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| Happy New Year from IHEA |
| On behalf of the IHEA Board of Directors and staff, we would like to wish all of our members, volunteers, and committee members a Happy New Year! In 2026, there is a lot to look forward to within our organization – from engaging and educational webinars, mentoring and fellowship opportunities, and more, we are looking forward to a year of opportunity, learning, and growth! |
| Welcome Message from New 2026/27 President: Virginia Wiseman |
| Greetings and a very happy 2026 to all of you. I am very excited to write to you in my new role as President of IHEA. For the past 2 years, as President-Elect, I have been working closely with Kara Hanson, our past president, Di McIntyre, our past Executive Director (ED), and all members of the Board to establish effective working relationships and to learn about all the different activities that IHEA delivers. I would like to thank them all for their ongoing support and to welcome Paula Lorgelly as President-Elect and each of our newly elected Board members. I am also looking forward to working side-by-side with our new Executive Director, Susan Ettner, who has hit the ground running, eagerly consulting with all the team to support our current activities and seek out new opportunities to further our mission. It is a privilege to be part of this talented team, which cares so much about its members. I was fortunate to meet with many of you in Bali at the 2025 IHEA Congress. Our congresses demonstrate many things, especially our diverse interests and the ever-increasing landscape of issues that health economists are grappling with. There really is something special about us all coming together at a global level to experience this diversity, learn from each other, build new partnerships, and shape the future of our discipline. Having said that, it was a challenging time to be arranging an international meeting, not least because of the significant funding cuts and travel restrictions faced by many of our members. We will continue exploring ways to support attendance, especially our early-career members and reflect on the important feedback members provide in their congress evaluations. Looking ahead, I have three major goals. The first is to work with all members to further strengthen the connection between policymakers and health economics research. Many of our members are policymakers themselves or have close ties to them. IHEA has an opportunity to leverage these relationships to promote the impact of health economics on policy. Inclusiveness is something else I value highly. In the lead-up to our next Congress, the Board and I will be working closely with members and associations from across Latin America to understand their interests and help strengthen engagement with IHEA. My other goal is to work closely with our Treasurer, Claire De Oliveira, members of the finance committee, and our ED to explore new funding opportunities, especially from philanthropy.  I am looking forward to working with you all to help take IHEA to new and exciting places. Please reach out if you would like to share any suggestions.  Virginia Wiseman IHEA President University of New South Wales, Sydney |
| Welcome to the New IHEA Leaders – Get to Know the Board |
 Before we closed 2025, IHEA was pleased to announce the results of the Board Elections, which were closely contested by 24 outstanding candidates for seven positions on the Board. We are very grateful for the willingness of so many IHEA members to stand in the election. We look forward to their leadership over this year: – President: Virginia Wiseman – Past-President: Kara Hanson – President-Elect: Paula Lorgelly – Treasurer: Claire de Oliveira – Director for Africa: Justice Nonvignon – Directors for Asia: Priya Bhagowalia and Shiko Maruyama – Directors for Europe: James Buchanan and Aleksandra Torbica – Director for Latin America & the Caribbean: Dagna Constenla – Directors for Northern America: Mehdi Ammi and Marcella Alsan – Director for Oceania: Sonja de New – Early Career Researcher Director – Global North: Ha Le – Early Career Researcher Director – Global South: Darshini Govindasamy Get to know all the board members, click here. |
| A Q&A with Susan Ettner, the New IHEA Executive Director: |
 As she settles into her new role, the IHEA team recently sat down with the new IHEA Executive Director to get to know her background in Health Economics, goals for the organization and her impact at IHEA, and more. Read the Q&A here. |
| Join one of our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) – Make the Most of your Membership in 2026! |
| Our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) provide a forum for IHEA members with a common interest in networking, keeping updated on the latest research and sharing ideas and knowledge. SIGs are organized by IHEA members for IHEA members – join a SIG today and start engaging with colleagues across the world working in the same area. There are currently 12 SIGs which focus on a specific research area: – Economics of Children’s Health & Wellbeing – Economics of Digital Health Technology – Economics of Genomics and Precision Medicine (Econ-Omics) – Economics of Obesity – Economics of Palliative and End-of-Life Care – Economics of Risky Health Behaviors – Equity Informative Economic Evaluation – Financing for Universal Health Coverage – Health Preference Research – Health Systems Efficiency – Health Workforce – Mental Health Economics There is also a SIG focusing on Teaching Health Economics and another focusing on supporting Early Career Researchers. If you don’t already belong to a SIG, join by: – Signing in at the member login on the IHEA website – Selecting the Special Interest Group button – Click on “Join Group” next to the SIG that you wish to join |
| Rewatch Recent IHEA Event Recordings |
| Did you know IHEA shares many of our event recordings on our YouTube channel? IHEA offers members and non-members the opportunity to watch or rewatch SIG webinars and select Congress recordings via our YouTube channel. Some recent uploads include: – The introduction of PrEP on HIV: Incidence, Mortality and Heterogeneity – Do Vaping Taxes Tip the Scale? The Effect of E-Cigarette Taxation on Obesity – EHR Interoperability and the Role of Health Information Exchange – Advancing Health Equity in Genomic Medicine through Distributional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Stay tuned as the page is updated regularly! Visit the channel here. |
| Call for Submissions – Regional News |
| Do you have news to share from your region for our IHEA newsletter? Our newsletter is disseminated to thousands of Health Economists around the world each month, and we are eager to share relevant news from all regions of the world. Regional news items can be sent to ihea@healtheconomics.org by the 20th of each month. |
| SIG Opportunities |
| Financing for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Special Interest Group The Financing for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Special Interest Group is launching a series of themed online workshops throughout 2026, featuring research presentations and interactive discussions. Initial themes include: health spending and outcomes (March/April), development assistance for health (June), and mental health care financing (September, joint with the Mental Health SIG). Additional theme suggestions are welcome. We invite abstracts (max. 500 words) from researchers at all career stages and regions. Submissions may be work in progress or published research, and contributors can also help organise workshops. Abstracts are due 9 February 2026 via the submission link. Proposals for new workshop themes are also encouraged. Please submit your abstract at the following => link<=Â by 9 February 2026. |
Stay tuned for more on upcoming IHEA webinars! You can view all upcoming events here.
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