I am a Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at the Manchester Centre for Health Economics, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. My research uses economic analyses to inform decision-making for health technology assessment and health policy. Currently, I lead the economics programme for the Innovate Manchester Advanced Therapy Centre Hub (iMATCH) to support using advanced cell and gene therapies at scale in the health care system. Previously, I delivered the health economics programme for the Medical Research Council’s Precision Medicine Consortium MASTERPLANS – a collaboration between academic, industry, and patient partners - to develop effective and cost-effective ways to stratify treatments for systemic lupus erythematosus. I co-lead the postgraduate ‘Economics of Genomics and Precision Medicine’ module [BIOL67372] with Dr. Alexander Thompson where I teach decision-analytic modelling in the context of diagnostic tests and precision medicine. I also lead the postgraduate 'Healthcare Economics' [ECON60432] module. I support student research projects at all levels and regularly supervise health economics research by PhD, masters, and medical students. I lead the external research seminar programme at the Manchester Centre for Health Economics.

Research Interests

• Cost-effectiveness analysis of health technologies
  
• Economics of precision medicine
• Early economic evaluation of health technologies

Speaking Appearances

Upcoming 

9 March 2026: Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba. Córdoba, Spain.

11 June 2026: Università del Piemonte Orientale. Novara, Italy. 

Past

14 Jan 2026: Health Economists' Study Group Winter 2026. York, UK. 

11 Dec 2025: Hospital Universitario Fundacion Jimenez Diaz. Madrid, Spain. 

27 Nov 2025: Pharmacogenomics in Childhood Asthma Webinar. 

20 Nov 2025: MEED Research Forum 2025. York, UK. 

13 Nov 2025: 4th National Pharmacogenomics and Medicines Optimisation Network of Excellence Event. Manchester, UK. 

11 Nov 2025: ISPOR Europe 2025. Glasgow, UK.

Active Projects

• MDR-RA: Defining Clinical and Molecular Phenotypes of Multi-drug Resistance in Difficult-to-Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis
  Funder: EU Horizon
  Amount: £7.2 million
• LEADER: The Clinical and Cost-effectiveness of Oral Versus Intramuscular Glucocorticoids in Rheumatoid Arthritis - A Randomised Controlled Trial
  Funder: NIHR Health Technology Assessment
  Amount: £1.8 million
• A Randomised Controlled Trial of Empowered Conversations: Training Family Carers to Enhance their Relationships and Communication with People Living with Dementia
  Funder: NIHR Research for Patient Benefit
  Amount: £499,858
• ART-EB: Advancing Repurposed Therapeutics for Epidermolysis Bullosa
  Funder: LifeArc and DEBRA UK
  Amount: £2.6 million
• Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre (ATTC) Network and Innovate Manchester Advanced Therapy Centre Hub (iMATCH)
  Funder: NIHR
  Amount: £17.9 million 
• Early Diagnosis of Systemic Sclerosis in the General Rheumatology Clinic
  Funder: NIHR Invention for Innovation
  Amount: £1.2 million
  

PhD Students

• Talha Khan-Israeel (2025 to Present)
  Doctoral Thesis: Estimating the Economic Impact of Myopia and Key Therapeutic Interventions
  With: Prof. Philip Morgan, Prof. Rachel Elliott, Dr. Carole Maldonado-Codina
• Laura Spurgeon (2025 to Present)
  Doctoral Thesis: Incorporating Genomic Testing and Tissue of Origin Predictions into the Management of Patients with Carcinoma of Unknown Primary
  With: Dr. Natalie Cook
• Yubo Wang (2018 to 2022)
  Doctoral Thesis: Evaluation of the Clinical and Cost-effectiveness of Long-term Treatments for Women with Breast Cancer
  With: Prof. Li-Chia Chen, Dr. Douglas Steinke
• Anna Donten (2019 to 2022)
  Doctoral Thesis: The Economic Impact of Precision Medicine in Rheumatology: Targeting the use of Methotrexate in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis
  With: Prof. Katherine Payne, Prof. Suzanne Verstappen
• Leonie Penner (2017 to 2021)
  Doctoral Thesis: What is the Economic Impact of Hazardous Prescribing of Anticoagulants and Does a Pharmacist-led Information Technology Intervention Reduce this Impact?
  With: Prof. Rachel Elliott, Prof. Niels Peek, Prof. Darren Ashcroft

Teaching: Module Leader

• Healthcare Economics [ECON60432]
  Level: Postgraduate
  Programme: MSc Economics; MA Economics
• Economics of Genomics and Precision Medicine [BIOL67372]
  Level: Postgraduate
  Programme: MSc Genomic Medicine
• Economic Evaluation in Healthcare [POP60092]
  Level: Postgraduate
  Programme: MPH Master of Public Health

Memberships of Commitees and Professional Bodies

• The Professional Society for Health Econoimics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)
• International Health Economics Association (iHEA)
• European Health Economics Association (EuHEA)
• UK Health Economists' Study Group (HESG)

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy (Doctoral Thesis: An Economic Evaluation of a Biomarker Test to Stratify Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis)
• MSc Health Economics (Distinction)
• MSc Economics (Distinction)
• BA (Hons) Economics for Business (First Class)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  
  

Contact Details

Email: sean.gavan[at]manchester.ac.uk