Rob Abbott
Chief Executive Officer
Rob is a highly accomplished, visionary leader with more than 20 years’ experience providing executive-level strategic and operational leadership. He has successfully guided a number of organizations through their transformation and growth.
why HEOR ambassadors?
Healthcare systems across the globe are struggling under the weight of rising costs and increasingly complex choices, making it more important than ever for stakeholders to understand how health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) can improve health decisions.
HEOR Ambassadors are global thought leaders in the field of health economics and outcomes research who can speak to a broad range of healthcare topics. They seek to increase the awareness, understanding, and use of HEOR to improve healthcare decision making. HEOR Ambassadors are committed to communicating about the vital role HEOR can play in transforming healthcare and fulfilling ISPOR’s vision of a world where healthcare is accessible, effective, efficient, and affordable for all.
HEOR ambassadors
Beth Devine, PhD, PharmD, MBA, MSc is Head of Department and Professor of Evidence Synthesis, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, York, England, UK. She is also Professor Emerita at The Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy, and Economics (CHOICE) Institute, School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
As a health economist and medical statistician with over 175 publications, her current work focuses on network meta-analysis and quantitative bias-adjustment modeling, comparative effectiveness research, real-world evidence, and health technology assessment. Her work has been funded by AHRQ, the NIH and the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr Devine has served on 17 dissertation (PhD) committees, 29 thesis (MSc) committees, and has mentored countless graduate students, pharmacy students and residents on projects. At the University of Washington, Dr Devine taught the graduate level course in Outcomes Research Methods for the Health Sciences campus, and the Biostatistics and Study Design course for the Doctor of Pharmacy students.
She is the the 2026-2027 President of ISPOR, an Associate Editor for the ISPOR journal Value in Health and is an elected member of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology. During the academic year 2021-2022, she was Fulbright Senior US Scholar at the University of Murcia, Spain.
William V. Padula, PhD is assistant professor of pharmaceutical and health economics at the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and a scholar in the Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy and Government Service.
Dr Padula earned his BS in chemical engineering from Northwestern University, MS in evaluative clinical science from Dartmouth College, MS in data analytics from the University of Chicago, and PhD in pharmaceutical economics from the University of Colorado. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago.
His research explores theoretical foundations of medical cost-effectiveness analysis, particularly the value of vaccines, healthcare delivery, and patient safety in hospitals. He has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and PhRMA Foundation Frontier Award. He has authored over 100 scientific papers, letters, and book chapters.
Dr Padula is associate editor of Value in Health and served as president of the US National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel from 2021-2022. He received ISPOR's Award for Excellence in Health Economics and Outcomes Research.
Brian O'Rourke, PharmD is president of Brian O’Rourke Health Care Consulting, Inc. A distinguished healthcare leader, he was president of the 2023-2024 ISPOR Board of Directors and served as president and CEO of CADTH (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health) from 2009 to 2020. He continues to play an active role in the global health technology assessment (HTA) community as chair of the HTA Steering Committee at the Centre for Innovation in Regulatory Science.
During his tenure at CADTH, Dr O'Rourke increased transparency and stakeholder engagement, oversaw the integration of the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review into CADTH, and established the organization's first Patient and Community Advisory Committee. He was instrumental in developing a new foundational definition of HTA for the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment that is now globally cited.
Dr O'Rourke earned his BScPharm from Dalhousie University and PharmD from the University of Toronto. He served for more than 30 years in the Canadian Armed Forces as both a pharmacist and healthcare executive, retiring as a Colonel and being appointed Officer of the Order of Military Merit.
Eberechukwu Onukwugha, PhD is professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research and executive director of the Pharmaceutical Research Computing Center at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She serves on the editorial board of PharmacoEconomics, co-chairs the scientific review committee for the PhRMA Foundation's Value Assessment and Health Outcomes Research program. Dr Onukwugha served as ISPOR president in 2025-2026.
Dr Onukwugha earned her BA in economics and French from the University at Albany, State University of New York, her MS in agricultural and applied economics and PhD in economics (concentration: econometrics) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship in pharmacoeconomics and health outcomes research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
Her research focuses on cost analysis, health disparities, and medical decision making, with particular emphasis on contextual factors in health outcomes. With over 20 years of experience using administrative claims, hospital discharge statistics, and prospectively-collected data, she has authored over 120 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals including Cancer, Neurology, Value in Health, and PharmacoEconomics.
