Professor Donald S Shepard is this year’s Distinguished Fulbright Chair at Flinders University and Carnegie Mellon University Australia.

His public policy research develops methods and applications of cost and cost-benefit analysis in the US and globally, including the Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY) model and incentives to reduce major infectious and chronic diseases affecting countries across the income spectrum, such as dengue, HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and heart disease.

Professor Shepard, who directs the Cost and Value Group at the Heller School for Social Policy and management at Brandeis University, near Boston (USA), holds a MPP and PhD in public policy from Harvard University and has published three books and 200 peer-reviewed papers.

In South Australia under his Fulbright award, Professor Shepard is collaborating with the State Government on an economic evaluation and on financing options for a new sterile insect program, both to support agricultural economy and as a possible model to manage dengue in various countries.

He recently spoke at CSIRO in Canberra.  He will also give lectures at Flinders and Carnegie Mellon – including one planned for Flinders University on 16 May – covering applications of benefit-cost analysis both in South Australia and globally.