Elena Meshcheriakova

Elena Meshcheriakova is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) within the Faculty of Health at the University of Technology Sydney. She has been with CHERE since 2014 and completed her PhD in Health Economics at UTS in 2023. Her research focuses on health technology assessment, economic evaluations, and discrete choice experiments to understand consumer and patient preferences in healthcare decision-making.

Dr. Meshcheriakova's educational background includes:

• PhD in Health Economics, University of Technology Sydney (2023)
• MSc in Health Economics, Policy and Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam (2011)
• BSc in Economics and Law, Utrecht University (2010)

Her research interests span health economics with particular focus on pharmaceutical policy, health technology assessment, and discrete choice methodologies. Dr. Meshcheriakova has extensively investigated consumer preferences for branded versus generic medicines, developing evidence-driven policies to reduce prescription costs. She has also conducted important work on public preferences for resource allocation during the COVID-19 pandemic, cost-effectiveness of public health interventions like folic acid fortification, and valuation methods for health states. Her research methodology expertise centers on discrete choice experiments to elicit preferences from consumers, patients, and the general public.

Analysis of Dr. Meshcheriakova's publication record shows a consistent focus on applying health economic methods to real-world healthcare challenges. Her work spans pharmaceutical policy evaluation, health technology assessment methods, resource allocation preferences, and public health interventions. A significant portion of her research employs discrete choice experiments to understand decision-making in healthcare contexts, from consumer medicine choices to complex medical decisions in oncology and intensive care. Her recent work demonstrates increasing sophistication in methodology and application to high-impact policy areas.

Dr. Meshcheriakova's scientific contributions include:

• Research on pharmaceutical pricing and consumer preferences for branded medicines
• Studies on ventilator allocation preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Cost-effectiveness analyses of public health interventions like folic acid fortification
• Methodological work comparing time trade-off and discrete choice experiment valuation methods
• Development of attributes for discrete choice experiments in pediatric oncology decision-making

As a Research Fellow at CHERE, Dr. Meshcheriakova has been actively involved in evaluating new pharmaceutical drugs for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), assessing drugs on clinical, economic, and financial factors. Her work contributes directly to informing government decisions about which medicines should be subsidized through Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Prior to joining CHERE, she worked in health policy at ACT Health (ACT Government) from 2011-2014, bringing practical policy experience to her academic research.

Dr. Meshcheriakova is part of a vibrant research team at CHERE that conducts health economics research to improve healthcare decision-making and policy. Her collaborative work spans multiple institutions and involves interdisciplinary teams including clinicians, health service researchers, and policy makers.