Dr Thomas Mason
Senior Lecturer in Health EconomicsProfile
In late 2022, I joined the Health Economics at Lancaster group as a Senior Lecturer in Health Economics.
My research examines the financing and organisation of health care, the health care workforce, the economics of addiction, and the social determinants of health. It typically involves the development and application of micro-econometric methods and other quantitative methods used in broader health research and epidemiology.I have examined the intended and unintended consequences of the introduction of reforms to the organisation, financing and delivery of health services. This has included distributional effects across population characteristics such as deprivation and need. I am interested in the links between economic policy and population health.
I am the admissions tutor for the Health Economics and Policy programmes, the director of studies for research, and the deputy theme lead for health in the Data Science Institute.
Research Grants
- Funding source: NIHR Public Health Research (NIHR169449). Community Wealth Building Evaluation: Learning Lessons from Scotland - a mixed method evaluation of the impact of community wealth building on economic and health outcomes and health inequalities (CoWBELLs) (2025-2028)
- Funding source: NIHR Research Support Service Research Methods Fund Award. How can we use routinely collected data to evaluate public mental health interventions? (2025-2026)
Current Teaching
2023, 2024, 2025: DHR409 Applied Health Economics (Module Lead)
2023, 2024: DHR529 Data Analysis (Module Lead)
2023, 2024, 2025: DHR403 Principles of Research Design and Practical Research Ethnics (Supervisor)
2023, 2024, 2025: DHR499 Dissertation (Supervisor)
Career Details
I studied an BA (Hons) in Economics and Politics (2005-2008) and an MSc in Economics from the University of Manchester in (2009-2010). I then joined the Manchester Centre for Health Economics as a Research Associate and was promoted to Research Fellow. I worked on various projects including:
- the development of methods for health care workforce planning
- development of age-period-cohort models to analyse population ageing
- evaluations of pay-for-performance schemes in health care
- policy evaluations for government on the economics of addiction
- the development of resource allocation formulae in health care
- the impact of health system change on health inequalities
- health system reforms including the 2012 Health and Social Care act,
- evaluations of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme
- the measurement of sexual orientiation in surveys
- the relationship between informal and formal care
- assessment of community-based optometry services
- assessment of geographical differences in the epidemiology diabetes
- evaluation of domestic violence interventions
- quality improvement schemes of patient safety in Tracheostomy care
My teaching activity at Manchester included teaching on the final year Econometrics module to BSc Economics students, and the Health Economics module to MSc Economics students. My PhD supervision included research into the economics of psoriasis.
I have worked as a Senior Research Analyst in private sector health economics consultancies producing research for government agencies, third sector and pharmaceutical clients.
I joined Lancaster University as a Senior Lecturer in Health Economics in September 2022.
My current research includes:
- analyses of the impacts of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme on health inequalities
- evaluation of the NROL Stroke Rehabilitation pathway
-
analysis of how English local authorities allocated the public health grant across spending programmes
- evaluation of the impacts of Community Wealth Building on population health and economic outcomes
- the use of quasi-experimental methods in public health research
- research into the health economics of mental health conditions
01/10/2025 → 30/09/2028
Research
01/10/2025 → 30/06/2026
Research
01/09/2024 → 30/11/2025
Consultancy
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
- Health Economics