October 2025 Newsletter

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Update from President Kara Hanson: Appointment of new Executive Director

I’m delighted to announce that, following a competitive recruitment process, we have appointed Professor Susan Ettner as the new Executive Director for IHEA. She will take up her position on 1 January 2026. Susan brings a vast experience of health economics research, teaching and leadership, and will be a great asset to our community. Her bio is below. Susan will join her first Board meeting this week and will succeed Professor Di McIntyre, who has led IHEA since 2016. Dr. Ettner is a Distinguished Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research in the David Geffen School of Medicine and in the Department of Health Policy & Management in the Fielding School of Public Health. A first-gen college graduate, Dr. Ettner earned her bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics/Economics and German from the University of California Santa Barbara and a doctorate in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before joining UCLA, Dr. Ettner served as Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. In 2001, she received the Alice S. Hersch New Investigator Award by the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy. Dr. Ettner has served as the Principal Investigator on 26 grants or sub-awards and has 230 peer-reviewed publications, focusing in particular on behavioral healthcare. Dr. Ettner was recognized as one of the most highly-cited U.S. researchers in public health and health services research from 1960-2020 (Ioannidis et al., 2019). From 2020-2024, Dr. Ettner served as the Dean of Graduate Education at UCLA, providing oversight for over 12,000 students in 133+ academic and professional graduate degree programs. As graduate dean, her priorities were supporting student success through policy and new programming; promoting equity, diversity and inclusion; enhancing data and information support for campus decision-making; and increasing transparency, equity and efficiency in service delivery. Among other initiatives, she created a Graduate & Postdoctoral Success team, expanded faculty mentor training, and implemented an inaugural award for faculty mentoring of graduate students and a retention program for first-gen and underrepresented doctoral students, including peer mentoring. Dr. Ettner is looking forward to working with the leadership of IHEA to support its members.

Upcoming Board Elections

As indicated in previous newsletters, the IHEA Board revised the Bylaws earlier this year.  The main motivation behind these changes was to ensure that the Board includes representation from all UN regions, reflects the distribution of members and that all Directors are elected by IHEA members (rather than identified by regional or national associations). The upcoming election will be the largest in IHEA’s history, with seven positions being contested. We are very encouraged by the large number of IHEA members who have expressed an interest in standing in this election. The expressions of interest have been reviewed by the Board Search Committee and the Board to ensure that all candidates meet the Bylaws criteria.  The candidates, listed in alphabetical order for each position, are: President-ElectEeshani Kandpal, Center for Global DevelopmentPaula Lorgelly, University of AucklandDirector for Africa Peter Binyaruka, Ifakara Health InstituteCyprian Mostert, University of DublinJustice Nonvignon, MSH and University of GhanaDirector for Latin America & the CaribbeanDagna Constenla, ClimawahealthEduardo Gonzalez Pier, Aceso GlobalDaniel Maceira, Universidad de Buenos AiresFlavia Mori Sarti, University of Sao PauloDirector for Northern AmericaMarcella Alsan, Stanford UniversityStirling Bryan, University of British ColumbiaMonica Deza, Syracuse UniversityOmar Galarraga, Brown UniversityDirector for OceaniaSonja de New, Monash UniversityAngela Devine, University of MelbourneStephen Jan, The George Institute for Global HealthEarly Career Researcher Director from the Global NorthAlex Hoagland, University of TorontoDao Nguyet Ha Le, Deakin UniversityKa Kaet Lim, Queen Mary UniversityAllison Portnoy, Boston UniversityPhuong Bich Tran, University of OxfordEarly Career Researcher from the Global SouthAllama Elmehdi, Global Innovation InstituteDarshini Govindasamy, South African Medical Research CouncilHenry Bernard Moscoso Miranda, Ecuador Escuela Superior Politécnica del LitoralCandidates’ election statements and CVs will be posted on the IHEA website by mid-November. Voting will take place between 25 November and 9 December 2025.  All current members will be sent an email with their personalized link to the voting system.  All members can vote for each of the seven positions (i.e. voting for candidates for a particular region is NOT restricted to members from that region). Given that more than two candidates are standing for most positions, we will be using what is known as the “instant-runoff-voting” system, which requires members to rank their preferences for candidates, e.g. from 1 to 4.  In terms of this voting system, the person with the least “rank 1” votes in the first round is removed from consideration, and their votes will be distributed to the remaining candidates for that position according to the “rank 2” preference.  This process is repeated until there is one candidate with a majority of votes, who will be declared the elected Director.

We encourage all IHEA members to participate in the elections – make your voice heard on who should serve on IHEA’s most important governance structure and who IHEA’s future President should be.  Please make sure that your membership is up to date to be able to participate in this important decision-making process.

Call for expressions of interest in serving on an IHEA committee

IHEA is seeking new members for the Student Prize and Arrow Award Committee. Many IHEA members have indicated an interest in becoming more involved in IHEA; one of the ways in which you can do this is by applying to serve on one of these committees. Information on the committees for which we are seeking new members is provided below. If you are interested in serving on one of these committees, please submit the following information here by end of day on Friday, 28 November 2025:A brief motivation (500 words maximum) that: indicates which committee you are interested in; outlines why you are interested in serving on this particular committee; and indicates how your interests and experience (even if limited) would make you suitable to serve on this committee.A brief CV indicating: qualifications (degrees and institutions that you have graduated from or are currently studying at); current institutional affiliation; a link to your publication list (e.g. Google Scholar, ResearchGate, or institutional webpage); and other information that is relevant to the committee for which you are applying.Members of the IHEA Board and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Promotion and Monitoring Committee will review all EOIs and will select members for each committee according to their suitability for the focus of that committee (based on applicants’ written motivation and CV) and to promote geographic, gender and other aspects of diversity.

