People

AHTA is made up of a multidisciplinary team with staff expertise in areas of health technology assessment (HTA), health economics, ethics, research synthesis, methodological research, guideline development, and research information technology management.

Photo of AHTA Director, Professor Tracy Merlin

Professor Tracy Merlin, Director

Tracy Merlin is the first Professor of Health Technology Assessment in Australia, having worked in this relatively new field for over 20 years.

She is the director and co-founder of AHTA at the University of Adelaide. In this role she leads a large and experienced team of researchers undertaking multi-million dollar applied research and evaluation activities on behalf of government and non-government agencies. This research directly informs health policy and clinical practice. AHTA have been undertaking applied/contract research since 2001.

Professor Merlin is Chair of the Board of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA) and co-chaired the INAHTA Quality Assurance Group for two years. She is the current Chair of the English Editorial Board of the international HTA Glossary and has been a member of Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) since its inception.

Professor Merlin is a methodologist and clinical epidemiologist. In addition to publishing on methodological work, she has written over 150 systematic literature reviews, clinical practice guidelines and health technology assessment reports.

  • Leadership Team
    David Tamblyn

     

    David Tamblyn

    AHTA Manager

    David Tamblyn has worked in the field of health technology assessment for over 10 years, and has experience evaluating pharmaceuticals, devices and medical services. He has been involved in HTA evaluations for both reimbursement and regulatory purposes, and in the development of national guidelines to inform the assessment of pharmaceuticals and medical services.

    Jacci Parsons

     

    Jacci Parsons

    Team Leader, Special Projects

    Jacci Parsons is an epidemiologist and public health researcher with close to 20 years' experience in systematic reviews. She began her training as a reviewer while working at the University of Oxford, and has conducted multiple systematic reviews for the Cochrane Library, and five for the World Health Organization. With over 10 years of service at AHTA, Jacci has been across a number of projects, including Horizon Scanning, systematic reviews to support clinical practice guidelines, systematic review development for TGA, NHMRC and the WHO, as well as actively contributing to teaching HTA and public health to undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Adelaide.

    Skye Newton

     

    Skye Newton

    Team Leader, Medical HTA

    Skye Newton is a clinical epidemiologist who has 18 years' experience performing and providing guidance and quality assurance for evaluations for the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC). Skye has strong expertise in the evaluation of investigative tests, in particular, genetic tests.

    Arlene Vogan

    Acting Team Leader, Health Economics

    Arlene Vogan is a senior health economist at Adelaide Health Technology Assessment (AHTA) and has worked in the field of HTA for 10 years. She is responsible for the production or evaluation of economic evaluations of medical services, pharmaceuticals and co-dependent technologies for the Medical Services Advisory Committee and/or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.

    Camille Schubert

     

    Camille Schubert

    Team Leader, Health Economics

    Camille Schubert supervises the health economic modelling and analyses conducted at AHTA for the Medical Services Advisory Committee and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. She also conducts trial-based health economic research and analysis for grant-funded clinical research projects conducted at the University. Camille's areas of interest are; health economic policy associated with funded of health technologies, co-dependent health technologies and health economic implications associated with genetic testing.

    Vivian Liufu profile photo

    Vivian (Zhaohui) Liufu

    Team Leader, Pharmaceuticals

    Vivian (Zhaohui) Liufu has worked in the field of health technology assessment for 14 years. She is responsible for critical appraisal and evaluation of pharmaceuticals and co-dependent technologies for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) and/or Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC). She also has experience in clinical medicine, systematic reviews, and evaluation of medical services.

    Benjamin Ellery

    Benjamin Ellery

    Team Leader, Medical Devices

    Benjamin Ellery leads a team of evaluators who undertake evaluation of medical devices for regulatory purposes, under the auspices of the Australian Government Department's Therapuetic Goods Administration (TGA). Ben has an academic background and professional interest in public health and all aspects of health technology assessment (HTA), with 20 years of experience studying and working in these fields. Over the years, Ben has undertaken work on several hundred HTA projects, which have included the evaluation of medical services, medical devices, public health and health programs, health policy, and environmental aspects of public health.

  • Administration

  • Ethicist

  • Pharmaceutical evaluators

  • Healthcare & medical device evaluators

  • Health economists

  • Research IT

  • Students
    • Mrs Nadine Hillock - PhD candidate
    • Ms Ashleigh Morrison - Honours student
    • Dr Vahab Baghbanian - PhD candidate

  • Affiliates and consultants