Peter Smith

Peter C. Smith is Professor of Health Policy at Imperial College London and has a joint appointment with the College’s Institute for Global Health. He is a mathematics graduate from the University of Oxford and started his academic career in the public health department at the University of Cambridge. He has worked and published in a number of disciplinary settings, including statistics, operational research, and accountancy, and he was founding editor-in-chief of the journal Health Care Management Science. However, Professor Smith’s main work has been in the economics of health and broader public services, most recently as the Director of the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York. He has held honorary professorships at the University of St Andrews and Monash University and is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. Professor Smith has acted in numerous governmental advisory capacities, has been a board member of the Audit Commission, and is currently a member of the NHS Cooperation and Competition Panel. He has also advised many overseas governments and international agencies, including the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Commission, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Professor Smith’s current research interests include: health system performance assessment, with a particular focus on international comparison (he is currently involved with studies for the World Health Organization, the European Commission, and the Economic and Social Research Council); economic aspects of the social determinants of health (current studies for the World Health Organization and the Department of Health); measuring and improving health system productivity; and health care payment mechanisms.