• PhD Health Economics 2003
• MSc Health Economics 1998
• BA (Hons) Economics and Marketing 1997

Emma Frew qualified with a BA (Hons) in Economics and Marketing from the University of Strathclyde in 1997. She then went on to study a MSc in Health Economics before joining the Economics Department, University of Nottingham in 1998. Emma spent 4 years working at Nottingham, before joining the Health Economics Unit at the University of Birmingham in 2002. Emma has continued to work at Birmingham on a number of projects since then.

Emma was awarded a PhD in 2003 that focused on the methodological properties of the contingent valuation approach to value colorectal cancer screening. It is the application of cost-benefit analysis tools that has been a significant theme in Emma's research with the development of research projects using these methods that span obesity-prevention, drug addiction, and mental health. She also has an interest in the use of utility-based instruments to measure outcome in children and is actively working on a large project looking at the methodological properties of EQ-5D-Y versus the CHU-9D instrument.

Emma is the Health Economics Unit lead for the Doctoral Research (DR) programme in Health Economics. Emma co-ordinates all DR activities and sits on both the School and the College Graduate Studies committee. 

She became the director of the Health Economics education (HEe) website in 2010, an online UK-based resource for all academics who are active in teaching health economics across the UK. 

TEACHING ACTIVITY

• MSc Health Economics
• BA (Hons) Economics
• MBChB Graduate Entry Course
• Public Health MPH/Diploma/Certificate

Emma is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

• Application of cost-benefit analysis for the evaluation of health-care interventions.
• Economics of obesity
• Health-related quality of life in a paediatric population.

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas or are interested in studying at the Health Economics Unit more generally please contact Emma using the contact details above.

RESEARCH THEMES

Obesity, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Cancer, PBMA, Economic Evaluation, Drug Addiction

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Economics of Obesity

Emma is a co-investigator on a large HTA-RCT focused on measuring the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a school-based intervention to prevent obesity in school-aged children. As part of this Emma is leading on the health economics and a nested sub-study designed to assess the feasibility of using the CHU-9D and the EQ-5D-Y in this paediatric population.

Contingent Valuation

Contingent valuation offers the potential to measure a wider set of benefits than the more traditional tools of economic outcome measurement (e.g. QALYs). Emma is actively involved in applying this method in a number of clinical settings by leading on research projects within drug addiction, obesity prevention, and the evaluation of telecare services from the perspective of informal carers.

PBMA

The main focus of Emma's research within PBMA has been on analysing the 'success' of PBMA as a prioritisation tool for decision-makers. She has supervised a number of MSc projects within this research area and is currently supervising a PhD student looking at the application of PBMA within Saudi Arabia. 

Drug Addiction

Emma is leading on the health economics for a feasibility study that is about assessing the cost-effectiveness of social behaviour network therapy (SBNT) for heroin users in opiate substitution treatment.  Within this study she is exploring using an adapted version of the Client Service Receipt Inventory (CSRI) for measuring resource use from a societal perspective and is using both the ICECAP measure and the EQ5D as outcome measures.

Research Design Service

Emma is a senior advisor for the West Midlands RfPB Research Design Service. This involves co-ordinating and providing advice on health economics issues for applications for the RfPB funding stream.

• Director of the Health Economics education (HEe) website

Frew E, Bhatti M, Win K, Lyon M, Pallan M, Adab P.  Cost-effectiveness of a community based physical activity programme for adults (Be Active) in the UK: an economic analysis within a natural experiment. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2012, DOI 10.1136/bjsports-2012-091202.

Kaambwa B and Frew E.  Health economics in the UK: capacity, constraints and comparisons to US health economists.  International Review of Economics Education, 2012, in press.

Canaway A and Frew E.  Measuring preference based quality of life in children aged 6-7 years:  A comparison of the performance of CHU-9D and EQ-5D-Y.  The WAVES pilot study.  Quality of Life Research, 2013, 22 (1), 173-182.

Tsourapas A and Frew E.  Evaluating 'success' in Programme Budgeting and Marginal Analysis.  Results from a Literature Review.  Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 2011; 16: 177-183.

Al-Janabi H., Frew E., Brower W., Rappange D., Van Exel J. The inclusion of positive aspects of caring in the Caregiver Strain Index: tests of feasibility and validity. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 2010, Volume 47, Issue 8, Pages 984-993.  

McIntosh E, Clarke P, Frew E, Louviere J. 2010 Applied Methods for Cost-Benefit Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 
Duncan H, Frew E.  Short-term health system costs of paediatric in-hospital acute life-threatening events including cardiac arrest Resuscitation, 2009, Volume 80, Issue 5, Pages 529-534.

Albon E, Tsourapas A, Frew E, Davenport C, Oyebode F, Bayliss S, et al. Structural neuroimaging in psychosis: a systematic review and economic evaluation.  Health Technology Assessment 2008; 12 (18).

Frew EJ, Sandercock J, Whitehouse WP, Bryan S.  The cost-effectiveness of newer drugs as add-on therapy for children with focal epilepsies, Seizure: European Journal of Epilepsy 2007; 16 (2): 99-112.