I have been principal investigator on complex interdisciplinary multi-method projects involving comparative work on health systems and governance, such as the ‘Good Health at Low Cost 25 years on’ project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation examining ways in which good governance and accountability has promoted major advances in health and access to services in some LMICs compared to others at a similar level of wealth.  

I am increasingly involved in assessment of health systems responses to the growing burden of conditions requiring complex inputs in terms of treatment, follow-up and care processes, using probe conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. Currently I am a Co-PI on a project funded by Wellcome Trust/ Newton Fund-MRC Humanities & Social Science Collaborative Award exploring barriers to effective and continuous hypertension treatment among poor and vulnerable households in Malaysia and the Philippines, and building technical and political capacity to respond to the needs of these groups.

I also leads work on developing effective and equitable primary care models for underserved populations involving community volunteers (Ethiopia, PI/HSRI grant), building resilient health systems (Sierra Leone, Co-I/HSRI) and integrating vertical, health system-wide and cross-sectoral interventions in responding to neglected tropical diseases in the context of decentralisation (Kenya, Co-I/MRC Global Health Trials). I have had a long-standing interest in understanding corruption in health systems (e.g. informal payments for care), and I am currently initiating work exploring provider incentives to engage in rent-seeking and the role of social accountability approaches to counter corruption in Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Tanzania.