Peter Davey BA, MA (ECON) is a director and co-founder of M-TAG. He completed his Masters degree in economics at the University of Sydney and worked in economic research and strategic planning in the banking industry before moving into the health care sector. Peter was formerly on staff at the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation at the University of Sydney and is currently involved in teaching the postgraduate program in Drug Development at the University of NSW. He has worked internationally as a consultant to the health care industry since 1992. Peter’s expertise encompasses a broad range of techniques used in health technology assessment and economic evaluation, including, valuation techniques, decision-analytic modeling, development of trial protocols and health services and policy-based research. He has a special interest in the use of evidence based medicine and economic evaluation in health care decision making and has presented widely at conferences on health technology assessment issues.

David F. Durenberger served in the State of Minnesota as its Senior United States Senator from 1978 to 1995. He is now President of the Medical Technology Leadership Forum (MTLF), a nonprofit organization that educates its members, policymakers, the media and the public about issues affecting medical technology. Senator Durenberger gained prominence in national health policy through his many years of leadership on the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and the Senate Environment Committee. Today, he influences the future of the nation’s two major public health programs as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and of the Kaiser Foundation Commission on the Future of Medicaid and the Uninsured. He is also Chairman of the National Institute of Health Policy (NIHP), a policy center based at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota, focused on health care policy in the Upper Midwest. Senator Durenberger is also Chair of the Citizens for Long Term Care, whose goal is long term care finance reform. With former Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, Durenberger co-chairs America’s Health Together. He serves as a board member of the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA). Senator Durenberger is also the author of Prescription for Change and Neither Madmen nor Messiahs, and is an international teacher and speaker on the future of health care policy and delivery.

Takashi Fukuda PHD who received Ph.D degree in Health Sciences at the University of Tokyo in 1995, currently serves as an Associate Professor for the Department of Pharmacoeconomics, at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo. Prior to serving as an Associate Professor, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Economics at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Health Sciences. His main research fields are health care economics, health care administration, and health policy. Fukuda has been a mainstay at the University of Tokyo where he also earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Health Sciences.

Zhiqiang Guan MD, MPH is the Chief of the Division of Health Insurance, Chinese National Institute for Social Insurance and is an academy member of the Academy of Labor and Social Security Research in China. He is a board member of the Health Insurance Society of China, and the academy member of Hospital Management Society of China. Receiving his MD from the University of Heilongjiang Traditional Chinese Medicine, Harbin (1983), the Master of medical history in Harbin Medical University, Harbin (1986), and the MPH in Columbia University, New York City, US (1993), he has extensive working and research experiences in the fields of public health, hospital administration and health insurance. Since 1986, he worked at Department of Health, Heilongjian Provincial Government as a health policy analyst and program officer for 5 years (1986 - 1990). He worked as an Associate Research Scientist at the Department of Child Psychiatry, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatry Institute (1993-1995), He also served as a Research Scientist and the acting Director of Planning Unit at the Bureau of Maternity Services and Family Planning, New York City Department of Health (1995-1999). He moved back to China in 1999. Since then he has served as the chief of Governmental Loan Division in the Foreign Loan Office, Ministry of Health (1999-2000), as the deputy director of the Chinese National Institute of Hospital Administration (2000-2001), and the division Chief of Health Insurance at National Institute for Social Insurance, (2001-present). His current research interests are mainly focusing on the constitution and policy of health insurance reform in China, including pharmaceutical reimbursement policy, the payment method in health insurance.

Shanlian Hu PhD, Professor of Health Economics, Health Management and Epidemiology. At present, he holds the position of Director of Training Center for Health Management at Medical Center of Fudan University (Former Shanghai Medical University), the Deputy Director of National Health Economic Institution of MOH, and the Coordinator of the China Network of Training and Research in Health Economics & Financing, which is supported by the World Bank and the Ministry of Health since 1991. Professor Hu is a member of MOH Advisory Committee of Health Policy and Administration since 1996, the Leading Professor of the Discipline of Social Medicine and Health Management appointed by Shanghai Education Committee. He was appointed as member of Certification Committee of National Eradication of Poliomyelitis and Expanded Program of Immunization in 1998 and 1997, respectively. Now, he is one of the Vice-Chairmen of The Chinese Association of Health Economics. In 1997, the WHO West Pacific Regional Office again nominated him as a member of the Committee of Health System Research. In the past years, he was doing temporary consulting for the World Bank in China, WHO in West Samoa, and UNICEF in Mynmar. He joined the advisory group of World Bank to do the sector report “Financing Health Care: Issues and Options” for China in 1996. And wrote the Health and Nutrition Chapter of 1997 China Human Development Report for UNDP. In the recent years, Professor Hu has been working in various research projects supported by MOH, Shanghai Bureau of Health, UNICEF, World Bank, WHO/TDR and pharmaceutical industry, such as urban health insurance reform, cooperative medical system intervention in poverty areas, health access in urban poor, national health accounts, drug policy and pharmacoeconomics, etc.

