Monica Deza CV- Click Here!
My passion for Health Economics started since my years in graduate school. I completed my PhD degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley in May 2012 under the supervision of David Card, where my fields of specialization were Labor Economics and Economic Demography with particular emphasis in Economics of Risky Health Behaviors. After graduation, I joined the Department of Economics at the University of Texas at Dallas as an Assistant Professor (2012-2017) and then the Department of Economics at City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center (2017-2023). I am currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at Syracuse University (2023-current), as well as a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) program on Health Economics and the program for Children and Families.
My research focuses on risky health behaviors among youth, in particular drug use and criminal behavior, in a number of contexts. I have used a variety of empirical methods in my work that run the gamut from quasi-experimental to structural, and I have published in Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Labor Economics, American Law and Economic Review, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, Journal of Urban economics, among others.
Throughout my academic career, I have been continuously involved in service to the Health Economics field, primarily through the American Society of Health Economist (ASHEcon). Early in my career, I have served in the ASHEcon scientific committee, and in recent years, I have been the Program Chair for the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illegal Substances Program for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 ASHEcon Annual meetings. I became a health economist during the time where Health Economics was a subfield of Labor Economics and we would face questioning about whether our research questions were Economics. It has been delightful to watch our field grow into the strong and continuously growing research field it is now. I would be honored to contribute to IHEA and serve towards its mission of developing a strong and inclusive global community of Health Economists, increase its visibility among junior scholars, and contribute to its growth. Serving as a Board Director would allow me to give back to the Health Economics community that has supported my own professional journey. I have been an active member of the Health Economics community my entire career, as a referee, discussant, conference session organizer, program chair, and It would be a privilege to apply my experience with ASHECon and my years of experience as a Health Economist to contribute to IHEA as a Board Director position for North America.