Anton L.V. Avanceña

Anton L.V. Avanceña is an Assistant Professor of Health Outcomes in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas at Austin, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Dell Medical School. He is affiliated with the Texas Center for Health Outcomes Research & Education (TxCORE), the Center for Psychedelic Research & Therapy, the Addiction Research Institute, and the Texas Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research.

• Ph.D. in Health Services Organization and Policy, University of Michigan (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar, Rackham Merit Fellow)
• M.S. in Public Health, University of California, San Francisco
• B.S. in Public Health, Santa Clara University

Dr. Avanceña's research centers on behavioral health, including mental illness and substance use disorders, with a focus on evaluating treatments through cost-effectiveness analysis and equity-informative methods. He develops decision-analytic models to advance justice-oriented value definitions in health, addressing conditions like alcohol misuse, depression, and PTSD. His work spans pediatrics, oncology, infectious diseases, and global health, emphasizing real-world data analysis and simulation modeling to reduce health, economic, and social burdens.

His recent publications (2017-2024) demonstrate consistent focus on health equity, cost-effectiveness, and social determinants of health. Key themes include mental health interventions (e.g., MDMA therapy for PTSD), global health strategies (malaria in Mozambique, vaccination in LMICs), and structural factors like income inequality. Methodologically, he advances equity-informative economic evaluation and resource allocation modeling across diverse clinical contexts.

Dr. Avanceña has received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholarship and Rackham Merit Fellowship.

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar
• Rackham Merit Fellow

He mentors students (evidenced by asterisked co-authors on publications) and serves on committees for ISPOR, SMDM, AcademyHealth, and IHEA. His research is supported through academic appointments and professional society engagements. As founding chair of ISPOR's Health Equity Research SIG, he leads initiatives to integrate equity into health economics.

Dr. Avanceña is embedded in multiple research ecosystems including TxCORE, the Center for Psychedelic Research & Therapy, and the Addiction Research Institute, where he collaborates on interdisciplinary projects addressing substance use, mental health, and health disparities through decision science approaches.