Derek Brown is a health economist who uses innovative methods to study health-care costs and quality, access to care, and health behaviors. His primary goal is to improve the valuation of health outcomes and policies, and to enhance the economic evaluation of public health policies.
Brown’s areas of focus are child health (Medicaid, child maltreatment, mental health and quality of life) and preventive behaviors (screening, testing, vaccines and incentives). He applies econometric models to large administrative and survey data sets to study health impacts, costs and outcomes. He also employs discrete choice experiments to analyze preferences for health-care services and outcomes, and to measure the value of health care, determinants of health behaviors, and preferences for and valuation of quality of life.
Brown teaches courses in health economics and health policy. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Center for Advancing Health Services, Policy and Economics Research, the Centene Center for Health Transformation, and the Center for Violence and Injury Prevention.
Brown’s research has been featured in numerous peer-reviewed journals, such as the American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Health Economics, Health Services Research, and Value in Health. Before his faculty appointments at the Brown School and the School of Public Health, he served as a research economist at Research Triangle Institute International.
Areas of focus:
- Health economics
- Medicaid
- Child abuse and neglect
- Stated preference methods & health-related quality of life