Subhash Pokhrel

Professor Subhash Pokhrel serves as Professor of Public Health Economics at Brunel University London, leading the Health Economics Research Group (HERG) within the Department of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. Previously Head of Department (2018-2023) and Founding Divisional Lead for Global Public Health (2016-2018), his work spans the UK, Europe, and 11 low- and middle-income countries including Ghana, Nepal, and Bangladesh through collaborations with WHO and European Commission initiatives.

His research integrates two core pillars: optimizing health system efficiency and strengthening national health research systems. This has directly shaped public health policy via REF2021 impact case studies on tobacco control ROI and breastfeeding promotion, building on foundational NICE Public Health ROI Tools adopted across England. Key investigations span child healthcare pathways in LMICs, health insurance economics, physical activity interventions, and obesity determinants in West Africa – consistently translating evidence into actionable investment frameworks for policymakers.

Recent publications (2023-2025) reveal concentrated focus on economic burden quantification (multimorbidity, smokeless tobacco) and healthcare access barriers in LMICs, predominantly using systematic reviews and modeling approaches. South Asia and Africa dominate geographic scope, with methodological emphasis on ROI analysis, burden-of-disease metrics, and implementation science for tobacco control and chronic disease management.

As PhD supervisor, he mentors doctoral candidates investigating integrated care models in England, obesity drivers in Ghana, and long-COVID correlates, while leading €2 million EQUIPT project coordinating tobacco control evidence across Europe. His external committee roles with NICE, NIHR, and SPI-B further demonstrate policy influence in health technology appraisal and pandemic response.

HERG under Pokhrel operates as an interdisciplinary hub bridging health economics, epidemiology, and policy analysis, with active partnerships across 8 LMICs and European institutions. Current priorities include cross-context transferability of economic evidence and ROI frameworks for health research system strengthening, particularly targeting WHO collaboration priorities in resource-constrained settings.