Profile: Professor Anita Patel goes behind-the-scenes of health economics

Recently appointed Provost's Visiting Professor of Health Economics, Anita Patel explains the "quiet" but significant impact of health economists.

Last year, House of Commons research estimated the COVID pandemic cost the UK public up to £410 billion – around £6,000 per person. When such figures are involved, it’s easy to appreciate the importance of economics in addressing healthcare challenges: from modelling the scale of risks, to assessing the cost-effectiveness of solutions.

Nevertheless, health economists – the specialists who do this work – don’t tend to find themselves in the limelight. As Professor Anita Patel, who recently joined Imperial as the Provost’s Visiting Professor of Health Economics, puts it: “Health economists have a significant role in policy and practice, but they tend to do it quietly from the sidelines.”

Resourcing healthcare

“Pretty much every healthcare system in the world is struggling with resourcing what their populations need,” Professor Patel, whose role is a joint appointment between the Business School’s Department of Economics & Public Policy and Imperial’s School of Public Health, explains. 

“The bread and butter of health economics is to help define the economic implications of such challenges, evidence or estimate the value of new solutions in a resource-constrained context, and support their implementation into policy and practice. By showing that you can, for example, save millions across a system, or even wider society, just by intervening at a different stage, you can help gain policy interest.

“New interventions and approaches are constantly being developed. There are also many that are already evidenced to be cost effective but not yet optimally implemented in terms of being delivered in the right amounts, to the right people, at the right time. Health economists facilitate this by bringing a social science perspective to practical healthcare delivery challenges.”

Evaluating health policies and programmes 

Although she joins Imperial with 23 years in academia under her belt, Professor Patel has certainly not taken a conventional route to her new role. After academia, she became a freelance health economics consultant, working on projects as diverse as supporting charities to get awareness of specific conditions on the political agenda, and helping tech companies develop their value propositions to pitch products and services to the UK's National Health Service.  

And then, at the end of the pandemic, she was ready for a role with more consistent human interaction and work that was closer to national policy. So rather than moving back to mainstream academia, she took up an unusual opportunity at research consultancy Ipsos UK.

An important part of my job is being visible as an ethnic minority woman in a senior position, which is unfortunately still uncommon

“That was a revelation for me,” Professor Patel says. “I realised there are ways to do research within a good work culture that is sadly sometimes lacking in academia. We were evaluating policies and programmes in real time: fast, complex work that was tough but hugely satisfying because the impact was clear and immediate.” The entrepreneurial dimension of the role also played to her strengths.

That experience of working collaboratively, with teams coming together at pace through matrix structures around projects, rather than people, suited her. “It was a surprisingly good fit with how my brain works and felt a more productive and comfortable culture than I’d previously experienced. Interestingly, it was female-dominated,” she explains. 

Diversity in academia

“And that’s why the role at Imperial really spoke to me,” she says. “Unlike a traditional academic role, it specifically has a collaborative and equality, diversity and inclusion remit, in a specific timeframe.” 

As the Provost’s Visiting Professor of Health Economics, Professor Patel will work between the Business School and the School of Medicine for one year, which each have a group of health economists. “The group at the School of Medicine has a specific focus on infectious disease modelling,” Professor Patel explains. “And the group at the Business School looks more at addressing public health issues through policy.”

A key focus of her role will be to support the College in extending its health economics work and capacity. “Economic evaluation of new interventions is where my main experience lies, and that’s a recognised gap at Imperial. That kind of work is vital to support clinical and health innovation research, and it opens up funding streams for the university too.”

Pretty much every healthcare system in the world is struggling with resourcing what their populations need

Of course, this won’t happen overnight, so there will be an initial need to strengthen existing partnerships. “That’s something I can help with, using my networks and experience in building health economics capabilities elsewhere,” says Professor Patel.

There’s also another element to the role. “An important part of my job is being visible as an ethnic minority woman in a senior position, which is unfortunately still uncommon,” she explains. “That includes mentoring and supporting staff and students across the university, and it’s something I’m passionate about, having myself experienced many biases in academia.”

Ultimately, it feels like a case of the right position, at the right time. “I was feeling that it was my time to do something, and it’s clear from the role that the Provost is genuinely committed to making a difference in this area, so it’s a timely and opportune role for me.”