Director
Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy & ISPOR Past President
Federico Augustovski, MD, MSc, PhD is director of health economic evaluations and technology assessment at the Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS), an independent nonprofit affiliated with the University of Buenos Aires. He also directs the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Health Technology Assessment at IECS, and is a Professor of Public Health at the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine. He is a principal researcher at CONICET (National Scientific and Technical Research Council). He is the founding editor-in-chief of Value in Health Regional Issues for Latin America.
Dr Augustovski earned his MD with honors from the University of Buenos Aires, his MSc in epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health, and was a European Union scholar in health economics at the Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
He leads a multidisciplinary team conducting clinical and economic evaluations of technologies across Latin America. Dr Augustovski has published more than 170 PubMed-indexed papers in health technology assessment and health economic evaluations.
He was the first Latin American director on the ISPOR board of directors, served as 2018-2019 ISPOR president, and was founder and first president of the Argentine local chapter and first chair of the Latin American Consortium.
Jan Elias Hansen, PhD is global head of health economics and value assessment at Sanofi Specialty Care. She previously served as vice president of the evidence for access unit within Genentech US Medical Affairs, where she led researchers addressing value and quality drivers of access in the United States.
Dr Hansen is a licensed pharmacist and earned her PhD in pharmacy administration from the University of South Carolina at Columbia. She has over 25 years of experience in healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, having held leadership positions at PCS-Pharmaceutical Data Services (now CVS-Caremark), NDC Health, Wolters Kluwer Health, Glaxo Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline), and Allergan.
She served as president of the 2022-2023 ISPOR board of directors. Her professional accomplishments have been recognized through appointments including the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy Advisory Council, past chair of the University of Washington College of Pharmacy's Corporate Advisory Council, board member of the National Pharmaceutical Council, and Foundation of Managed Care Pharmacy Board of Trustees.
Dr Hansen is a speaker and guest lecturer on pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research, with a passion for building organizations and fostering innovative researchers
Jens Grueger, PhD is an affiliate professor of health economics at the Comparative Health Outcomes, Economics and Policy (CHOICE) Institute at the University of Washington. He is also a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group in Munich, Germany, and Curta in Seattle, Washington, where he serves as the senior expert for evidence, pricing and market access in life sciences. Previously, he served as senior vice president of global access at F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland, where he led holistic access strategies to ensure rapid, broad, and sustainable patient access to innovative medicines.
Dr Grueger earned his master's degree in medical statistics and PhD in theoretical statistics from the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany. He began his career as a health systems researcher, consulting with governments and payers, before holding leadership positions at SmithKline Beecham, Novartis, Pfizer, and Roche.
His expertise spans value-based pricing, risk-sharing arrangements, performance-based pricing, indication-based pricing, and international differential pricing. He has led innovative projects engaging health technology assessment bodies, payers, and patients on scientific advice and real-world evidence generation.
An active ISPOR member since 1999, Dr Grueger served as president of the board of directors from 2020-2021 and as director from 2004-2006 and 2019-2022. He has contributed to multiple task forces, scientific committees, and as a scientific reviewer for Value in Health.
Julia F. Slejko, PhD is associate professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She serves as co-director of the Patient-Driven Values in Healthcare Evaluation Center and as director of the Pharmaceutical Health Services Research Graduate Program.
Dr Slejko earned her BA in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from the University of Colorado Boulder and her PhD with a focus on pharmacoeconomics from the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy Center for Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy. Prior to her doctoral training, she spent 7 years in drug discovery at Array BioPharma in Boulder, Colorado.
Her research focuses on real-world health economics and outcomes research, economic modeling applications, and patient-informed value assessment. Her recent projects included multistakeholder consensus on patient-centered value assessment and US public preference elicitation of health inequality aversion.
Dr Slejko is active in ISPOR, serving as co-lead of the Women in HEOR initiative, associate editor at Value in Health, and member of the Health Science Policy Council. She was co-chair of the Faculty Advisor Council 2023-2025.
Prof Lotte Steuten, PhD is deputy chief executive of the Office of Health Economics (OHE), the world’s oldest independent health economics research organization, based in London, UK, and a globally recognized expert in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR).
Her research addresses challenges in valuing and paying for innovative therapies, with the aim of achieving effective, accessible, affordable, and efficient healthcare for all. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers on topics including the value of novel treatments and diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance, and immunization programs.
With 2 decades of experience across Europe, the United States, and Asia Pacific, she advises governments, industry, and other organizations worldwide. She is frequently sought by media and international stakeholders for expert commentary on HEOR, value assessment, health policy innovation, and evolution of health technology assessment globally.
