Opportunities for a PhD studentship and a research post at London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
 
ESRC funded PhD studentship 
One studentship is available in the Health Services Research Unit
within the Department of Public Health & Policy
[http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/prospectus/research/dphp.html]. This
studentship covers a 3-year doctoral (PhD) programme in this
internationally renowned, research-based institution to start October,
2008
 
THE CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate will have a Masters degree with a strong
quantitative component in statistics, economics (e.g. health economics),
or econometrics, a good practical awareness of implementing statistical
methods, and excellent writing skills. The preferred candidate will also
have a strong interest in developing and applying statistical methods
for evaluating health care programmes.
 
THE PHD PROJECT 
 
'Methods to reduce selection bias in health economic evaluation'
 Economic evaluations often use observational data where the major
concern is selection bias. Traditional methods for dealing with this
bias suffer from important limitations, and can lead to misleading
inferences for policy-making. The project will examine a novel
non-parametric technique (Genetic Matching) that makes more appropriate
assumptions. While Genetic Matching has been tested on a single dataset
in labour economics, this research will further examine the technique
using a series of health economic evaluations. The case studies are
primarily from a developed country context (mainly the UK, and US) and
include evaluations of clinical and public health interventions. This
context offers an excellent opportunity to compare estimates from
high-quality observational studies with those from pragmatic RCTs. This
research will provide rigorous evidence on the technique's merits, which
can ultimately help evaluations provide a stronger basis for
policy-making. The PhD thesis will be undertaken within a larger project
funded by ESRC/NIHR which involves collaboration with colleagues at
Universities of California, Harvard and MRC Biostatistics Unit,
Cambridge. 
 
SUPERVISORS AND ENVIRONMENT
The project will be supervised by Dr Richard Grieve (senior lecturer in
health economics). The successful applicant will also be able to draw on
expert guidance from senior colleagues with expertise in statistics (Dr
James Carpenter) and econometrics (Prof Jas Sekhon, Universityof
California, Berkeley).  As part of the studentship, the applicant will
receive advanced statistical training, for example by taking study
modules from the highly regarded Master course in Medical Statistics, at
LSHTM. LSHTM provides a highly supportive environment for Research
Degree study, and has a strong tradition for providing training for PhD
students and junior health economists.
 
AWARD
The studentship will cover full tuition fees at Home/EU level as well
as a maintenance grant of £17,940 (inclusive of London Weighting) per
year, for three years.
 
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Applicants must have been ordinarily resident in the UKthroughout the
3-year period immediately preceding the date of the award. Full award is
available to UKresidents only; other EU nationals may receive awards
which cover tuition fees only. Please check your eligibility
requirements on the ESRC website
[http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/GUIDANCE
NOTES FOR APPLICANTS 2008_tcm6-7186.pdf] before applying.
 
 
HOW TO APPLY
Applicants should submit a complete application for Research degree
study. Research (MPhil/PhD) Application forms. Please ensure that you
indicate on your application form that you wish to be considered for
this award and enclose an outline of the proposed PhD topic of up to 3
pages. 
 
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
The deadline for receipt of complete applications under this scheme is
22nd September, 2008. 
 
 
 
Research Assistant/Research Fellow in Health Economics
 
An enthusiastic researcher with strong quantitative skills is required
to work in the area of economic evaluation. The post is to work on an
ESRC funded study: 
 
'Methods to reduce selection bias in health economic evaluation'. 
 
This post provides an excellent opportunity to be involved with highly
topical, methodological work at a London-based university that has a
large programme of work in health economics, and provides a highly
supportive environment for junior health economists.
 
Applicants must have an MSc in Health Economics or a related discipline
(e.g. Medical Statistics) with a health economics component. The ideal
candidate will have experience of using statistical techniques to
analyse cost and cost-effectiveness data. For an appointment at the
level of Research Fellow, the applicant is expected to already have peer
reviewed publications.
 
The post holder will work on a series of case studies of interventions
in intensive care of national and international significance. The post
holder will work under the guidance of the Principle Investigator
(Richard Grieve) and in close collaboration other health economists,
econometricians, medical statisticians and clinicians, based at LSHTM
and the Universityof California(Berkeley).
This post is available immediately, for three years. The salary will be
on either Academic Pathway 5 or 6 in the range of £30,757- £33,518 per
annum inclusive, depending on qualifications and experience. 
For further particulars and an application form, please contact The
Personnel Office, LSHTM, (telephone 020 7927 2203 (24 hour answer phone)
or e-mail [log in to unmask]), quoting reference RG02. Only
applications in the format outlined in the recruitment pack will be
considered. Closing date for applications is 22nd September2008.
The LondonSchoolof Hygiene & Tropical Medicines is committed to being
an equal opportunities employer
 

 
FURTHER DETAILS
Informal enquiries regarding the project can be made directly to Dr
Richard Grieve ([log in to unmask]).Further guidance on making
an application can be found by visiting the How to Apply pages of the
School's website [http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/prospectus/howto/], or by
e-mailing Registry [[log in to unmask]] 
 
Richard Grieve PhD
NIHR postdoctoral research fellow
Senior Lecturer in Health Economics
Department of Public Health and Policy,
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
Keppel Street,
London.
WC1E 7HT
email: [log in to unmask] 
tel: 020 7927 2255