As new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease emerge, researchers and policymakers are shifting their attention to the magnitude of the potential benefits for patients. Estimating these potential benefits is largely based on data from clinical trials.
On April 12, join the Schaeffer Center for an academic seminar on the implications of clinical trial design on Alzheimer’s disease modeling. The panelists will also discuss the effects of FDA guidance documents on trial design and the cross-validation of health economic models in Alzheimer’s disease.
- Event Date
- Tuesday, April 12, 2022
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific - Location
- Via Zoom
Alison Sexton Ward, PhD, is an economist with extensive experience on healthcare policy and pharmaceuticals. Her research has focused on the economic valuations of various therapies and drug classes, and the economic implications of drug pricing policies. Alison has spent most of her career working with pharmaceutical manufacturers, government agencies, and non-profit health organizations on topics ranging from drug pricing policies, the social value of new treatments, and long-term survival prediction. Prior to joining USC, she worked as a senior associate with the Brattle Group where she designed and led economic analysis in support of litigation on health-related issues. Alison joins the Value of Life Science Innovation (VLSI) team led by Karen Van Nuys.
She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota, an M.S in Ag and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis, and a B.S. in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis.
Ron Handels, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Alzheimer Centre Limburg at Maastricht University and is affiliated with the Karolinska Institutet. He is part of the International Pharmaco-Economic collaboration on Alzheimer’s Disease. His background is in epidemiology and cost-effectiveness analysis in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Handels performs research in the area of (early) cost-effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment of AD, and natural AD disease progression. His work has been funded by national and international funding schemes (among which ZonMw, H2020, JPND and IMI).
Jakub Hlávka, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Healthcare Markets Initiative and Fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center. He is also a Research Assistant Professor in the Health Policy and Management Department of the Price School of Public Policy at USC. His NIH-funded research focuses on the modeling of dementia treatments and associated economic challenges, with a specific focus on Alzheimer’s disease and emerging disease-modifying therapies. His modeling of COVID-19 pandemic interventions has been supported by the CDC and DHS, and his broader research interests include innovative payment models for pharmaceuticals, health system reform and the study of inequality, with current funding from the Greenwall and PhRMA foundations. Dr. Hlávka teaches in master’s programs at the USC Price School of Public Policy and the Keck School of Medicine.
Dr. Hlávka holds a PhD and MPhil from the Pardee RAND Graduate School, a master’s degree from Georgetown University, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Economics in Prague.
Jeffrey Yu is a 4th year PhD Student in Health Economics and is the Edwards Lifesciences Dissertation Fellow. His research centers on Alzheimer’s disease, where he studies the effects of aortic valve surgery on the incidence of dementia, the economic value of Alzheimer’s drugs, and alternative payment models for Alzheimer’s. He completed his bachelor’s degree in economics at Bowdoin College, and received his master’s in Health Economics at Johns Hopkins University. Previously, he worked as a Senior Analyst at Boston Health Economics (now known as Panalgo).
Funding for this project was made possible in part by grants P30AG066589 and R01AG062277 from the National Institute on Aging.