Prof Lee is widely regarded as a pioneer in pharmacoeconomics.

Monash University Sunway campus’ Head of Pharmacy, Professor Kenneth Lee, has been elected Director of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) for the period of 2012 to 2014.

He joins a distinguished group of health economics professionals on the Board of Directors of the non-profit organisation which evaluates healthcare interventions on patient well-being, and translating this into useful information for healthcare decision-makers to overall improve healthcare systems.

The society was founded in 1995 as a non-profit research organisation under the European Commission 7th Framework Program.

“Ever since its inception 15 years ago, ISPOR has worked unfailingly towards improving and engaging with stakeholders in the discipline of health economics and outcomes research. The achievements have been unanimously regarded as highly successful by all standards,” Professor Lee said.

But we are in no position for complacence, said the professor of pharmacy at the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Sunway campus.

“I see the next 15 years as being even more challenging yet more rewarding for ISPOR due to the high speed at which health technologies are advancing and all the upcoming healthcare reforms in different jurisdictions all over the world,” he said.

ISPOR has over 6,200 members from 100 countries. Half its members consist of professionals from research and academic institutions, 12% from government organisations, health technology assessment agencies, hospitals, and clinical practice, and 38% from pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.

“Our society is in the best position to ride on these opportunities to further enhance the science of outcomes research with the ultimate objective of translating the science into practical and useful information for all stakeholders. ISPOR should keep its far-reaching vision as an international Society thus strengthening the link among the audience across nations and cultural backgrounds,” said Prof Lee.

As the largest and most recognised organisation in the field, Prof Lee added, another major responsibility of ISPOR was to nurture next generation scientists to ensure a more advanced and efficient system of healthcare delivery in the next few decades.

Prof Lee is widely recognised as one of the pioneers in pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research in Asia, focusing on comparative effectiveness research, health technology assessment and healthcare policy development.

He received his pharmacy undergraduate training from the University of Washington in Seattle. His subsequent higher qualifications were from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Oxford.

(Source: www.ispor.org)