Consortium Spotlight: Meet Professor Heather Brown from University of Lancaster
Welcome to our Consortium Spotlight, where we shine a light on our diverse community of experts dedicated to reducing the environmental impact of medicines in UK healthcare. First, we have the pleasure of featuring Professor Heather Brown, a distinguished health economist and Professor of Health Inequalities.
Q&A with Professor Heather Brown:
How do your professional and/or personal interests link to the work done by the Pharma Pollution Hub?
“I am a health economist with a particular interest in inequalities. Going forward, if we want a sustainable and equitable healthcare system, we need to consider the environmental costs of pharmaceuticals and who bears these costs. My interest in this group is finding out others' perspectives, understanding the current state of the art, identifying gaps in knowledge/practice, and ensuring that an equity perspective is included in future work. This research paper dives deeper into identifying gaps in knowledge funding which increase inequities in related to climate policy and health outcomes”
How do you think your profession can help drive change in reducing the negative environmental impacts of pharmaceutical pollution?
“I think we can have an indirect impact as health economists by changing practice in terms of considering the environmental costs and consequences of new pharmaceuticals in Health Technology Assessments (HTAs), for example. We can also play a role in ensuring that costs are distributed equitably.”
If you had a magic wand, which part of the UK healthcare pharmaceutical system would you change and why?
“This is a hard one. I think it is a global issue. One thing I guess we could do is to ask for environmental impact assessments for new HTA submissions, but because of difficulties with data, this might have to be on a voluntary basis to start. Another idea would potentially be to think about polypharmacy and drug wastage.”
Is there anything else you would like to share with our community about your work linked to our mission?
“Prevention – we need to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to live their healthiest life, and that the burden and blame don’t fall on those with the greatest health need.”
Tell us more about your work?
“My research expertise is in applied econometrics. I am particularly interested in the causes and consequences of health inequalities and evaluating policies that mitigate or exacerbate these inequalities. I am interested in understanding how both structural level factors and policy impacts on inequalities across generations and the life course. I am also interested in engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to make complex quantitative data analysis accessible and user-friendly.”
Professor Heather Brown's dedication to addressing health inequalities and her commitment to incorporating an equity perspective makes her a valuable member of the Pharma Pollution Hub. Stay tuned for more insights from our consortium coming soon.
