Lawrence Were

Lawrence Were serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Boston University, where he applies health economics to evaluate healthcare system reforms and insurance programs for marginalized populations including informal traders and HIV-positive individuals across Kenya, Ghana, and Nepal.

His academic foundation includes:

• BA from U.S. International University – Africa (2006)
• MS from Clark University (2010)
• PhD from Brown University (2015)

Professor Were's research integrates geospatial analysis with health policy evaluation, focusing on climate change impacts in Lake Victoria fishing communities, HIV/AIDS financing mechanisms, and spatiotemporal mapping of health insurance deserts. His work bridges theoretical health economics with practical interventions for vulnerable groups, particularly examining how environmental stressors drive transactional sex networks affecting HIV transmission.

His 2023 publication output demonstrates significant productivity across pharmaceutical supply chains, childhood mortality, and contraception utilization research, primarily using mixed-methods and geospatial approaches to address health disparities in East Africa.

As an educator, he teaches Comparative Healthcare Systems, Global Health, Social Determinants of Health, and Research Methods while leading the Global Health Systems R.I.S.E Lab. His international collaborations provide students with field research opportunities, and his workshops on grant writing and qualitative methods support scholarly development.

The R.I.S.E Lab serves as the operational hub for his Kenya-Ghana-Nepal research portfolio, facilitating interdisciplinary work on health systems strengthening through geospatial innovation and policy analysis.