Rowena Jacobs
Professor and Deputy Head of Department

Profile

Biography

Rowena Jacobs is Professor of Health Economics and Deputy Head of Department for CHE. She has a PhD in Economics from the University of York and an MCom Degree in Economics (cum laude) from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Rowena has expertise in the economics of mental health and mental health policy. She has interests in the linkage and use of large and complex datasets and the application of advanced statistical methods to interrogate big data and inform mental health policy. Her research areas include the evaluation of mental health policy reforms, incentives and performance measurement of mental health services. She has undertaken various research projects on funding and contracting approaches for mental health services. She also has interests in the area of physical and mental illness multimorbidity. She leads several multi-disciplinary programmes of research and has raised research income from major funders including the Department of Health, NIHR, MRC, ESRC, UKRI and the Health Foundation. 

She is active in disseminating her research to a wide range of audiences, including the NHS, policymakers and international bodies. Her research has won several awards e.g. the Willard Manning Award in Mental Health Policy and Economics Research. She has acted as an adviser to various UK government and other agencies, as well as the World Bank, WHO, OECD, the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, the Australian Productivity Commission, and the Australian National Suicide Prevention Office. 

Her work has had an impact, for example being used by policymakers in the NHS in the design and use of classification systems to account for activity in mental health services. She has also advised various policymakers on the design of mental health payment systems in Ireland, Australia, France, the Netherlands and Peru. She has major national collaborations across the UK as well as internationally, including in low and middle-income countries in South-East Asia and Africa. 

She is the Academic Director for Involvement@York at the University.

Research

Overview

• Mental health policy reforms, incentives and performance measurement
• Funding and contracting approaches for mental health services
• Economic impact of mental health and labour market effects
• Socio-economic determinants of mental health
• Mental health and multimorbidity

Publications

See York Research Database

Research group(s)

• Health and social care policy
• Mental health
• Global health

Supervision

I would be interested in supervising students on the topic areas listed above.

Teaching

Postgraduate

• ‘The economics of mental health’ at Health Economics Research Network Bangladesh
• ‘The economics of serious mental illness’ at Queen Mary University London

Other 

• Workshop on the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS)

External activities

Memberships

• Chair of NHS England Independent Assurance Panel for Clinical Services Quality Measures (CSQM)
• Member of NHS England Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Reimbursement Reform Task and Finish Group 
• Member of NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care Mental Research and Evaluation Advisory Group
• Member of Economic Advisory Group to National Suicide Prevention Office (NSPO) Australia
• Member of Economics of Mental Wellbeing Network, Monash University, Australia 
• Member of the World Psychiatric Association Section on Mental Health Economics
• Member of Health Economics Study Group (HESG)
• Member of International Health Economics Association (iHEA)

Invited talks and conferences

Search "Jacobs" under CHE Talks and Presentations.

Media coverage

• BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme 'Minding the Gap: Mental Healthcare' which explored how mental health care was likely to be funded in the future. Listen here from 31:17
• YouTube video on NIHR study on primary care quality for people with severe mental ill health 
• ‘On The Sofa’ interview in response to the launch of Public Health England indicators on mortality of adults with severe mental illness as Big data theme lead for Closing The Gap (CTG) Network
• YorkTalks ‘Smart data analysis helps understand the role of GP care for people with severe mental illness’