Cynthia Iglesias
Professor of Health Economics

Profile

Biography

With a track record of more than 20 years in health economics and outcomes research, Prof Cynthia Iglesias is recognised nationally and internationally for her applied and methodological programme of work on the evaluation of medical devices for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) decisions. 

An independent member of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Medical Technologies Advisory Committee (MTAC) for England and Wales (since 2012), she contributes to the Institute’s reimbursement and adoption decisions relating to a range of medical devices. More recently, Cynthia helped shape the Institute’s Evidence Standards Framework for Digital Health Technologies and led the health economics assessment of one of the first technologies that underwent NICE’s pilot in HTA evaluation of digital health technologies. 

Cynthia has a rich research portfolio of applied and methodological projects focussing on (or directly relevant to) the development and evaluation of medical devices (see her Research section). She has contributed to and led work packages in several applied and methodological projects funded by national (NIHR, MRC, EPSRC, Health Foundation, UK Government) and international (European Commission) agencies.   

Cynthia is a Professor of Health Economics and member of the Health Services and Policy Research group in the Department of Health Sciences. She has been at the University of York since 1998, a time during which she held honorary appointments with the Hull York Medical School, the Centre for Health Economics, the Danish Center for Healthcare Improvements and the Luxembourg Institute of Health.  

Qualifications

• BSc in Actuary, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 1992
• Postgraduate Diploma in Economics, University of York, Department of Economics and Related Studies, 1997
• MSc in Health Economics, University of York, Department of Economics and Related Studies, 1998
• PhD in Health Sciences, University of York, Department of Health Sciences, 2006

Departmental roles

• Black Lives Matter (BLM) research working group (2020 - to date)
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDIC) member (2017 to date)
• Athena Swan (AS) Working Group member (2016 to date)
• Peer support for teaching working group member (2017 to date)
• Contract Research Forum (CRF) communications lead (2017 to 2019)
• Training and Career Progression Committee (TCPC) member (2017-2019)
• Network of researchers working in health economics coordinator (2015 – 2017)

University roles

• Women in Research Network management co-lead (2020 to date)
• University mentoring programme (and pilot) mentor (2017 - to date)
• Faculty Contract Research Forum lead (2018 - 2019)
• 2^nd UoY Research Staff Conference co-organiser (2018)

Research

Overview

Prof Cynthia Iglesias’s projects are interdisciplinary, and many involve international collaborations. The emphasis of her work is on the use of health economics to support HTA considerations (for both payers and developers/manufacturers), at any stage of a product’s life cycle. Recent examples of her contribution to the R&D of medical devices at an early stage of their development include a series of EPSRC funded projects and - more recently - the work she is doing for one of the Phase 4 technologies that received funding as part of the NHSx AI in Health and Care Award programme, for which she is designing and conducting an evidence generation and evaluation programme. 

Innovative medical devices, such as AI-driven technologies, play a key role in facilitating the development and delivery of personalised and precision medicine. In addition to her research programme in the evaluation of medical devices for Health Technology Assessment (HTA) decisions, Cynthia co-leads a research theme in the economics of stratified, personalised and precision medicine at York. 

Cynthia has worked as health economist in a large number of research projects and her research is not limited to medical devices; she has assessed pharmacological and non‑pharmacological interventions, surgical procedures and other services in several clinical areas, including osteoporosis, wound care, stroke, epilepsy, complementary medicine and orthopaedics. 

She has made a number of innovative contributions to the methods literature for the evaluation of medical devices and the use of Bayesian statistical methods and value of information analysis to explicitly recognise and characterise the high levels of uncertainty associated with the evidence base associated with these technologies. 

She has expertise in the application of a wide range of methods commonly used in economic evaluation for healthcare decision making including: 

• decision analytic models
• analysis of patient-level data collected alongside randomised controlled trials
• systematic literature review for HTA
• evidence synthesis
• preference elicitation
• expert elicitation and opinion
• questionnaire and surveys design

Projects

Current:

• Implementation of personalised risk prediction and prevention of sudden cardiac death after myocardial infarction (PROFID). European Commission - Horizon 2020 Programme, 2020 -2024.
• The UK and China Health and Economy Partnership Programme, British Council, 2019-2022.
• Next Generation Health Technology Assessment to support patient-centred, societally oriented, real-time decision-making on access to and reimbursement for health technologies throughout Europe (HTx). European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme, 2019-2023.
• Improving uptake of fracture prevention treatments (iFRAP). Development and evaluation of a consultation intervention. NIHR Clinical Scientist (Dr Zoe Paskins, University of Keele) 2019-2024.
• Sensors for clean water: a participatory approach for technology innovation. Global Challenges Research Fund EPSRC, 2017-2021.
• Improving the Wellbeing of people with Opioid Treated CHronic pain (I-WOTCH), NIHR HTA R&D Programme, 2016-2021.

Previous:

• Providing the right care to the right patient with MyeloDysplastic Syndrome at the right time (MDS-RIGHT). European Commission - Horizon 2020 Programme, 2015-2020.
• Multiparameter Assay for Profiling Susceptibility (MAPS). EPSRC Healthcare Impact Partnership, 2017 –2020.

