Professor Emma Frew PhD, MSc, BA (Hons)

Professor Emma Frew

Department of Applied Health Sciences
NIHR Research Professor
Professor of Health Economics

Contact details

Address
Health Economics Unit
Applied Health Sciences
Public Health Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham, B15 2TT

Emma’s research interests are in the Economics of Obesity and the use of health economics methods to generate evidence to support public health decision making.  The application of these methods includes economic evaluation, econometric and decision-analytic modelling methods. 

Emma leads The Centre for Economics of Obesity, a new Centre for using health economics to support obesity policy tackling the wider determinants of disease including the impact of greenspace, transport, retail, schools and workplace.  She works closely with policy and commercial partners and is particularly interested in ensuring the evidence produced aligns with the decision-making needs within public health appreciating the complex systems that obesity policy fits within. 

Qualifications

  • PhD in Health Economics, University of Nottingham, 2003
  • MSc in Health Economics, University of York, 1998
  • BA (Hons) Economics and Marketing, University of Strathclyde, 1997

Biography

Emma is an NIHR Research Professor (awarded 2020) and Professor in Health Economics at the Department of Applied Health Sciences.

Emma studied at The University of Strathclyde for a BA (Hons) in Economics and Marketing (1993-1997) and at The University of York for a MSc Health Economics (1997-1998). She joined the Economics Department, University of Nottingham in 1998 as a Research Assistant and during that time completed a PhD in Health Economics (1999-2003) under the supervision of Professor David Whynes and Dr Jane Wolstenholme.  She joined the University of Birmingham in 2002.  

Following her PhD, Emma was responsible for undertaking reviews of economic evidence as part of the NICE appraisal process and supporting clinical trials with economic evaluation. 

In 2015 she was awarded a personal fellowship as a NIHR Career Development Fellow to work closely with Birmingham City Council Public Health team managing and developing services to help tackle childhood obesity. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008, Reader in 2016 and Professor in 2019.

Teaching

Teaching activity:

  • MSc Health Economics
  • BA (Hons) Economics
  • Public Health MPH/Diploma/Certificate

Postgraduate supervision

If you are interested in doing a PhD that aligns with Emma’s research interests then please get in touch.

Research

To see Emma present at the Knowledge Translation meeting hosted by the National University Ireland (June 2018)
To see Emma present at the International Health Economics Association main-congress meeting in Boston on her research in childhood obesity (June 2017)

Emma’s research interests are in the Economics of Obesity and the use of health economics methods to generate evidence to support public health decision making.  The application of these methods includes economic evaluation, econometric and decision-analytic modelling methods. 

Emma leads The Centre for Economics of Obesity, a new Centre for using health economics to support obesity policy tackling the wider determinants of disease including the impact of greenspace, transport, retail, schools and workplace.  She works closely with policy and commercial partners and is particularly interested in ensuring the evidence produced aligns with the decision-making needs within public health appreciating the complex systems that obesity policy fits within. 

Emma’s research programme is seeking to answer the following key questions around obesity policy.  Common across all these questions is an understanding of what and how evidence meets public health decision making needs:

  1. What is the economic value of green space?
  2. How can workplaces impact on lifestyle behaviours?
  3. What are the short- and long-term impacts from the National School Food standards?
  4. What is the economic value of interventions within the retail space to improve purchasing habits?
  5. What is the cost-effectiveness of active travel policy?

Other activities

  • Elected Board member, International Health Economics Association (iHEA)
  • Member of Strategic Council All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity
  • Committee member, iHEA Student Paper Award
  • Founding member of the iHEA Special Interest Group on Economics of Obesity
  • Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Association member:

  • Health Economists’ Study Group (HESG)
  • International Health Economics Association (iHEA)
  • Association of Study of Obesity (ASO)

Editorial board member:

  • International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity
  • Pharmacoeconomics-Open

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Krouwel, M, Greenfield, S, Sanders, JP, Gokal, K, Chalkley, A, Griffin, RA, Parretti, H, Jolly, K, Skrybant, M, Biddle, S, Greaves, C, Esliger, DW, Sherar, LB, Edwardson, C, Yates, T, Maddison, R, Frew, E, Mutrie, N, Ives, N, Tearne, S & Daley, AJ 2024, 'Making Every Contact Count: health professionals' experiences of integrating conversations about Snacktivity to promote physical activity within routine consultations - a qualitative study', BMJ open, vol. 14, no. 10, e085233. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-085233

Pallan, M, Murphy, M, Morrison, B, Sitch, A, Adamson, A, Bartington, S, Dobell, A, Duff, R, Frew, E, Griffin, T, Hurley, K, Lancashire, E, McLeman, L, Passmore, S, Pokhilenko, I, Rowland, M, Ravaghi, V, Spence, S & Adab, P 2024, 'National school food standards in England: a cross-sectional study to explore compliance in secondary schools and impact on pupil nutritional intake', The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 21, 123. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-024-01672-w

Pallan, M, Murphy, M, Morrison, B, Pokhilenko, I, Sitch, A, Frew, E, Rawdin, C, Adams, R, Adamson, A, Bartington, S, Dobell, A, Duff, R, Griffin, T, Hurley, K, Lancashire, E, McLeman, L, Passmore, S, Ravaghi, V, Spence, S & Adab, P 2024, 'School food policy in secondary schools in England and its impact on adolescents’ diets and dental health: the FUEL multiple-methods study', Public Health Research, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 1-167. https://doi.org/10.3310/TTPL8570

