COVID-19 Lessons: Value-assessment approach

The objective of this symposium is to present and discuss certain progress reports by the International Joint Study on Public Health Economics of the COVID-19 Pandemic with the research grant, “Hitachi Fund Support for Research Related to Infectious Diseases,” which was initiated on the platform of GraSPP, University of Tokyo in December 2021. The international experts of health economics and outcomes research in Europe and Asia review and analyze the gap between science and misinformation experienced during the pandemic so far, and share the lessons learned for the next Pandemic X through value-assessment approaches.

Organizer
Health Policy & Technology Assessment Research Unit (HPTA), Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo

Co-Sponsors
The Hitachi Global Foundation

Program

Time	Content	Speakers
16:00-16:05	Opening Remarks	Kan Suzuki, Professor and Chief Investigator of the Hitachi Covid Research Project, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo
16:05-16:25	COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: Consequences and Future Challenges	Yasuhiro Suzuki, Dean, International University of Health and Welfare (Former Chief Medical and Global Health Officer, MHLW)
16:25-16:45	COVID-19 Pandemic in France: Consequences and Challenges in Health Economics	Pierre-Yves Geoffard, Professor, Paris School of Economics, France
16:45-17:05	COVID-19 Pandemic in Sweden: Consequences and Challenges in Health Economics	Ulf Persson, Senior adviser and Professor, Swedish Institute for Health Economics (SIHE), Sweden
17:05-17:15	Intermission
17:15-17:35	COVID-19 Pandemic in Singapore: Consequences and Future Challenges	Hwee-Lin Wee, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore
17:35-17:55	COVID-19 Pandemic in Taiwan: Consequences and Future Challenges	Chee Jen Chang, Distinguished Professor, Chang Gung University, Taiwan
17:55-18:15	COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: Cost-effectiveness Formulation in Theory and Examples	Isao Kamae, Project Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy,  The University of Tokyo Makoto Kobayashi, Director and Chief Operating Officer, Crecon Medical Assessment Ryo Watanabe, Associate Professor, Kanagawa University of Human Services
18:15-18:55	Panel Discussion “Role of Value Assessment for COVID-19 to the next”	Moderator: Isao Kamae Panelists: All the guest speakers
18:55-19:00	Closing Remarks

Speakers' Information


Yasuhiro Suzuki
President, International University of Health and Welfare 1984: Graduated from Keio University School of Medicine and joined the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHLW). 1998: Dispatched to the World Health Organization (served for 4 years as Assistant Director General (ADG)). 2005: Director, Research and Development Promotion Division, MHLW. 2006: Director, Elderly Health Division, MHLW. 2009: Deputy Director General, Headquarters for H1N1 Influenza Preparedness and Response, MHLW. 2010: Director, Medical Division, Secretariat of the Headquarters for H1N1 Influenza Preparedness and Response, MHLW. 2012: Medical Director, Ministry of Defense. 2014: Director-General for Technical Affairs, MHLW. June 2016: Director-General, Health Insurance Bureau, MHLW. July 2017: Medical Technical Director, MHLW. Retired from MHLW in August 2020.


Pierre-Yves Geoffard
Professor at Paris School of Economics and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and a Senior Research Fellow at CNRS. He has been the director of the Paris School of Economics (2013-2019), previously director of the research center Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques, and director of the master and Ph.D. programme Analyse et Politique Economiques. He holds a master's degree in applied maths (University of Dauphine) and another in Economics (EHESS), and a Ph.D. in Applied Maths (University of Dauphine). He has been a visiting scholar at the Universities of Stanford, Chicago, Lausanne, and, more recently, Ca'Foscari in Venice. His main research projects focus on the analysis of health systems and their regulation. He has published over 50 articles in academic journals (Econometrica, Biometrika, American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, Health Affairs,...). He is the laureate of an ERC "Synergy" research grant (2019-2024) for a multidisciplinary research project on Gender and Socio-economic inequalities in Health.

Ulf Persson
Senior advisor at the Swedish Institute for Health Economics (IHE). IHE was established in 1979 as the first centre for health economic research in Sweden. IHE has a staff of about 30 health economists. Ulf was, until the end of 2017, the CEO at IHE and held a position as an adjunct professor in Health Economics at Lund University. He also has experience as a former director in health economics at Johnson & Johnson in NJ, in the US. He has almost 40 years of research experience in the development and application of economic evaluation methods in health care. His main research areas are health economics, pharmaceutical economics, economic evaluations, and transport economics. He has published more than 300 articles, books, and reports on health economics and the economics of transport safety. He has 10 years of experience in price and reimbursement decisions both as a former member of the Swedish Dental Benefit Board and the Swedish Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Board, both included in the Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV).


Wee Hwee Lin
Associate Professor at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH), National University of Singapore. Dr. Wee spends her time thinking about how health services may be redesigned to maximize the value that they provide to patients and the health system. Her research has been used to inform policy-making in Singapore and Thailand. She has written articles for the Straits Times and Channel News Asia. She has also represented Singapore in several international professional organizations.


Chee Jen Chang
Professor Chang is a distinguished professor at Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science and, Department of Biomedical Science and Department of Artificial Intelligence in Chang Gung University, Taiwan. He a biostatistics-trained methodologist, major interests are in study design and analysis of clinical trial and big data. He is also an expert in HTA-related research focused on methodologies in pharmacoeconomics, cost-effectiveness analysis, and dynamic modeling, especially in infectious diseases. He also serves as many government committee members, such as in the new drug approval committee in TFDA and an expert committee of new drug reimbursement in NHIA. He was the president of the Taiwan Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome Research (TaSPOR) from 2012 to 2017 and the chairperson of ISPOR, Taiwan chapter. He was the chair-elect for the ISPOR Asia Consortium advisory board. 


Isao Kamae
Graduated from Kyoto University, Faculty of Engineering and Graduate School of Engineering, Master of Engineering. Graduated from Kobe University, School of Medicine, MD. Harvard University, Doctor of Public Health. The founding President of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Japan Chapter (2005-09). The first Japanese to serve on board members of relevant international societies (Board Director; ISPOR 2004-06, HTAi 2017-20), the first Asian to serve as President-Elect of ISPOR 2020-21 and President of ISPOR 2021-22, and a pioneer in health economics research in Japan.