Researcher Spotlight - David Bloom, PhD
David Bloom is a Professor of Economics and Demography at Harvard Chan School of Public Health, Global Health and Population.
David is the Centre’s Health Economics Working Group lead and a member of the Centre’s Management Steering Group. He is a well-respected published author and economist, passionate about the impacts of health on the global economy, including type 1 diabetes (T1D).
We had a quick chat with David to find out more about his current research projects and what he thinks will be the biggest T1D research breakthroughs in the next 10 years
1. How long have you been working in diabetes research for?
I have been working in T1D research for around 4 years, but I have been working on developing better economic methods for valuing health and health interventions for over 20 years.
2. Why did you get into T1D research?
For the past many years, I have been working on projects that look at new and expanded ways to measure how health and healthcare impacts individuals, their families, and society. For example, we’ve looked at how vaccines (including childhood vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines) can have long-term and positive consequences on economic productivity and equity. We’ve also looked at the broader benefits of pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices, and all our studies indicate that health interventions can improve people’s lives and society in a wide variety of ways and therefore, health should be valued far higher in monetary terms compared to what governments currently spend on programs to make health better. One of the main reasons health spending is neglected is that we haven’t yet calculated all the ways better health can improve the lives of individuals, families, communities, and society.
Given T1D’s far-reaching and lifelong impacts and high healthcare costs, it was a natural next step to start working with the Perth CoE looking the true cost of T1D on consumers, caregivers, and society in general. If the true costs are higher than are currently being considered by healthcare officials and policymakers (and all early indications suggest that they are), then funding better and more accessible T1D treatments would almost certainly yield widespread and long-term economic and social benefits.
3. What are your current research projects you are working on?
I am currently working on a collaborative project under the Rio Tinto JDRF Centre of Excellence in Perth, along with colleagues at Telethon Kids Institute and Monash University to develop conceptual frameworks, economic models, and real-world data for better T1D care and management.
4. What do you think will be the biggest T1D research breakthroughs in the next 10 years?
The expansion of immunotherapies for onset-delay seems to hold serious potential if there can be further funding and expanded trials.
5.What do you like to do outside of your work?
Spend time with family, particularly my two grandchildren (age 2 & 3).