[visionlist] PhD Studentship in Health Economics and Ophthalmology

[Gary Rubin]

PhD Studentship in Health Economics and Ophthalmology

University College London


Application Deadline: 23rd June 2010

Supervisors
Professor Gary Rubin (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology)

Professor Steve Morris (UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health)

The Programme

The UCL Grand Challenge PhD Studentships in Biomedicine scheme is an elite PhD training programme designed to attract researchers with the highest intellectual and scientific skills. As part of this scheme the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the Health Care Evaluation Group in the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL are offering a three-year PhD Studentship in Health Economics or Ophthalmology. The studentship, which includes payment of UK / EU fees plus a full stipend, is expected to start in October 2010.

The Topic

“Developing a New Methodology for Evaluating Health-Related Quality of Life when Assessing the Cost Effectiveness of Treatments for Age-related Macular Degeneration”

The current method for cost effectiveness analysis in the UK measures the effectiveness of a new treatment with a generic health related quality of life questionnaire. Members of the general public without the eye condition are then asked to value the imagined health state using experimental methods (‘time trade-off’, ‘standard gamble’ techniques). The resulting utility score is multiplied by the life expectancy of the patient to calculate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). By comparing QALYs, and also costs, with and without treatment, the health economist can evaluate the cost effectiveness of treatment. It has been argued that the questionnaire used to describe health states is not sensitive to problems resulting from the loss of vision. Alternative methods have been proposed to map visual acuity to utility measures, but these have been criticised because they ignore important aspects of visual impairment that are not captured by acuity measurements.

The student will develop a model that links acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual fields to health-related quality of life measures suitable for calculating QALYS. As part of the studentship this new methodology will then be used to measure cost effectiveness in a separately funded clinical trial of rehabilitation for patients with age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss in the UK.

The studentship is will involve empirical data collection and statistical analysis of quantitative data, including cost-effectiveness modelling. Given the nature of the topic, students with interests and/or experience in health economics, use of Excel, and quantitative analysis will be at an advantage.

Details of the studentship, along with others that are available as part of this scheme, are available here (see studentship number 32):

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/courses/research-degrees/ucl-gc/project/

Application requirements, including details of funding and how to make an application, are described here:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/courses/research-degrees/ucl-gc

Further details about the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology are available here:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioo/index.htm

Further details about the Health Care Evaluation Group and the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health are available here:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hceg/

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology/

If you wish to discuss the studentship further please contact either Professor Gary Rubin (g.rubin at ucl.ac.uk) or Professor Steve Morris (steve.morris at ucl.ac.uk) 

 
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