Dr Jesse Kigozi

• PhD in Health Economics, University of Birmingham, 2014
• MSc in Health Economics and Health Policy, University of Birmingham, 2006
• BSc Statistics, Makerere University, 2004

Before joining the Health Economics Unit, Jesse qualified with a Bsc (Hons) in Statistics and economics from Makerere University, Uganda. He went on to work in data management and as a health economist for a clinical research center (JCRC) In Uganda.

In 2006, Jesse obtained an MSc in Health Economics and Health Policy from the University of Birmingham. He then worked in monitoring and evaluation and economic evaluation roles within various projects in developing countries and as a health economist in JCRC.

In 2010, Jesse joined the Health Economics Unit, University of Birmingham as a Doctoral Researcher. His research exploring the Economics of Low Back Pain was funded by Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre, Keele University and the University of Birmingham.

Jesse took up the role of a Research Fellow within the University of Birmingham in 2013 after his doctoral research. Jesse worked in collaboration with the Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre at Keele University on a number of trial-based studies within musculoskeletal disease and mental health. He also works on methods for assessing productivity costs within economic evaluation and the evaluation of workplace interventions directed at improving the health of workers. He was promoted to the assistant professor role in Health Economics in 2022, and to an Associate Professorship in Health Economics in 2023.

Jesse is the Deputy Director of Teaching for the Masters in Health Economics and Health Policy and Health Economics and Econometrics and the Health Economics module lead for the Msc in Dissertations Module.

Jesse also teaches on the:

• MSc Health Economics and Health Policy
• MSc Health Economics and Econometrics
• Medicine and Surgery MBChB: 2nd year Medicine in Society
• Msc Clinical Trials (Keele University)

Jesse has successfully supervised 1 PhD student to completion.

Dawit Zemedikun (Topic: Exploring, quantifying and updating estimates of the economic burden of back pain in the UK using routine data) – Completed 2020.

Jesse is primarily interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

• Evaluative research (effectiveness and cost-effectiveness analysis)
• Investments in mental health of young people
• Measurement and valuation of wider societal costs
• Aspects of economic evaluation in chronic disease (musculoskeletal disease, mental health)

Jesse is a co-investigator and researcher in diverse applied projects various diseases. Previously Jesse has led projects in musculoskeletal research (BEEP, STEMS, EASEBACK, POST, ATLAS, SCOPIC, HITs) and Mental Health (POST, SWAP). The SWAP study has been used to develop the MSK Return on investment tool and as part of Public Health England guidance on productive healthy ageing and musculoskeletal health.

Jesses main methodological research relates to economic evaluations alongside complex trial designs such as cluster randomised trials, and adaptive trials. He currently holds 4 grants that require novel health economics methods of analysing adaptive trials (TREADON, MEDAL) (musculoskeletal research), COMBINER (mental health) and RABBIT (thyroid nodules).

Jesse’s research also includes widening the economic evaluation space of economic evaluations to include productivity costs. He has particular expertise in exploring alternative methods of assessing productivity loss (absenteeism and presenteeism) and their application within economic evaluation in the UK. He has previously investigated methodological approaches of applying the Friction Cost Approach within the UK in assessing work related absenteeism and presenteeism. He has published data reporting friction period estimates for the UK has been published in the Health Economics journal.

Jesse currently leads research in the Health Economics Unit including the Bypass vs. Angioplasty in Severe Ischaemia of the Leg-2/ (BASIL) 2 and 3 trials, the peRcutaneous thermal ABLation of Benign Intrathyroidal Tumour (RABBIT; 1 Sep 2022 - 31 Dec 2027) and the Medal Trial - MEDications in Acute Low back pain (MEDAL; 1 April 2023 -31^st January 2028 ), and the effectiveness of Lithium plus Quetiapine COMBination versus LithIum versus QuetiapiNe monothErapy in the maintenance treatment of bipolaR disorder trial (COMBINER; 1 Jun 2024 - 31 Jan 2030). In Keele University, he is the lead health economist on the TReatments of Exercise AnD Orthotics for plaNtar heel pain (TREADON; 1 Jan 2022 - 31 March 2026) trial and a co-applicant on the PROvision of braces for Patients with knee OsteoArthritis (PROP OA).

Jesse is a health economics advisor in the Birmingham hub of the Research Support Service Design (RSSD) West Midlands. As part of this he provides health economics advice and support on research design to researchers who are developing proposals for open, national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research.

Jesse is passionate about development of health economics capacity in LMICs. He has secured grants that have facilitated engagement trips and health economics capacity building and research idea development in LMICs from the University of Birmingham (The Birmingham International Engagement Fund and the IGI Global challenges research fund).

Jesse is a member of:

• HESG (Health Economists' Study Group)
• ARUK/MRC Musculoskeletal Pain and Work Centre collaboration Keele University/ Southampton