CHE colleague receives lifetime award for his contribution to health policy
Posted on Tuesday 28 April 2026
Emeritus Professor and CHE colleague, Tony Culyer, has been awarded the Brian Abel-Smith Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his significant contributions to health policy and social welfare.
The Brian Abel-Smith Lifetime Achievement Award recognises individuals whose work has had a meaningful and lasting impact on health policy and social welfare and achieved notable policy impact, benefitting population health. The awarding committee praised Professor Culyer for his intellectual leadership and enduring contributions that exemplify the spirit and purpose of the award.
Commenting on the honour to the Pocklington Post, Professor Culyer said: "These kinds of recognition are very embarrassing and dangerous if taken too seriously. However, I am very grateful to the LSE for believing in me, and to my former York colleagues for nominating me. Now I have a reputation up to which I must try to live!"
His award nomination highlighted the scale and impact of his work: "Over 50 years, Mr Culyer has transformed health economics and institutionalised its impact on global health policy. His scholarship shifted the field from traditional welfarism to extra-welfarism, providing the philosophical foundations that underpin modern normative health economics.
"A prolific author of 30 books and 300+ articles, he shares Abel-Smith’s commitment to using reason and evidence to improve health and wellbeing. As the organiser of the Health Economics’ Study Group and co-founding editor of the Journal for Health Economics for 33 years, he built the infrastructure and quality standards that sustain the discipline today.
"Culyer describes himself as a ‘humble economist’. In truth he is a foundational figure who has systematically organised the field to help policymakers make better, fairer decisions."
About Tony Culyer
Anthony (Tony) Culyer, CBE, BA, Hon DEcon, Hon FRCP, FRSA, FMedSci, is a Professor Emeritus in the Department and has spent his career at the University of York since 1969. He works primarily within the Centre for Health Economics (CHE).
At York, he served as Head of the Department for Economics and Related Studies from 1986 to 2001, and as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and later Deputy Vice-Chancellor between 1991 and 1997.
He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London.
Tony was the founding co-editor (with Joe Newhouse) of the Journal of Health Economics and the founding organiser of the Health Economists’ Study Group, helping to shape the discipline globally.
He was the founding Vice Chair of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and currently chairs the International Decision Support Initiative, NICE’s successor organisation. He has also chaired the Office of Health Economics in London and remains on its board.
His recent honours include the Emmett Hall Laureate and Hall Lecturer (Canada, 2015), the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research (USA, 2015), and the ISPOR Avedis Donabedian Outcomes Research Lifetime Achievement Award (2015).