Senior Research Associate/Research Fellow in Health Economic Modelling

The role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a talented health economic modeller with an interest in the diagnostic research to work partly with the Bristol Technology Assessment Group (Bristol TAG) and the Health Economics Bristol (HEB) research group. Bristol TAG is contracted by the NIHR to conduct independent reviews of healthcare technologies, to support the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance committees and other policy makers. HEB researchers work across a range of topics including: the economics of health and care across the life course; efficiency and equity in health care decisions; and developing methods for applied health economics.

What will you be doing?

Within Bristol TAG, you will work primarily on the Diagnostics Assessment Programme. This evaluates the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of diagnostic technologies to determine whether a patient has a particular condition, to categorise into stage or severity, or to detect changes in the condition. You will contribute to Evidence Assessment Reports developing an economic model to assess the cost-effectiveness evidence for the diagnostic technologies under review.

Within HEB, you will work on the Optimal Testing Programme which is funded by an NIHR Programme Development Grant with the overall aim of optimising testing to monitor long term conditions (hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease) in primary care by developing evidence-based testing strategies (EBTS) and accompanying patient and clinician materials. You will adapt and/or develop economic models using a linked evidence approach to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of laboratory testing panels and the frequency of their use for monitoring these conditions. Modelling methods that may be used include decision trees, state-transition Markov models, and patient level simulations. Models may cover patients suffering from multiple diseases (i.e., multimorbidity models) and require innovative techniques implemented in statistical programming languages (e.g., R).

You should apply if

• You have strong training in heath economics including decision modelling
• You have experience critiquing and building economic models (especially decision tree and Markov models) - essential for candidates applying for Senior Research Associate
• Knowledge and an interest in diagnostic test accuracy research
• You have an enthusiasm to contribute to NICE appraisals
• You are willing to attend professional development activities to keep skills up-to-date
• You work well in a multidisciplinary team
• You have a relevant MSc if applying for Senior Research Associate
• You have a relevant PhD (or equivalent independent research experience) if you are applying for Research Fellow

We welcome applications from all members of our community and are particularly encouraging those from diverse groups, such as members of the LGBT+ and BAME communities, to join us.