Afentou, N, Jackson, L, Andrade, LF, Elliott, S, Hull, K, Shepherd, J & Frew, E 2024, 'Valuing Blue Spaces for Health and Wellbeing from the Community Perspective', Sustainability, vol. 16, no. 12, 5222. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16125222

Stathi, A, Withall, J, Crone, D, Hawley-Hague, H, Playle, R, Frew, E, Fenton, S, Hillsdon, M, Pugh, C, Todd, C, Jolly, K, Cavill, N, Western, M, Roche, S, Kirby, N, Boulton, E, Thompson, J, Chatwin, K, Davies, A, Szekeres, Z & Greaves, C 2023, 'A peer-volunteer led active ageing programme to prevent decline in physical function in older people at risk of mobility disability (Active, Connected, Engaged [ACE]): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial', Trials, vol. 24, no. 1, 772. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07758-3

Candio, P & Frew, E 2023, 'How much behaviour change is required for the investment in cycling infrastructure to be sustainable? A break-even analysis', PLOS One, vol. 18, no. 4, e0284634. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284634

Sultan, H, Grayson, N, Jones, S, Pike, D, Greenham, S, Needle, D, Sadler, J & Frew, E 2023, 'Mapping Environmental Justice – a first for the United Kingdom', Journal of Town and Country Planning .

Krouwel, M, Greenfield, SM, Chalkley, A, Sanders, JP, Parretti, HM, Gokal, K, Jolly, K, Skrybant, M, Biddle, SJH, Greaves, C, Maddison, R, Mutrie, N, Ives, N, Esliger, DW, Sherar, L, Edwardson, CL, Yates, T, Frew, E, Tearne, S, Daley, AJ & Kwaghe, AV (ed.) 2023, 'Promoting participation in physical activity through Snacktivity: A qualitative mixed methods study', PLOS One, vol. 18, no. 9, e0291040. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291040

Daley, AJ, Griffin, RA, Moakes, CA, Sanders, JP, Skrybant, M, Ives, N, Maylor, B, Greenfield, SM, Gokal, K, Parretti, HM, Biddle, SJH, Greaves, C, Maddison, R, Mutrie, N, Esliger, DW, Sherar, L, Edwardson, CL, Yates, T, Frew, E, Tearne, S & Jolly, K 2023, 'Snacktivity™ to promote physical activity and reduce future risk of disease in the population: protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial and nested qualitative study', Pilot and Feasibility Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 45. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-023-01272-8

Candio, P, Mujica, FP & Frew, E 2023, 'Socio-economic accounting of inequalities in excess weight: a population-based analysis', BMC Public Health, vol. 23, no. 1, 721. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15592-0

Luli, M, Yeo, G, Farrell , E, Ogden, J, Parretti, H, Frew, E, Bevan , S, Blakemore, A, Brown, A, Logue, J, Menon, V, Isack, N, Lean , M, Roberts , A, McEwan , C, Gately , P, Roberts, K, Williams, S, Williams, G, Astbury, N, Maria, B, Clare, K, Combet, E, Dimitriadis, G, Finlayson, G, Heslehurst, N, Le Brocq, S, McGinley, P, Mueller, J, O'Kane, M, Richards, R, Batterham, RL & Miras, A 2023, 'The implications of defining obesity as a disease: a report from the Association for the Study of Obesity 2021 annual conference', EClinicalMedicine, vol. 58, 101962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101962

Mollan, SP, Mitchell, JL, Yiangou, A, Ottridge, RS, Alimajstorovic, Z, Cartwright, DM, Hickman, SJ, Markey, KA, Singhal, R, Tahrani, AA, Frew, E, Brock, K & Sinclair, AJ 2022, 'Association of amount of weight lost after bariatric surgery with intracranial pressure in women with idiopathic intracranial hypertension', Neurology, vol. 99, no. 11, pp. e1090-e1099. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000200839

PREDNOS Collaborative Group, NIHR Medicines for Children Research Network Nephrology Clinical Studies Group, Afentou, N, Frew, E, Mehta, S, Rowland, N, Woolley, R, Brettell, E, Khan, A, Milford, D, Bockenhauer, D, Saleem , MA, Hall, AS, Koziell, A, Maxwell, H, Hegde , S, Finlay, ER, Gilbert, RD, Jones, C, McKeever, K, Cook, W, Webb, NJA & Christian, MT 2022, 'Economic evaluation of using daily prednisolone versus placebo at the time of an upper respiratory tract infection for the management of children with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome: a model-based analysis', PharmacoEconomics, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 605-617. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41669-022-00334-6

Afentou, N, Moore, P, Hull, K, Shepherd, J, Elliott, S & Frew, E 2022, 'Inland waterways and population health and wellbeing: a cross‐sectional study of waterway users in the UK', The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , vol. 19, no. 21, 13809. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113809

Review article

Onyeaka, H, Duan, K, Miri, T, Pang, G, Shiu, E, Pokhilenko, I, Ögtem-Young, Ö, Jabbour, L, Miles, K, Khan, A, Foyer, C, Frew, E, Fu, L & Osifowora, B 2024, 'Achieving fairness in the food system', Food and Energy Security, vol. 13, no. 4, e572. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.572

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