Yuanyuan Gu is an Associate Professor at the Centre for the Health Economy at Macquarie University (MUCHE). 

His research is in the broad area of health economics, economics of ageing, choice modelling and econometrics, with a particular interest in preferences, choice, behaviour, and performance in the health and aged care system. His research has been published in journals such as Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, Social Science & Medicine, Econometrics Journal, PharmacoEconomics, Value in Health, and Health Policy. He has been a Chief Investigator or Associate Investigator on over A$14 million in external funding including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. 

He is a senior leader within the health policy team and leads the health preference research stream. He is also a senior advisor for the health technology assessment team and a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) evaluation team.  

He has taught a number of courses on health economics, econometrics, and choice modelling, with substantial experience in novel teaching techniques such as using videos and interactive online platforms. At Macquarie University, he is one of the key designers and lecturers of the health economics module, a core subject for the recently launched Master of Public Health program. He also provided guest lectures on choice modelling at the Department of Economics.

Health preference research: 

We investigate healthcare stakeholder preferences, choices, and behaviour by employing stated and revealed preference techniques such as discrete choice experiments and economic experiments. Our primary objective is understanding individual decision-making processes and underlying preferences that drive healthcare choices. That includes treatment choices, healthcare service use and medication adherence, choices made by healthcare providers, and preferences for healthcare policy options. Our research seeks to improve health outcomes by providing valuable insights for designing incentives and strategies that enhance healthcare quality, access, value, and equity at a systems level.

Current PhD students:

Zobaida Ahmed Piu, "The economic exploration of Oral Contraceptive Pills in Australia: Consumer preference and welfare" (Principal Supervisor)

Noura Saba, "Mental health care utilisation in Australia: Exploring the impact of attitudes, co-payments and lockdowns" 

Meimei Cheng, "Machine learning for causal inference and preference heterogeneity" (Principal Supervisor)

Shan Jiang, "Moving beyond conventional cost effectiveness analysis" (Principal Supervisor)

Han Cheng, "Comparative analysis of the causal impact of income inequality on health: Evidence from China and Australia"

Past PhD students:

Qunfei Chen, "The role of uncertainty in health technology assessment in Australia" (completed in 2024, first placement: Research Fellow at University of Newcastle)

Yaolin Hu, "The willingness to pay and preference for online medical consultations among overweight and obese residents" (guest supervisor, completed in 2022, first placement: Postdoc at Peking University)

Debdeep Chattopadhyay, "Essays on health and labour economics" (guest supervisor, completed in 2021, first placement: Senior Research Analyst at OPEN Health)

Rajan Sharma, "Health economic evaluation of childhood hearing screening" (completed in 2020, first placement: Research Fellow at MUCHE)

Personal website: 

sites.google.com/view/yuanyuangu

Email address: 

yuanyuan.gu @mq.edu.au