European Academy of Neurology (FEAN), the American Neurological Association (FANA), the American Academy of Neurology (FAAN) and Associate Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (AFRACMA).
He is the Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists (ANZAN) Therapeutics Committee, Chair of the Ethics Section of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) Research Committee and a Member of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Standards and Best Practice Council. He also serves on the Federal Council of the Australian Medical Association (AMA).
I am an academic and consultant working in global health with a focus on health technology assessment (HTA), health systems and services research, and the use of medicines in populations. I have a particular interest in the use of data and research for evidence-informed decision making and implementation science in the context of low and middle income countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. I have worked on international health projects in Indonesia and am currently working on several projects in HTA and medicines use in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa. I work with an extensive network of clinicians and health professionals to investigate the use of medicines and adverse effects in general practice, cancer, psychiatry, neurology, and internal medicine. I have honorary or visiting appointments at the University of Queensland (UQ, Brisbane, Australia), Imperial College London (UK, International Decision Support Initiative) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana). I have a BSc(Hons) and MPH from UQ and a PhD from Monash University. I have lived or worked in Australia (Brisbane, Melbourne), Canada (Toronto), Indonesia (Yogyakarta), UK (London), and Ghana (Accra, Kumasi). I worked as a consultant in HTA in Australia for many years evaluating submissions to subsidise medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). I am an experienced teacher having coordinated courses, lectured, and tutored in undergraduate and postgraduate programs. I was a Foundation Coordinator in the UQ Master of Pharmaceutical Industry Practice (from 2019). I am an advisor on diverse PhD and student research projects.
Dr Syed Afroz Keramat is a Research Fellow (health economist) at the Centre for Health Services Research (CHSR), University of Queensland. Prior to joining CHSR, Dr Afroz held academic and research positions at Khulna University (Bangladesh) and American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB). He has completed PhD in health economics from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Dr. Afroz has earned three master's degrees (MSc) from prestigious European institutions. He attended the University of Warwick (UK) to get his MSc in economics; Lund University (Sweden) to earn his MSc in development economics; and Pavia University (Italy) to earn his MSc in risk and emergency management; all on full scholarships. Dr. Afroz’s primary fields of research encompass health economics, public health, health services research, and health technology assessment. He possesses significant expertise in utilising longitudinal data to provide an evidence base for research and inform health policy. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles (including 17 first-authored) over the last five years. Several awards, such as the 2022 and 2021 UniSQ HDR Publication Excellence Awards, demonstrate his capacity to undertake high-quality research. His research works have received international media attention. For example, his research findings were featured in “The Chronicle” and “PharmacoEconomics & outcome news”. At present, he holds the position of Associate Editor for the esteemed academic journals 'BMC Public Health' and 'PLoS ONE'. Dr Afroz is a member of several professional associations including the International Health Economics Association (iHEA), the Australian Health Economics Society (AHES), and the Health Services Research Association Australia New Zealand (HSRAANZ).
Dr Afroz is currently available to supervise master's thesis or PhD students seeking to undertake research in the domains of health economics, public health, health services research, and economic evaluation.
Julie joined the University of Queensland as an Associate Professor in May 2023. Julie participated in designing the Journeys Home Survey, a longitudinal study of Australians who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. Her current research revolves around a number of issues related to disadvantage in education, housing, health and labour economics. Specifically, she works on homelessness & precarious housing, substance use, incarceration, gender gaps in education, peer effects and female's labour market participation. Julie is developing a research agenda aiming to support the development of better opportunities for Indigenous Australians. This includes a project to evaluate the impact of Indigenous preferential procurement programs and a project on “Historical frontier violence: drivers, legacy and the role of truth-telling”, both supported by ARC funding.
Dr Kim-Huong Nguyen is a Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at the University of Queensland. Her research centres on the efficient and equitable allocation of resources to support brain health in disadvantaged populations. She applies economic methods and theories to evaluate interventions, programmes and public policies for neurodegenerative diseases, brain injuries, and mental disorders. As a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health with the Global Brain Health Institute (Trinity College Dublin and University of California, San Francisco), she collaborates closely with multidisciplinary teams—including artists, medical professionals, engineers, industry partners, advocates, and health and social care consumers—to advance knowledge and transform practices for brain health.
Dr Anton Pak is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland. Anton is an applied economist by training and his research interests focus on the behaviour of patients and their choices, utilisation of emergency department services, waiting time modelling, and the economics of digital health. Anton examines empirical questions by utilising health economics theory and concepts and by analysing large panel and cross-sectional datasets (including linked data) using classical econometrics techniques, as well as machine learning methods.
Anton is currently co-leading an Emergency Medicine Foundation funded project “ED waiting time predictions in real-time: development of data acquisition system and performance evaluation of advanced statistical models.”, which is being undertaken in partnership with Princess Alexandra Hospital. Anton has worked extensively on interdisciplinary research with statisticians, mathematical modellers, clinicians, epidemiologists, and public health experts.
Prior to joining the Centre, Anton worked as a Research Fellow in Applied Economics and Data Scientist at James Cook University. His previous experience also includes working as a management consultant and university lecturer.
Anton has a PhD (Economics) from The University of Queensland.
Dr Snoswell is a Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for Health Services Research, focusing on the economic evaluation of telehealth. Dr Snoswell currently working with the NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability to explore the economic efficiency of implementing telehealth initiatives in Australia. Previous research projects include partnership with The Centre of Research Excellence in Telehealth (CRE) and an economic evaluation of teledermatology in the area of skin cancer.
Dr Snoswell is also a pharmacist with 10 years clinical practice and education experience. Current secondment and affiliate positions include the Princess Alexandra Hospital, and the UQ School of Pharmacy. Dr Snoswell is passionate about optimising healthcare outcomes, with a focus on technology, data security, privacy, and empowering patients.
I am the Interim Director at The University of Queensland’s Centre for the Business and Economics of Health (CBEH). I also lead Health Technology Assessment for the Centre, which involves evaluating submissions made to the Australian Government to reimburse new medicines and medical devices through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). My research is focused on the economic evaluation of health interventions to inform decision making and promote value-based health care. I have pioneered the application of Value of Information (Research) analysis to enhance the efficiency of clinical trials and maximise the return on investment from medical research.
I have extensive experience working with key stakeholders including consumers, clinicians, decision makers and researchers. I am chief investigator on over $40 million Category 1 grants from the NHMRC, MRFF and ARC. In addition, I lead several projects for the Department of Health and other peak organisations.
I chair the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)-Oncology Group, and I am the past chair of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia's (COSA)-Epidemiology Group and the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA)-Research Prioritisation Group. I am an Associate Editor for Value in Health, and an Editorial Board Member for Medical Decision Making and PharmacoEconomics-open journals.
