Professor Subhash Pokhrel
Professor - Public Health Economics

Summary

Generating evidence that helps governments invest better in public health

Subhash Pokhrel is a Professor of Public Health Economics and Lead of the Health Economics Research Group (HERG) at Brunel University London. His research helps governments and health systems make evidence-informed investment decisions in public health - from tobacco control and breastfeeding promotion to physical activity and multimorbidity. With over 4,000 citations and experience across four continents, his work bridges rigorous economic analysis with real-world policy impact.

Subhash's career spans more than two decades of research at the intersection of health economics, evidence synthesis, and public health policy - with work informing decisions at local, national, and international levels. His research is organised around two complementary themes: supporting health systems to deliver efficient, equitable healthcare, and strengthening health research systems to ensure research feeds into policymaking where it matters most.

A key focus of his work has been the economic case for public health investment. He led the development of the NICE Public Health Return on Investment (ROI) Tools - practical, customisable models used by local authorities across England to justify investment in tobacco control. Building on this, he coordinated EQUIPT, a €2 million European Commission-funded, 11-country study that extended the ROI approach to tobacco control decisions across Europe.

His contributions to public health policy are recognised in two REF2021 impact case studies: one on supporting tobacco control decision-making, and another on informing policies around breastfeeding promotion. He is the lead author of ROI in Public Health Policy: Supporting Decision Making (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

Subhash has also contributed significantly to global health research. He has worked in multiple low- and middle-income countries - including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Brazil, and Indonesia - and collaborated with the World Health Organisation to strengthen National Health Research Systems. He co-produced a WHO review of evidence on policies and tools for strengthening national health research systems.

As a member of external committees including NICE Technology Appraisal, NIHR PGfAHR, and SPI-B (the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours during COVID-19), he has contributed to decisions on medical technology funding, applied health research, and pandemic behavioural policy.

Subhash has trained and supervised numerous doctoral researchers investigating topics from integrated care in the UK and obesity in West Africa to long-COVID in Ghana and the economics of physical activity in LMICs. Subhash would like to hear from you if you are interested in exploring: (a) what strengthens health systems to improve population health; or (b) how health research systems can be designed to generate and apply evidence more effectively.

Find Subhash on: 🎓 Google Scholar  🔬 ORCID   🔗 ResearchGate   📚 BURA (Brunel Repository)   💼 LinkedIn

Responsibility

Lead, Health Economics Research Group (HERG)

Former Head of Department of Health Sciences (2018-2023)

Founding Divisional Lead of Global Public Health Divison (2016-2018)

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

Lead, European-study on quanitfying utility of investment in protection from tobacco (EQUIPT) along with several subsequent research projects on the economics of smoking cessation and tobacco control that built on EQUIPT’s findings.