What attracted you to the health metrics field?
I spent the majority of my undergraduate career on studies unrelated to health. But during my junior year, I took a course on health economics that started me thinking about the ways health challenges and progress toward health solutions can be measured. I later interned with a hospital’s health policy research center, deepening my interest in examining the intersection between individual-level health conditions and societal-level decision-making about health care. These experiences shifted my interest toward economics, particularly the relationship between population health and development in low-resource countries. The health metrics field allows me to apply my quantitative background in an area that is ripe for more thorough analysis. It also provides work experience with a sense of meaningful contribution, something that I found lacking in most of my undergraduate work.
What work are you doing at IHME?
I am working with the Monitoring Costs research team. Our team gathers and analyzes data on the cost and effectiveness of health inputs. For example, physicians, hospital beds, and pharmaceuticals all are significant components of most health systems, and we only will know how effective they are compared with other ways of delivering health care if we can examine their costs from different angles. Our goal is to provide an understanding of health care costs across an array of countries, regions, and health systems.
How do you think your experience at IHME will contribute to your future work?
Through IHME, researchers are exposed to important health topics on a global scale. After IHME, I hope to continue my career in the health field, perhaps in health care administration or as a researcher in a policy setting. This is such an interesting and dynamic field, and working here has made me want to apply for the Master of Public Health program in Health Metrics at the University of Washington. I hope that my education and work experience will further my opportunities in global health in years to come.
