Omar Galarraga
Biography
Omar Galárraga, PhD is a health economist and Director, Center for Global Public Health at Brown University School of Public Health; tenured Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice. His research uses insights from health and behavioral economics with a special focus on HIV treatment and prevention, health systems, and applied health econometric methods. He evaluates economic-based interventions using experimental and rigorous quasi-experimental methods. He has over 150 publications in health economics, public health and health services research; was an appointed member of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OARAC) during 2021-24; and has served as PI of over 30 NIH-funded research projects totaling over $10M. Currently serves as Associate Editor for Health Economics; and as co-Chair of the NIH Science of Implementation in Health and Healthcare (SIHH) study section. He conducts research in Ecuador, Kenya, Mexico, and the US in collaboration with community and academic partners.
Research
Health & Behavioral Economics: Conditional Economic Incentives: Dr. Galárraga designs and evaluates programs that use conditional cash transfers to improve health. He has conducted randomized controlled trials and field experiments in Ecuador, Mexico, South Africa, Ghana and the US that incentivize exercise, antiretroviral therapy adherence, and HIV/STI/teen pregnancy prevention. Evaluation of Social Health Insurance Programs: He studies the impact of public health insurance schemes in low- and middle-income countries. This includes assessing Mexico’s “Seguro Popular”, Kenya’s National Hospital Insurance Fund, and US Medicaid using rigorous quasi-experimental techniques. His work focuses on how insurance expansion affects utilization, financial protection, and health outcomes. Economic Efficiency & Health Program Evaluation: Dr. Galárraga applies cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, cost-utility, and microsimulation analyses to assess the economic implications of HIV and other chronic disease interventions. He evaluates both the financing and efficiency of health care programs—especially HIV prevention and treatment—around the world.
Publications
1: Fritz J, Wachira J, Wilson-Barthes M, Kafu C, Chemtai D, Genberg B, Galárraga O. Cost-Effectiveness of an Enhanced Patient Care Intervention for Improving Viral Suppression Among Kenyan Adults Living With HIV. Value in Health Regional Issues. 2025 May 21;49:101129. doi: 10.1016/j.vhri.2025.101129.
2: Chivardi C, Zamudio-Sosa A, Wilson-Barthes M, Alarid-Escudero F, Gandhi M, Mayer KH, Operario D, Galárraga O. Cost-Effectiveness of Using Conditional Economic Incentives to Improve Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Adherence Among Male Sex Workers. Pharmacoeconomics Open. 2025 Apr 9. doi: 10.1007/s41669-025-00569-z.
3: Thapa BB, Rahman M, Were L, Wamai R, Galárraga O. Do targeted intergovernmental fiscal transfers improve health outcomes? Evidence from Kenyan decentralization using the difference-in-differences technique. Health Research and Policy Systems. 2024 Dec 20;22(1):172. doi: 10.1186/s12961-024-01272-x.
4: Restar A, Wilson-Barthes MG, Dusic E, Operario D, Galárraga O. Using stated preference methods to design gender-affirming long-acting PrEP programs for transgender and nonbinary adults. Scientific Reports [Nature portfolio]. 2024 Oct 8;14(1):23482. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-72920-z
5: Galárraga O, Wilson-Barthes M, Chivardi C, Gras-Allain N, Alarid-Escudero F, Gandhi M, Mayer KH, Operario D. Incentivizing adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention: a randomized pilot trial among male sex workers in Mexico. European Journal of Health Economics. 2025 Mar;26(2):299-311. doi: 10.1007/s10198-024-01705-y.
6: Galárraga O, Quijano-Ruiz A, Faytong-Haro M. The Effects of Mobile Primary Health Teams: Evidence from the "Médico del Barrio" Strategy in Ecuador. World Development. 2024 Sep;181:106659. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106659.
7: Wilson-Barthes M, Steingrimsson J, Lee Y, Tran DN, Wachira J, Kafu C, Pastakia SD, Vedanthan R, Said JA, Genberg BL, Galárraga O. Economic outcomes among microfinance group members receiving community-based chronic disease care: Cluster randomized trial evidence from Kenya. Social Science and Medicine. 2024 Jun;351:116993. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116993.
Teaching
Introduction to Public Health Economics [PHP 1480]
Selected Topics in Health Economics [PHP 2480]