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, the management of chronic diseases, 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 am interested in the unintended consequences of changes in economic, health and social policy (such as the unanticipated equity effects).
I have research currently funded by the NIHR into: (i) the links between economic policy and population health, (ii) the quantitative data used by local public health decision makers.
I am also involved in consultancy projects evaluating the N-ROL Stoke rehabilitation programme in partnership with ELHT funded via the SBRI programme.
My Role
I have a number of other roles in addition to research and teaching responsibilities:
- I am the admissions tutor for the PhD and MSc Health Economics and Policy programmes at Lancaster,
- the Director of Studies for postgraduate research for the Division of Health Research,
- and I am the deputy theme lead for health in the Data Science Institute.
I also provide health economics and statistical expertise to users of the NIHR Research Support Service.
External Roles
In 2025, I have become a member of the NIHR Public Health Research Programme Funding Committee.
I am a longstanding member of the HESG group, and contributor to the recently created NWHEG and NIHR Economics Groups.
I am a reviewer for health economics journals and provide expert advice to studies funded by organisations such as the NIHR, and I sit on the steering committee of two NIHR funded clinical trials.
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 - present)
- Funding source: NIHR Research Support Service Research Methods Fund Award. How can we use routinely collected data to evaluate public mental health interventions? (2025 - present)
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 Ethics (Supervisor)
2023, 2024, 2025: DHR499 Dissertation (Supervisor)
Qualifications
PhD Health Economics, MSc Economics, BA(Hons) Economics and Politics
PhD Supervisions Completed
Quantifying the Economic Impact of Psoriasis (Peslie Ng'ambi) Link: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/quantifying-the-economic-impact-of-psoriasis
Thesis Title
My PhD: Substance misuse related hospital admissions, costs and treatment outcomes: econometric analysis of administrative data for England
Link: https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/182556649/FULL_TEXT.PDF
Career Details
Prior to 2023
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.
Since joining Lancaster
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
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
01/10/2025 → 30/09/2028
Research
NIHR RSS Research Methods Fund Award: How can we use routinely collected data to evaluate public mental health interventions?
01/10/2025 → 30/06/2026
Research
Evaluating impacts of telerehabilitation for Stroke care in the North-West of England: analysis of observational data from a pilot programme
01/09/2024 → 30/11/2025
Consultancy
Co-creation workshop on Adult Tonsillectomy: The NAtional Trial of Tonsillectomy IN Adults (NATTINA)
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Co-creation workshop on Obesity and Bariatric surgery: the By-Band-Sleeve Study
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Health Economists' Study Group (HESG) Summer 2025
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
North-West Health Economics Group
Participation in conference - Academic
European Union Drugs Agency: Scientific award 2016 (winning and shortlisted articles)
Prize (including medals and awards)
- Health Economics