Research group(s)

• Health Services and Policy

Available PhD research projects

Dr Iglesias is interested in supervising PhD candidates wanting to work on the following topics:

• Methods for economic evaluation of healthcare technologies
• The economics of R&D of innovative medical devices (e.g. wearables, Apps; AI-driven MedTech, decision support tools)
• Healthcare policy decision making for personalised medicine;
• Bayesian statistical methods in healthcare decision making

Supervision

Current postgraduate students

• 2017 – 2020 Mr Alex Drayton. “Autonomous photonic biosensor.” School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York (Joint main supervisor with Professor Thomas Krauss). 
• 2019 – 2022. Ms Tasnim Hamsa. “Flexible generic framework for evidence synthesis in health technology assessment.” Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern (Joint main supervisor with Professor Giorgia Salanti). 
• 2020 – 2023 Mr Luis Beltran Galindo. “Primary care family planning investments in Mexico – health and economic impact for adolescents”; Department of Health Sciences, University of York (Joint main supervisor with Dr. Amanda Mason-Jones).

Publications

Full publications list

• Cynthia Iglesias' publications

Teaching

Postgraduate

Contributor:  Department of Health Sciences Health economics module

Continuing Professional Development

• Evaluation of Medical Devices for Product Development and Health Technology Assessment (in collaboration with York Health Economics Consortium and the Centre for Health Economics at York) - Director and Faculty (2017 to date)

Previous:

• Regression Methods for Health Economic Evaluation, Centre for Health Economics, University of York – Tutor (2008 to 2018) 
• Advanced Modelling Methods, Centre for Health Economics, University of York – Tutor (2004 to 2017) 
• Expert Workshops in the Socio Economic Evaluation of Medicines (Foundations), Centre for Health Economics, University of York – Tutor (2001 to 2017)
• Expert Workshops in the Socio Economic Evaluation of Medicines (Advanced), Centre for Health Economics, University of York – Tutor (2001 to 2017)

External activities

Memberships

• Medical Technologies Advisory Committee National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – (2012 – to date).  This is a national committee that produces advice for the NHS in England on medical devices that are likely to be cost-saving or cost neutral. 
• Doctoral Fellowships Selection Committee, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academy (2019 - to date). This committee supports the development of the Doctoral Fellowship scheme, assess applications, interview candidates and make funding recommendations based on quality.
• Asthma UK Research Review Funding Panel (2019 - to date)This committee advises the Charity on the scientific merit of grant applications submitted for funding to ensure that Asthma UK funds the highest quality research.

Editorial duties

• Global and Regional Health Technology Assessment Journal. Member of the Editorial Board (current) 
• Value in Health Regional Issues. Member of the Editorial Advisory Board (past)

Invited talks and conferences

• Health economics considerations on the use and introduction of AI-driven technologies in radiology into the NHS. British Institute of Radiology (BIR) Conference Online “Artificial Intelligence in Practice;” 2021. 
• 3rd Online EUnetHTA Workshop on HTA & Medical Device / In vitro Diagnostics Regulation. Invitation only multi stakeholder expert forum; 2020. 
• Evaluation of Digital Health Technologies. Lecture series on “Improving patient and population health through innovative e-health interventions” Luxemburg Health Institute, Luxemburg; 2019. 
• Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and Patient Reported Outcomes; Plenary discussion panel discussion, 2^nd China Health Technology Assessment Conference.  Beijing, China; 2019. 
• Evaluation of Medical Devices, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; 2019. 
• Tendencias de la farmacoeconomía en el abordaje de las terapias avanzadas. 4^th Specialised Workshop in Healthcare Policy and Pharmacoeconomics organised by the Pompeu Fabra University. Mallorca, Spain; 2019. 
• Defining Value for Medical Devices. International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Latin America ISPOR LA Spotlight session. Bogota, Colombia; 2019. 
• 2^nd EUnetHTA Workshop on HTA & Medical Device / In vitro Diagnostics Regulation.  Invitation only multi stakeholder expert forum. Gessellschaft der Ärzte, Vienna, Austria; 2019. 
• On the opportunities and challenges surrounding the (development and) use of digital technologies in healthcare: A health economist’s perspective.  Invited talk at the DIA Value, Access and Regulatory Strategy Conference; London, UK; 2018. 
• Methodological Challenges for Determining Value & Reimbursement of Medical Devices: the Role of RCTs and RWD/RWE in HTA and new Medical Device Regulations.  Invited talk at the DIA Value, Access and Regulatory Strategy Conference; London, UK; 2018. 
• 1^st EUnetHTA Workshop on HTA & Medical Device / In vitro Diagnostics Regulation.  Invitation only multi stakeholder expert forum. Gessellschaft der Ärzte, Vienna, Austria; 2018. 
• Economic Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment of Complex Interventions. 1^st Workshop in Complex Interventions in Healthcare. Centre for Healthcare Improvement. University of Aalborg; Aalborg, Denmark; 2017. 
• Evaluation of Medical Devices at NICE Medical Technologies Evaluation Programme. MedConNecT North: Connecting Clinical, Academic and Entrepreneurial Excellence Event - Access to the NHS Workshop. Newcastle, UK; 2017. 
• Methodological Developments in Economic Evaluation and HTA of Medical Devices. Annual away day of the Medical Technologies Advisory Committee (MTAC) of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); Manchester, UK; 2017. 
• Healthcare Decision Making and Makers in UK, Germany and Sweden: A Comparative Perspective. 1^st Specialised Workshop in Healthcare Policy and Pharmacoeconomics organised by the Pompeu Fabra University. Mallorca, Spain; 2016. 
• How to introduce health technology assessment in medical device and surgical clinical studies. 15th International Myeloma Workshop; Rome, Italy; 2015.