Gabriella Conti

Professor Gabriella Conti is a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and the Social Research Institute at University College London (UCL). She is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), CESifo, IZA Bonn, and RFBerlin. Conti serves as an Associate Editor at Health Economics, Trustee at the Foundation Years Information and Research, and scientific adviser of the Lancet Commission for Gender-Based Violence and Maltreatment of Young People.

Conti earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Essex in 2008. Prior to joining UCL in 2013, she was a Post-Doctoral Scholar and then an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago, working under the mentorship of Nobel Prize Winner James Heckman.

Professor Conti's research spans health economics, the economics of human development, and biology and economics. Her work focuses on understanding the developmental origins of health inequalities, the role of child development in lifecycle health production, and the behavioral and biological pathways through which early life experiences affect wellbeing. She frequently employs novel data sources including biomarkers (from fetal ultrasound to genetic markers), combined with administrative records and survey data. Her research examines interventions such as the Perry Preschool, Abecedarian and Nurse Family Partnership programs in the US, and large-scale UK programs like Sure Start, Family Nurse Partnership, and Universal Health Visiting.

Conti's recent publications demonstrate her interdisciplinary approach, bridging economics, public health, and biology across topics including developmental health inequalities, early childhood interventions, maternal and women's health (particularly menopause), and health policy impacts. She publishes in top journals across multiple disciplines including Science, PNAS, JAMA Pediatrics, Economic Journal, and Lancet.

Professor Conti has received significant recognition including:

• The Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics (2019) for her project "Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Universal Health Visiting in UK"
• The Nick Hales Award from the DOHaD society (2019) for "young and emerging investigator who has made an outstanding scientific contribution to the DOHaD field"
• A 5-year ERC Consolidator Award from the European Research Council

Her research has been supported by major funding bodies including NIH, H2020, ERC, UKRI, Nuffield Foundation, and British Academy. Conti leads the G-Lab at UCL, which focuses on developmental origins of health inequalities and early childhood interventions, mentoring numerous researchers across multiple projects examining the biological and social determinants of health across the lifecourse.