Naoki Ikegami MD, PhD, MA is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Keio School of Medicine, from which he received his MD and PhD. He also received a Master of Arts degree in health services studies with Distinction from Leeds University (United Kingdom). During 1990-1991, he was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Medical School, and has continued to be a Senior Fellow at Wharton. He is a board member of interRAI (a non-profit international consortium of researchers and clinicians focused on care planning instruments), Priorities in Health Care, and the Japanese Society on Hospital Administration. He has served as a consultant to the WHO and the World Bank, and has also sat on various national and state government committees. His research areas are health policy, long-term care and pharmacoeconomics. His publications include "The Art of Balance in Health Policy - Maintaining Japan’s Low-Cost Egalitarian System" (Cambridge University Press, 1998) with John C. Campbell, "Quality Life Evaluation Handbook for Clinicians" (Igakushoin, 2001) in Japanese with Shunichi Fukuhara et al, "Measuring the quality of long-term care in institutional and community settings" in "Measuring Up? Improving Health Care Performance in OECD Countries" (OECD, 2002) with John Hirdes and Iain Carpenter.

Isao Kamae MD, Dr.PH is a professor of health informatics and sciences at Kobe University, Research Center for Urban Safety and Security. He is also a professor of medicine, Kobe University School of Medicine and is responsible for education of medical students as well as research program of public health and disaster relief. In addition, he works in clinical practice once a week as a primary care physician. After graduating from Kyoto University, the Faculty of Engineering and receiving a Master of Engineering degree with a concentration in information science in 1979, Dr. Kamae entered the Kobe University School of Medicine to become a medical doctor. Participating in the graduate program in the United States of America extended his academic career. At the Harvard School of Public Health, he was the first Japanese to be awarded the Master of Public Health in biostatistics, and a Doctor of Public Health in health decision sciences. Since returning to Japan in 1992, he has been devoted to education and research in the national universities of medicine, as an associate professor of medical informatics at Shimane Medical University and as an associate professor of general medicine and clinical epidemiology at Kyoto University Hospital. Dr. Kamae has been expanding his academic experiences in the interdisciplinary fields of medicine, public health, computer sciences, and biostatistics. He has been recognized as one of the new leaders in Japan on the quantitative aspects of research in medicine such as decision-making, risk and technology assessment, and evidence-based medicine or health care. Also Dr. Kamae has been very active in research and education of pharmacoeconomics. ISPOR is one of his major societies, honoring him with the workshop review committee chair at the ISPOR Fourth Annual European Congress in Cannes, France. Dr. Kamae is also a member of the ISPOR Vision 2010 Committee.

Shu Chuen Li MBA, PhD is currently lecturing in clinical pharmacy practice at the Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore (NUS). His main research interest is in the area of drug policy, pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research, especially in the area of HRQoL. Before taking up the current appointment with NUS, Dr. Li served as Acting Director and Deputy Director of Pharmaceutical Evaluation Section, Pharmaceutical Benefits Branch, Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services in Australia. Australia is the first country that applies pharmacoeconomic principles to drug regulation and introduced mandatory cost-effectiveness requirements for reimbursement of pharmaceuticals. Dr. Li also serves as a member of the MOH Drug Advisory Committee (DAC), and as a consultant to Centre for Pharmaceutical Administration (CPA), Health Sciences Authority (HSA). Recently, Dr. Li was hired as a consultant by the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee of National Healthcare Group (NHG). Besides his experience in applied pharmacoeconomics, drug regulation and health care policy, Dr. Li has many years of experience in clinical pharmacy practice, especially in the areas of drug information, clinical trial and applied pharmacokinetics.

Shuzo Nishimura PhD is currently Professor of Health Economics at Graduate School of Kyoto University, Japan. He was formerly Director of the Graduate School of Economics at Kyoto University. He is an editor of the Japanese Journal of Health Economics and Policy. Also he was formerly the associate editor of Pharmacoeconomics. He got PhD in Economics at Kyoto University and served as a research associate at Centre for Health Economics at University of York in 1996-97. His research interest include wide ranges of health economics, such as cost-effectiveness analysis of specific diseases, development of QOL measures, and economics of health insurance. He also plays an important role in health policy making as a member of the government committee on health care reform in Japan.

Byung-Joo Park MD, PhD is a professor at the Seoul National University College of Medicine. His main subjects of research interest are (1) the application of statistical concept and research methods in clinical trials to help clinical researchers conduct clinical trials ethically and scientifically and (2) the construction of the Korea Pharmacoepidemiology Cohort of elderly Korean people. His pharmacoepidemiology research includes the drug utilization review and evaluation of psychotropics and hip fracture in the elderly.

Takuro Shimbo MD, Dr MedSci, has many experiences of research in clinical epidemiology and cost-effectiveness analysis for the various medical technologies in Japan, and has introduced the idea of clinical economics to this country through several publications. He is Associate Professor in the Department of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, and is sharing in the recent activity of developing evidence-based medicine in Japan as a tutor in workshops. Dr. Shimbo received his MD from the School of Medicine at Keio University in 1979 and his doctorate of Medical Science from the School of Medicine at Keio University in 1990. He is currently a member of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine, Japanese Society of General Medicine and the Society for Medical Decision Making. Aside from having numerous papers published in academic journals, Dr. Shimbo is also a Board certified member of the Japanese Society of Hematology. In 1995, he was recognized by the International Society of Technology Assessment and Health Care for his article on "Cost-effectiveness analysis of strategies for colorectal cancer screening in Japan." Shimbo was also presented with the award of research facilitation in Fellows of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine.

