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Christopher J.L. Murray

Christopher J.L. Murray, MD, DPhil, is Institute Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington School of Medicine. A physician and health economist, his work has led to the development of a range of new methods and empirical studies to strengthen the basis for population health measurement, measure the performance of public health and medical care systems, and assess the cost-effectiveness of health technologies. IHME is focused on the challenges of measurement and evaluation in the areas of health outcomes, health services, financial and human resources, evaluations of policies, programs and systems, and decision analytics.

Dr. Murray’s early work focused on tuberculosis control and the development with Dr. Alan Lopez of the Global Burden of Disease methods and applications. In this work, they developed a new metric to compare death and disability from various diseases and the contribution of risk factors to the overall burden of disease in developing and developed countries. This pioneering effort has been hailed as a major landmark in public health and an important foundation for policy formulation and priority setting.

Dr. Murray worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1998 to 2003 where he served as the Executive Director of the Evidence and Information for Policy Cluster while Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland was Director-General. From 2003 until 2007, Dr. Murray was the Director of the Harvard University Initiative for Global Health and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, as well as the Richard Saltonstall Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Murray has authored or edited 14 books, many book chapters, and more than 130 journal articles in internationally peer-reviewed publications. He holds Bachelor of Arts and Science degrees from Harvard University, a DPhil in International Health Economics from Oxford University, and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School.

Selected Publications:

1. Shengelia B, Tandon A, Adams OB, Murray CJL. Access, utilization, quality, and effective coverage: an integrated conceptual framework and measurement strategy. Social Science & Medicine. 2005 Jul; 61(1):97-109.
2. Murray CJL, Kulkarni S, Michaud C, Tomijima N, Bulzacchelli MT, Iandiorio TJ, Ezzati M. Eight Americas: investigating mortality disparities across races, counties, and race-counties in the United States. PLoS Medicine. 2006 Sept; 3(9):e260.
3. Lozano R, Soliz P, Gakidou E, Abbott-Klafter J, Feehan DM, Vidal C, Ortiz JP, Murray CJL. Benchmarking of performance of Mexican states with effective coverage. The Lancet. 2006 Nov 11; 368(9548):1729-41.
4. Gakidou E, Lozano R, Gonzalez-Pier E, Abbott-Klafter J, Barofsky JT, Bryson-Cahn C, Feehan DM, Lee DK, Hernandez-Llamas H, Murray CJL. Assessing the effect of the 2001-06 Mexican health reform: an interim report card. The Lancet. 2006 Nov 25; 368(9550):1920-35.
5. Murray CJL, Dias RH, Kulkarni SC, Lozano R, Stevens GA, Ezzati M. Improving the comparability of diabetes mortality statistics in the U.S. and Mexico. Diabetes Care. 2008 Mar; 31(3):451-8. Epub 2007 Oct 24.
6. Bleich SN, Cutler D, Murray CJL, Adams A. Why is the developed world obese? Annual Review of Public Health. 2008 Apr 21; 29:273-95.
7. Ezzati M, Friedman AB, Kulkarni SC, Murray CJL. The reversal of fortunes: trends in county mortality and cross-county mortality disparities in the United States. PLoS Medicine. 2008 April; 5(4):e66.
8. Ikeda N, Gakidou E, Hasegawa T, Murray CJL. Understanding the decline of mean systolic blood pressure in Japan: an analysis of pooled data from the National Nutrition Survey, 1986-2002. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2008 Dec; 86(12):978-88.
9. Lim SS, Stein DB, Charrow A, Murray CJL. Tracking progress towards universal childhood immunisation and the impact of global initiatives: a systematic analysis of three-dose diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis immunisation coverage. The Lancet. 2008 Dec 13; 372(9655):2031-46.
10. McKenna MT, Michaud CM, Murray CJL, Marks JS. Assessing the burden of disease in the United States using disability-adjusted life years. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2005 Jun; 28(5):415-23.
11. Lopez AD, Mathers CD, Ezzati M, Jamison DT, Murray CJL. Global and regional burden of disease and risk factors, 2001: systematic analysis of population health data. The Lancet. 2006 May 27; 367(9524):1747-57.
12. Danaei G, Lawes CMM, Vander Hoorn S, Murray CJL, Ezzati M. Global and regional mortality from ischaemic heart disease and stroke attributable to higher-than-optimum blood glucose concentration: comparative risk assessment. The Lancet. 2006; 368:1651–9.
13. Murray CJL, Laakso T, Shibuya K, Hill K, Lopez AD. Can we achieve Millennium Development Goal 4? New analysis of country trends and forecasts of under-5 mortality to 2015. The Lancet. 2007 Sep 22; 370(9592):1040-54.
14. Ezzati M, Oza S, Danaei G, Murray CJL. Trends and cardiovascular mortality effects of state-level blood pressure and uncontrolled hypertension in the United States. Circulation. 2008 Feb 19; 117(7):905-14. Epub 2008 Feb 11.
15. Murray CJL, Frenk J. Health metrics and evaluation: strengthening the science. The Lancet. 2008 Apr 5; 371(9619):1191-9.

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