Meet the EERG Team!
We are a team of researchers in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the College of Public Health (CPH) at the University of Georgia (UGA). We are engaged in quantitative research through a variety of economic evaluation projects. Economic evaluations are applied analytic methods to identify, measure, and compare the costs and consequences of treatment and prevention strategies.
Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa, PhD
EERG Director
Dr. Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa, EERG director is an Assistant Professor and an Applied Economist in the Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Georgia College of Public Health. Her research is on program and policy evaluation using multiple sources of data (survey, experimental, claims, administrative, statewide) for better understanding of public health and health services approach to prevent and treat preventable chronic diseases and its risk factors, she is primarily focused on obesity. She also conducts experimental and modeling research on ongoing and future policies and program at the local, state and national level related to chronic diseases, obesity prevention and treatment to inform the public health workforce, administrators, and legislators. More recent research development is on gender difference in physical activity, physical activity and mental health/drug use.
 |
| Phaedra Corso, PhD Senior Advisor Dr. Phaedra Corso is Vice President for Research at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Corso is the founder of the Economic Evaluation Research Group and previously worked as UGA Foundation Professor of Human Health. She also worked for 15 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an economic analyst and is co-editor of Prevention Effectiveness: A Guide to Decision Analysis and Economic Evaluation, a primer on conducting economic evaluations in public health (Oxford University Press, 2003). |
 |
| Justin Ingels, MPH Research Director
Justin holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of Georgia and received training in economic evaluation methods from Dr. Corso. He currently serves as the Research Director for the EERG and is responsible for the design of data collection instruments, management of the collection protocols, and data analysis. Justin is concurrently pursuing a doctoral degree in Epidemiology from the UGA’s CPH and is an assistant research professor in the college.
|