Dr Subhash Pokhrel
Head of Department - Clinical Sciences

Summary

Subhash is the Head of Department of Clinical Sciences. The Department  comprises interdisciplinary faculty in allied health professions (occupational therapy, physiotherapy and physician associates), community nursing, social work, health economics, public health and health promotion. He is also the Leader of the Health Economics Theme (HERG) within the Institute of Enviornment, Health and Societies.

Subhash gained his PhD in health economics (summa cum laude) from Heidelberg University, Germany and an MSc in health economics (distinction) from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Prior to joining Brunel University, Subhash worked for Tribhuvan University (Nepal) and Heidelberg University (Germany) teaching and researching global public health.

Subhash’s Return on Investment (ROI) work has changed the way public health investors can make their business cases now. The suite of NICE Public Health ROI Tools – which has been the basis for many public health investment decisions in England currently - was informed by the work on tobacco control led by Subhash. The ROI tools are practical, customisable models to help make real-world decisions in context of local government decision-making.

Subhash is the lead author of a new book, ROI in Public Health Policy: Supporting Decision Making (Palgrave Macmillan).

Economic arguments are needed to make the business case for public health investments. Subhash led the roll out of this important work to several European nations through a €2 million multi-centre European Commission funded study, EQUIPT. He has been the coordinator of a large scale inter-disciplinary collaboration of national and international expertise.

Subhash’s work in public health research has been as diverse as the discipline itself – from developing a household decision making pathway for child health care in low- and middle income countries (LMICs) to quantifying the economic impact of breastfeeding promotion in industrialised countries; from evaluating health insurance for its population health impact in LMICs to finding out what interventions improve physical activity globally. He has developed Behaviour Change Research Cycle to study lifestyle behaviours and their impact on public health decision making.

Subhash is intrigued by the following question: In LMICs and industrialised countries, what works in public health and at what cost?

Responsibility

Head of Department of Clinical Sciences

Director, Division of Health Sciences

Leader, Health Economics Theme (HERG)

Module Lead: Economic Evaluation in Human Genomics in MSc Genomic Medicine (Imperial College London)

Module Lead: CM5704 / CM5802 (Evidence and Communication) in MSc Public Health and Health Promotion (Brunel University London)

Lead, European-study on quanitfying utility of investment in protection from tobacco (EQUIPT)