Integrating Health Economics and Infectious Disease Modelling: Methods and Examples for Informing Policy

Organizers:

Dr. Marie Varughese (Institute of Health Economics and University of Alberta), Dr. Ellen Rafferty (erafferty@ihe.ca)– Institute of Health Economics and University of Alberta

Description:

Mathematical epidemiology and infectious disease models played an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing insights that helped inform policy-making and resource planning. Modelling for impact for decision-making audiences requires additional insights from health economic methods, which serves as important complement to evidence generated from infectious disease models. This mini-symposium will be organized by Dr. Varughese and Dr. Rafferty who lead the Infectious Disease and Vaccines Portfolio at the Institute of Health Economics. Their primary roles include leading projects that include both infectious disease modelling and health economics methods for informing policy. This mini-symposium will consist of four presentations that will: a) provide an overview of health economics including its integration with infectious disease modelling (presentation #1); b) illustrate diverse examples that highlight the use of mathematical modelling and health economics for informing policy (presentations #2 and #3); and c) provide an example of applying mathematical modelling methods in health economic models to overcome a challenge related to unknown parameter estimation, which can help mitigate data limitations in answering policy related questions. We plan to also host a short panel with Dr. Rafferty as the moderator where the audience can interact with the speakers and ask questions.

Diversity Statement:

Topics included in this mini-symposium span diverse areas of epidemiology combined with the novel area of economics. Presentation topics will be of interest to national and international audiences and have equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) considerations such as age group, sex, and the foreign-born populations. The panel has an equal gender split, and the speakers come from a diversity of professional backgrounds including individuals in the early, mid and late stages of their career.