This course teaches students to ask not only whether an infectious-disease intervention works, but whether it is worth the resources it consumes. It builds on the concentration’s modeling strengths, coupling transmission-dynamic models to economic evaluation so that model results can inform real resource-allocation decisions.
The course syllabus is shown below.
Draft syllabus. This is a scaffold for the concentration. Course number, credit hours, dates, and specific assignments are placeholders and will be finalized before the course is offered.
Course title and instructors
Title: Health Economics and Economic Evaluation of Infectious-Disease Interventions
Course Number: BIO 6xx (proposed; confirm with the Department of Biology)
Semester: TBD
Credit Hours: 3
Meeting Time: TBD
Course Director: Michael E. DeWitt, MS
Email: medewitt@wakehealth.edu or dewime23@wfu.edu
Course description
A model can show that an intervention reduces transmission without answering the question a decision-maker actually faces: given a fixed budget, is this the best use of it? Economic evaluation supplies the missing half. This course develops the core methods of health economics as they apply to infectious disease: measuring costs and health effects, expressing outcomes as quality-adjusted life years gained or disability-adjusted life years averted, and comparing options with the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, the cost-effectiveness plane, and the willingness-to-pay threshold. Students build decision-analytic models, learn why infectious-disease evaluation must often use dynamic transmission models rather than static ones because the value of an intervention depends on coverage and herd effects, and handle uncertainty with probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Economic evaluation is a standard component of applied epidemiology and One Health curricula that quantitatively strong programs frequently omit, and this course fills that gap while leaning into the concentration’s modeling identity.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify and measure the costs and health effects of an intervention
- Express health outcomes as QALYs gained and DALYs averted
- Compute and interpret incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and net monetary benefit
- Build decision trees and Markov cohort models for economic evaluation
- Couple a dynamic transmission model to an economic evaluation and explain why herd effects matter
- Characterize decision uncertainty with sensitivity and probabilistic sensitivity analysis
Textbook and other resources
There is no single required textbook. Recommended references include:
- Drummond MF, et al. Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes. Oxford University Press.
- Breeze PR, et al. Guidance on the use of complex systems models for economic evaluations of public health interventions. Health Econ 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4681
- Selected primary literature on cost-effectiveness of vaccines, treatment, and control programs
Additional readings will be assigned throughout the course.
Site resources
This course draws on IDEEEP content pages as assigned readings:
- Cost-effectiveness analysis
- Sensitivity analysis
- Fitting dynamic models to data
- The SIR model
- SEIR models
- Measures of association and impact
Course structure and schedule
This course meets over 15 weeks and combines lecture with modeling labs. The schedule below is a draft outline of topics.
| Week | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Why economic evaluation: the decision a model does not answer |
| 2 | Costs: perspectives, categories, and measurement |
| 3 | Health effects: QALYs and DALYs |
| 4 | The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio and the cost-effectiveness plane |
| 5 | Willingness-to-pay thresholds and the decision rule |
| 6 | Comparing many options: dominance and extended dominance |
| 7 | Net monetary benefit |
| 8 | Decision trees |
| 9 | Markov cohort models |
| 10 | Dynamic transmission models and herd-effect externalities |
| 11 | Coupling a transmission model to an economic evaluation |
| 12 | Discounting and the time horizon |
| 13 | Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis |
| 14 | Value of information and communicating results to decision-makers |
| 15 | Project presentations and wrap-up |
Note: Specific dates will be provided at the beginning of the semester. Topics may be adjusted based on class progress and student interests.
Grades and assignments
| Activity | Weight |
|---|---|
| Participation and literature discussion | 20% |
| Modeling labs and assignments | 30% |
| Exam(s) | 20% |
| Final project | 30% |
Final project: Students will conduct an economic evaluation of an infectious-disease intervention, linking a transmission model to a cost-effectiveness analysis and reporting the result with a decision-focused summary.
Course policies
Attendance: Regular attendance is expected, particularly for discussion sessions. Please alert the instructor if you are unable to attend for any reason.
Late/Makeup work: Assignments are due on the dates provided. We recognize that extenuating circumstances arise, and assignments may be submitted up to 2 days late without penalty. If you need an extension, contact the instructor as soon as possible and before the due date.
Artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence tools and large language models such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are now part of the academic and professional landscape and we encourage you to find ways to use them to enhance your learning. However, if you use these tools, you must cite your sources and provide a detailed description of the tools you used to complete the assignment. In no way can these tools take the place of your own work and understanding of the material. They should be used to supplement your learning, not replace it. You are ultimately responsible for your work including content and the use of valid citations and references. Using these tools without proper attribution is plagiarism and will be treated as such.
Department/School/University policies
Academic Integrity: Wake Forest University is committed to a culture of academic integrity. As a part of this community, you share the responsibility for creating a place of honesty, intellectual curiosity, and individual accountability. As you committed to with your honor pledge signature, you agree “not to deceive any member of the community; not to steal, cheat, or plagiarize on academic work; and not to engage in any other form of academic misconduct.” If you have questions about documenting your work, working with external sources, or working with peers on assigned work, consult with me as soon as possible. Instances of academic dishonesty will be referred to the Honor and Ethics Council.
Accessibility: Wake Forest University provides reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities. If you are in need of an accommodation, please contact me privately as early in the term as possible. Retroactive accommodations will not be provided. Students requiring accommodations must also consult the Center for Learning, Access, and Student Success (118 Reynolda Hall, 336-758-5929, class.wfu.edu).
Accommodations for Religious or Spiritual Practices: Wake Forest University benefits from the multitude of faiths and spiritual identities held by members of our learning community. Should you need accommodations this semester, email me as soon as possible to ensure we have time to develop equitable alternatives.
Class recordings: In case any class recordings are provided, they are reserved only for students in this class for educational purposes and are protected under FERPA. The recordings should not be shared outside the class in any form.
Syllabus change notice
This syllabus and the dates herein are subject to change.