health care

New DPhil (PhD) opportunity in health economics and genomics

James Buchanan Other, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , ,

We have just advertised a new DPhil (PhD) position here at the Health Economics Research Centre in the area of health economics and genomics. The proposed start date is October 2021 and the full title is “Valuing the outcomes associated with genome sequencing in economic evaluations”. The student will be supervised by myself and Professor Sarah Wordsworth.

The primary aim of this project is to evaluate existing instruments used to generate quality of life weights for use in extra-welfarist economic evaluations, in terms of their capacity to capture all impacts of genome sequencing on patient wellbeing. Such instruments will include the EQ-5D-5L, the SF-36 and ICECAP capability measures. We expect the student will: 

  • Critically appraise the theoretical capacity of existing instruments to capture the impacts of genome sequencing;
  • Review the current use of these instruments in this context;
  • Generate new data on the use of these instruments in patients undergoing genome sequencing;
  • Identify instruments that effectively value the outcomes associated with genome sequencing;
  • Describe the characteristics of any new instruments that may be required.

The deadline for applications is 1200 noon UK time on Friday 8th January 2021.

If anybody has any questions about this project then please don’t hesitate to get in touch by email (james.buchanan@dph.ox.ac.uk). Please also share the details of this project with anybody who you think might be interested.

Full details of this project are available here.

New special theme section in Value in Health on Precision Medicine

James Buchanan Publication , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In 2018, I contributed to the publication of a special theme section in Value in Health on assessing the value of clinical genomic testing. You can read a blog post about this publication here, and access the special issue here. My contribution to this was as a member of the Global Economics and Evaluation of Clinical Genomics Sequencing Working Group (GEECS), formerly known as the Population Genomics Health Economists Working Group.

I’m pleased to say that we have just published a second theme section in the same journal, this time focused on evaluation methods for moving precision medicine into practice and policy. This theme section features five papers from the GEECS team and one paper by the ISPOR Special Interest Group on Precision Medicine and Advanced Therapies. As before, the work was chaired by Kathryn A. Phillips, PhD.

Continue reading →

Just published: Value In Health theme section on assessing the value of clinical genomic testing

James Buchanan Publication , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Around 12 months ago I joined an exciting new venture: the Population Genomics Health Economists Working Group. This group is made up of health economists and policy researchers from major institutions across the globe who have been at the forefront of the incorporation of genomics into clinical care. The group is chaired by Kathryn A. Phillips, PhD, Director of the Center for Translational and Policy Research on Personalized Medicine (TRANSPERS) at the University of California. You can find out more about the group members here.

The first key output from this working group has been published today: a themed section in the September issue of Value in Health which addresses the challenges and solutions for assessment of the value of clinical genomic testing.

Continue reading →

New PhD opportunity in health economics and genomics

James Buchanan Other , , , , , , ,

I’m pleased to announce that we are offering a DPhil (PhD) position here at the Health Economics Research Centre in the area of health economics and genomics. The proposed start date is October 2017 and the full title is “Linking genomic and clinical data in health economic evaluations: identifying challenges and exploring potential solutions“.

The aim of this DPhil project is to comprehensively investigate the challenges and opportunities in this area using data from the 100,000 Genomes Project, with an emphasis on rare diseases.

The deadline for applications is 1200 noon UK time on Friday 6th January 2017.

If anybody has any questions about this project then please don’t hesitate to get in touch by email (james.buchanan@dph.ox.ac.uk). Please also share the details of this project with anybody who you think might be interested.

Full details of this project are available here.

blog-logo

What are people willing to pay for whole genome sequencing information?

James Buchanan Paper review , , , , , , , , ,

Given the wide variety of health and non-health outcomes associated with genomic tests, it is perhaps particularly important that the preferences of key stakeholders are considered within the health technology assessment process for these interventions. Indeed, in a paper published last year, Rogowski et al. highlight the importance of ‘preference-based personalization’ in this context. To date, few studies have generated data on preferences for genomic tests. However, a recent publication in Genetics in Medicine by Deborah Marshall and colleagues has attempted to address this gap in the literature.

Continue reading →

Introduction

James Buchanan Introduction , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello. Chances are you’re a health economist, although you might also be a researcher in a different field of healthcare. You might even be a scientist (apologies in advance for any bad science that might follow). Whoever you are, you’re very welcome. The aim of this introductory post is to tell you what you should expect from this blog. Hopefully you’ll be sufficiently intrigued to return, read some more articles and contribute to the growing debate surrounding the application of standard health economic methods in the field of genomics.

This blog is going to assume that you know a little bit about genomics. Specifically, this blog is going to assume that you have at least read the “What are genomic technologies?” section of this blog, a short introduction for a layperson who already has a little bit of science knowledge. Of course, many of you will have a greater knowledge of genetics and genomics than this simple introduction, but this blog is intended to be broadly accessible to stimulate wide debate, so the aim is to keep the genomics jargon to a minimum. This blog is also going to assume that the average reader has some basic knowledge about health economics. Those who don’t could do a lot worse than frequent the excellent “Academic Health Economists’ Blog”.

Continue reading →