Alongside her position at OHE, Prof Steuten is a visiting honorary professor at City St George’s, University of London. Prior to joining OHE, she held academic faculty positions at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center in the United States. She earned her PhD cum laude from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
Peter J. Neumann, ScD serves as director of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at Tufts Medical Center and professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. He founded and directs the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry, a database with over 15,000 standardized cost-effectiveness analyses.
Prior to his current roles, Dr Neumann was associate professor at Harvard School of Public Health (1995-2005) and served as special assistant to the administrator at the Health Care Financing Administration.
Dr Neumann earned his ScD in health policy and management from Harvard University and MA and BA degrees in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
His expertise spans cost-effectiveness analysis, health technology assessment, pharmaceutical decision making, and pharmacogenomics. He served as co-chair of the 2nd Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine and as president of ISPOR. Dr Neumann has authored 350+ peer-reviewed papers and 3 books, including The Right Price: A Value-Based Prescription for Drug Costs (2021). He serves on the editorial advisory board of Health Affairs and Health Affairs Scholar and formerly on the Congressional Budget Office's panel of health advisors.
Shelby D. Reed, RPh, PhD serves as professor in the departments of Population Health Sciences and Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. She is director of the Center for Informing Health Decisions and therapeutic area leader for Population Health Sciences at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). She is core faculty at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and a member of the Duke Cancer Institute.
Dr Reed earned her PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She has over 20 years of experience leading multidisciplinary health outcomes research studies, with extensive expertise in designing and conducting trial-based and model-based cost-effectiveness analyses of diagnostics, drugs, and patient-centered interventions.
In 2016, Dr Reed co-founded the Preference Evaluation Research Group at the DCRI and currently serves as its director. The group conducts stated-preference studies to inform regulatory decisions, health policy, care delivery, value assessment, and clinical decision-making across therapeutic areas.
Dr Reed served as president of ISPOR in 2017-2018 and is past chair of the Society's Health Science Policy Council. She has authored over 300 publications.
Professor and Chair
University for Health Sciences and Technology & ISPOR Past President
Uwe Siebert, MPH, MSc, ScD serves as professor of public health, medical decision making, and health technology assessment (HTA), and chair of the Department of Public Health, Health Services Research, and HTA at UMIT TIROL - University for Health Sciences and Technology in Austria. He is adjunct professor of epidemiology and health policy and management at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and is affiliated with the Institute for Technology Assessment at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
After medical school, Dr Siebert earned his MPH from Munich School of Public Health and his MSc in epidemiology and ScD in health policy and management from Harvard School of Public Health. He has over 30 years of experience in medicine and health decision-making, working in international public health projects across South America, West Africa, and Europe.
He served as president of the Society for Medical Decision Making and is currently president of the ISPOR Board of Directors. Dr Siebert has authored over 400 publications with more than 30,000 citations. He is editor of the European Journal of Epidemiology..jpg?sfvrsn=cfb40c70_1)
Amy K. O'Sullivan, PhD serves as senior vice president and chief research officer at Ontada, where she leads the Life Sciences business. In this role, she oversees teams responsible for delivery of real-world research, real-world data products, and physician engagement and education to life science partners.
Dr O'Sullivan is a health economist with over 25 years of experience conducting health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) on medical interventions throughout the product lifecycle. Prior to joining Ontada, she held leadership positions at Alkermes, Inc, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, IMS Health, and OptumInsight. She has provided scientific expertise on a range of studies in support of product reimbursement in jurisdictions around the world.
Dr O'Sullivan has authored studies in clinical and health economic peer-reviewed journals and presented results of her work at scientific congresses world-wide. She holds a BA in Economics and English from Boston College and PhD in Health Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. In addition to her role at Ontada, she also serves on the Board of Directors for ISPOR, the leading professional society for health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) globally. Dr O'Sullivan is passionate about using rigorous science to support product value, access, and evidence-based healthcare policy.
Sean D. Sullivan, PhD is professor and dean emeritus of the University of Washington School of Pharmacy. He holds a joint appointment as professor of health services in the School of Public Health and is visiting professor and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Dr Sullivan earned his Pharmacy degree from Oregon State University, an MSc from the University of Texas and PhD in health economics and policy from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include health technology assessment and pharmaceutical policy analysis.
Dr Sullivan is ISPOR treasurer, former ISPOR president, and past chair of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Executive Committee of the Format for Formulary Submissions. He received the 2014 Stephen G. Avey Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the 2015 American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmaceutical Research Sciences Research Achievement Award. Dr Sullivan was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (Medicine) in 2020 and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2022.
“HEOR cuts through the noise of complex options to help decision makers make better choices that benefit patients and improve health outcomes. HEOR insights have the power to transform healthcare around the globe.”
— Rob Abbott, Chief Executive Officer, ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research