Information on committees for which new members are being sought:Student Prize Committee At least two new members are sought for the Student Prize CommitteeThe annual IHEA Student Paper Prize is awarded to the best health economics Master’s or Doctoral student paper submitted for consideration.Committee members serve a four-year term and may be re-appointed for up to one additional term.The Committee does not meet; instead, members are asked to review and score papers submitted for consideration for this prize. Scoring criteria include potential contribution to the literature (general interest and policy impact), methodology (potential academic innovation) and potential for publication in a peer-reviewed international journal. This work is undertaken in the first quarter of each year.Applicants should have some experience supervising student research projects and/or peer-review of journal manuscripts. Arrow Award Committee Several new members are sought for the Arrow Award Committee.The annual Arrow Award is presented to the best published health economics paper submitted or nominated for consideration.Committee members serve a three-year term and may be re-appointed for up to one additional term.The Committee does not meet; instead, members are asked to review and score papers. Scoring criteria include potential contribution to the literature, methodology and clarity. This work is undertaken in the first quarter of each year.Applicants should have an established research and publication track record.Submit your interest through the following form.

Call for Submissions for Student Paper Prize

Are you a health economics Masters or Doctoral student? Why not submit a paper from your degree research for consideration for the 2026 Student Paper Prize. You could be on the stage in the opening plenary of the 2027 IHEA Congress in Ecuador.  2025 Student Paper Prize Winners

Deadline: Monday, January 19, 2026 The International Health Economics Association (IHEA) is pleased to invite submissions for the Annual Student Paper Prize in Health Economics.A student is defined as someone currently studying (full or part-time) at a higher education institution, at either a Master’s or Doctoral level.  In addition, students who graduated in the past year (since January 2025) qualify as long as the paper was written while registered as a student. Papers can be published or unpublished, but must be in a comparable format to a published paper in Journal of Health Economics or Health Economics, of maximum length 8,000 words (excluding abstract, tables, figures, references and any appendices). Papers should be in English. Previous winners of this Prize are not eligible to submit a paper. Papers will be reviewed by an International Committee chaired by Shiko Maruyama (University of Osaka). The Prize will be: complimentary registration for the 2027 IHEA Congress to present the paper in a Student Prize Special Organized Session chaired by the IHEA President, or Chair of the Prize Committee; a cash prize; and the offer (if the author wishes, and the paper is unpublished) of potential fast-track publication in Health Economics, subject to Editorial approval. The runners-up will receive a small cash prize and complimentary registration for the 2027 IHEA Congress. They will be invited to give brief presentations at the IHEA Congress Student Prize Special Organized Session.  All prize winners will also receive a certificate that will be presented during the Opening Plenary of the Congress. Students are invited to submit their papers via the online system here (select the “Student Paper Prize” button and then the “Submit a Paper” button). You will be asked to complete a form and to upload two files:Your full paper (including abstract, tables, figures, references and any appendices)A cover letter, signed by your supervisor, which outlines your contribution to the paper and research on which it is based (percentage and nature of contribution – conceptualization, data collection, analysis, writing, etc.) and a description of the relative contribution of any co-authors. The student contribution should be at least 75%.

Call for Submissions for Arrow Award

Deadline: Monday, January 19, 2026 In pursuit of greater diversity in the papers considered for this award, including the research topics and health system contexts where research is undertaken, IHEA would like to encourage its members to nominate papers published in peer-reviewed journals during 2025 that push the frontiers of health economics forward. Nominations for the Arrow Award can be submitted via a portal on the IHEA website (select the “Arrow Award” button and then the “Submit a Paper” button). You will be asked to provide a brief motivation and must upload a copy of the published paper.

HERC Virtual Visitors Scheme

The Health Economics Research Centre is excited to announce that the fourth round of the HERC Virtual Visitors Scheme (this time aimed at early-career health economists from LMIC in Africa) is now taking applications.   Applications close on 2nd Nov 2025   Details on how to apply, please click HERE.

Upcoming Events

Do Vaping Taxes Tip the Scale? The Effect of E-Cigarette Taxation on Obesity Date: November 3, 2025 Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm UTC Speakers: Dr Charles Courtemanche Presented by: Economics of Risky Health Behaviors SIG Learn more here

ECR Presentations: 1. Costs of Technological Frictions: Evidence from EHR (Non-Interoperability) 2. Sharing is Caring: The Role of Health Information Exchange on Patient Care Date: November 4, 2025 Time: 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm UTC Speakers: Kelsey Moran and Joseph Doyle Presented by: Economics of Digital Health Technology SIG Learn more here

Equity Informative Economic Evaluation: Networking and Mentoring Event Date: November 18, 2025 Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm UTC Presented by: Equity Informative Economic Evaluation SIG Learn more here

The Introduction of PrEP on HIV: Incidence, Mortality and Heterogeneity Date: December 1, 2025 Time: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm UTC Speakers: Sebastian Tello Presented by: Economics of Risky Health Behaviors SIG Learn more here

Stay tuned for more on upcoming IHEA webinars! You can view all 2024-2025 events here.

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