Makoto Shiragami PhD, After completion of the master course for pharmaceutical science at the graduate school of the University of Tokyo in 1977, Shiragami joined the Ministry of Health and Welfare. During his service in the Ministry, he engaged in various fields such as new drug review, post-marketing safety issues, drug research and development promotions, and health insurance programs. From 1984 to 1985, Shiragami was sent to the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organization and then its Headquarters as an associate expert for two years. He received a PhD (Pharmaceutical Science) from the University of Tokyo in 1999. In 2001. He retired from the Ministry and became a professor of the College of Pharmacy, Nihon University. At the University, he teaches laws and systems related to pharmaceutical affairs or pharmacists. Shiragami is primarily concerned with making pharmacoeconomics familiar to Japanese pharmacists, particularly those who work in hospitals.

Sean Sullivan RPh, PhD is currently Professor of Pharmacy and Health Services and Director of the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program at the University of Washington. He received his BS in Pharmacy from Oregon State University, MS in Pharmacy Administration from the University of Texas and PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in Health Economics. He joined the University of Washington in 1990 after completing an NCHSR (now AHRQ) fellowship at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. He has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters in the areas of economic evaluation and drug policy focusing primarily on respiratory diseases, mental illness and immunology. Dr Sullivan has been active in SMDM, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), the American Lung Association, the American Thoracic Society as well as ISPOR. He has served as a committee member for the development of global guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma and COPD (GINA, GOLD). Dr. Sullivan chaired the Scientific Program at the 2001 ISPOR annual meeting. Recently, Dr. Sullivan has been involved with AMCP in the development and implementation of a standard format for the submission of clinical and economic evaluation data to U.S. managed care plans and pharmacy benefit managers for drug formulary consideration. In his capacity as ISPOR President 2003-04, his vision for ISPOR is to link the diverse talent of the membership with the substantial needs of managed care in order to facilitate assessment of the value of pharmaceuticals.

Yen-Huei Tarn MS, PhD received his Bachelor’s degree from the School of Pharmacy, National Defense Medical Center in 1969, Master of Science degree in Clinical/Hospital Pharmacy from University of Iowa in 1986, and PhD degree in Pharmacy Administrative and Behavioral Science from University of Arizona, USA in 1993. Dr. Tarn presently teaches pharmaceutical economics, pharmaceutical care, health measurement, and research designs in the School of Pharmacy, National Defense University in Taipei, Taiwan. In addition to the teaching and research functions, he also serves on two Committees for the Department of Health, the Board of controlled substances evaluation and the Board of OTC drug evaluation. He was a member of the Drug Evaluation Committee for the Bureau of National Health Insurance from 2001 - 2003. He is also a board member of several pharmacy professional Associations. Dr. Tarn’s research interests are largely consumer-related. They cover asthma care, long-term care, cognitive services, and ADR surveillance programs provided by pharmacists. Recently, the research focus was pharmacoeconomics, such as antiviral treatment for hepatitis C patients, cost of rheumatoid arthritis treatment, and cost-effectiveness of oral medication versus surgery for patients with benign prostate hypertrophy. Health-related quality of life measurement as the outcomes for clinical trial is another research interest.

Kiichiro Tsutani MD, PhD received his B.A. (1972) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and his M.D. (1979) at School of Medicine of Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Besides his training in Western medicine, Tsutani received training in Kampo (traditional Japanese) medicine at the Oriental Medicine Research Center of the Kitasato Institute (1979-1981). After completing his Ph.D. (1983) in clinical pharmacology at TMDU, he joined the WHO and served as a first Medical Officer for Traditional Medicine at the Regional Office for the Western Pacific, Manila (1984-1990). He had been a Research Fellow at the Takemi Program in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) (1990-1991). After he returned to Japan, Tsutani became Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Division of Information Medicine, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Medical University (1992-2001). Currently, Dr. Tsutani is a Professor of Pharmacoeconomics, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, at the University of Tokyo. He has been a member of the Working Group for the Clinical Evaluation Methodology of Kampo Drugs set up in association with the Pharmaceutical Affairs Bureau (PAB) of Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) of Japan (1990-1994), MHW Topic Leader for Medical Terminology of ICH (1995-1998). He is the Director of the International Affairs Department for the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (JSAM) (1994-) and Member of Executive Committee of World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion (WFAS) (1997-). Dr. Tsutani has also served as a Guest Professor at the University of Air.

Bong-min Yang, PhD is Professor of Health Economics at the School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Korea. He received his BA (Economics) from Seoul National University in 1976, and PhD (economics) from Penn State University in 1982. He has been a short-term consultant to many international organizations, including WHO, World Bank, UNDP, ADB, MSH (Boston) and HIID. He has also been involved in various health care policies in Korea, including areas of health insurance, health financing and drug policies.