PhD Thesis:
Poverty, rural inequality and child health in Pakistan : does living in poor communities matter?

My thesis aims to examine the association between child health status, rural inequality and poverty. It will investigate whether child health measured by nutritional status (heights & weights) and morbidity status (both acute & chronic) is same across all rural communities (villages). This research will also look at health care seeking behavior of morbid children across gender, household socioeconomic status and villages. Although the focus of this study is on child health and rural inequality, the impact of other factors such as a child's age and sex, household socioeconomic status, parental education and employment, mother's nutritional status, and ownership of land will also be analysed. The research will be conducted on children under five years of age in rural Pakistan . Principal component and factorial analysis methods will be used to categorise children and households into poor and rich on the basis of ownership of assets and dwelling conditions.

PhD Thesis:
Institutional reform of health care systems in Central and Eastern Europe

After the fall of communism in 1989-91, countries of Central and Eastern Europe embarked on a transition towards market economies.  This rendered a social experiment, under which the states of similar initial characteristics proceeded along different lines of reform.  In my thesis, I will systematically review the institutional changes that took place over the recent two decades and analyse their impact on health systems' performance.  In particular, I will attempt to explain varied levels of the ‘socialist inheritance’, which includes heavy reliance on hospital care, an extensive informal sector, unsustainable financing, and a lack of efficiency and quality incentives.  Moreover, I look to extend my study to such current topics as the role for voluntary health insurance in the region, preconditions for managed competition, and preparedness for the challenges of aged and long term care.

PhD Thesis:
A study of micro health insurance schemes in Bangladesh

My thesis proposes to conduct a study to analyse the factors influencing the success or failure of micro health insurance schemes in Bangladesh. Findings from the study are expected to contribute to understanding the current context, and to designing an appropriate micro health insurance scheme in Bangladesh with the potential to protect people, particularly the poor, from the financial shocks resulting from illnesses while providing access to provide quality health services for all at a reasonable cost.

PhD thesis
Motor vehicle injuries:  economic evaluation of a new treatment modality

This project will evaluate the insurance claims and health care costs associated with soft tissue injuries caused by motor vehicle accidents in the ACT.  A trial to evaluate the clinical outcomes of a multidisciplinary specialised referral clinic, supported by an education program for people injured in motor vehicle accidents in the ACT, has recently been completed.  The data from that trial, together with administrative data on utilisation of health services by subjects in the trial health, will underpin an economic analysis of the new treatment modality relative to the current management or ‘usual care’.

PhD thesis
Developing best practice guidelines for cost-of-illness studies with an application to a novel Australian health issue

Cost-of-illness (COI) analysis is an established field of health economics research. However, there are as yet no best practice guidelines for conducting such analyses, and there is debate regarding the value and context of applying COI in the Australian health policy environment. Based upon economic theory, this research will explore the body of previous COI studies and critiques, to determine what represents best practice in COI methodology and application. Using an Australian health risk factor not previously studied as an example, this research will apply COI best practice guidelines to epidemiological and cost data to estimate for that risk factor the associated health system expenditures, productivity losses and 'burden of disease' measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs).