Board of Directors (2026 - 2028)
PRESIDENT: LEI SI
Dr. Lei Si is Associate Professor of Health Services Management and Director of Higher Degree Research and Honours at Western Sydney University, Honorary Senior Fellow at the George Institute for Global Health, Adjunct Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney, and Adjunct Professor at Nanjing Medical University. His research applies health economics methods to support the efficient and equitable allocation of healthcare resources, with applied programmes spanning osteoporosis and bone health, cardiovascular disease and stroke, and global disease burden. His methodological expertise includes cost-of-illness analysis, quality-of-life research, trial-based economic evaluation, and decision-analytic modelling, and he has substantial engagement with international health technology assessment frameworks.
Dr Si has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications, including articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, JAMA, Value in Health, BMJ Global Health, Osteoporosis International, Quality of Life Research, and Pharmacoeconomics. His work has attracted over $9 million in competitive funding from agencies including the NHMRC and MRFF (Australia), CIHR (Canada), NSFC (China), and CMB (United States).
He is Editor-in-Chief of Health Economics Review and Associate Editor of BMJ Global Health, and sits on the editorial boards of Osteoporosis International and Advances in Therapy, among others. Dr Si has also served as an External Evaluator for Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC).
SECRETARY: LIZHENG XU
Lizheng Xu is an Associate Research Fellow at the Healthcare Big Data Research Institute, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, China. She also holds an appointment as an Honorary Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health (TGI). Dr. Xu received her PhD in Health System Science from TGI, University of New South Wales, where she was honored with the Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis. Her research focuses on health economics and behavioral economics, with expertise in quality-of-life research, disease burden estimation, cost-of-illness analysis, and health economic evaluation. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers in leading public health and health economics journals, including Stroke, BMJ Global Health, The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, BMC Public Health, and Osteoporosis International. She also contributed to the Chinese translation of Behavioral Economics and Public Health. Dr. Xu has been involved in multiple research projects funded by the NHMRC, NSFC, and CMB, and has conducted health economic evaluations for several clinical trials, including OPTIMISTmain (multinational RCT), OLAM (Australia), and Co-management Care for Hip Fracture Patients (China). She also serves as a committee member for several international academic associations.
TREASURER: XIN HU
Xin Hu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Emory School of Medicine. She is a current visiting scientist at the American Cancer Society. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Service Administration from Fudan University, and her Master’s and PhD degree in Health Services Research and Health Policy at Emory University. Prior to joining the Department, she worked as a Research Associate at the Yale Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research Center and a Biostatistician at the Yale Center for Analytical Sciences.
Dr. Hu’s research focuses on cancer outcomes, health care quality and health disparities, and she specializes in leveraging causal inference methods with large-population-based cancer registry linked with insurance administrative data, and electronic health records to understand organizational structures on cancer care delivery, health policy evaluation, and addressing disparities in cancer care and outcomes. Her current research agenda surrounds three areas: 1) the impact of organizational structures of oncology market such as vertical integration on cancer care delivery, such as new drug adoption, guideline-concordance cancer treatment, and palliative care delivery, 2) health policy evaluation in cancer population, such as Medicare payment reform, Medicaid expansion, and opioid prescription policies, and 3) value assessment of cancer interventions.
Dr. Hu has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, with work appearing in leading journals including JAMA, JAMA Oncology, Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Journal of National Cancer Institute. Her research has been cited in national reports on CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). She serves on the editorial board of Health Services Research and reviews manuscripts for journals including Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Internal Medicine, and JAMA Network Open. She is recognized as “Distinguished Reviewer” for JAMA Network Open and top 10% reviewer for JAMA Oncology in 2025. She served as a scientific reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society. Her research has been supported by the National Institute of Health, American Cancer Society, Donaghue Foundation, PhRMA Foundation, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson.
DIRECTOR OF FUND RAISING: YAFEI SI
Dr. Yafei Si is a Research Fellow and Faculty Member at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, the University of Melbourne, and an Affiliate Fellow at the Global Labour Organization (GLO). He is a health and behavioural economist building trust in AI to strengthen health systems for healthy ageing. Dr. Si’s research encompasses both the technical evaluation of AI tools and the systemic reforms needed to integrate them effectively. His approach bridges health and behavioural economics, implementation science, and social epidemiology to ensure technological advancements do not fragment care but rather strengthen it. He employs advanced quantitative and qualitative methods to generate rigorous evidence for policy and practice, including 1) audit studies to test AI algorithms, 2) advanced econometric strategies to large-scale administrative and longitudinal data, 3) sophisticated preference elicitation surveys to quantify the complex trade-offs patients and providers make, and 4) micro- and macro- economic modelling to assess both value for money and long-term health system sustainability. Dr. Si has published 48 high quality articles in prestigious health, economics, and general science journals such as Nature Aging, Nature Medicine, NPJ Digital Medicine, The Lancet, PLOS Medicine, JAMA Network Open, Bulletin WHO, Social Science & Medicine, Health Policy and Planning, JMIR, Journal of Gerontology Series A, and Ageing Research Reviews. The research has been widely covered in popular media worldwide such as BBC, The Guardian, BMJ News, The Times, The Conversation, and policy sources by WHO and UN. His research has attracted more than 8,000 citations in Google Scholar (h-index 24). Dr. Si serves as an academic editor of BMC Medicine (the flagship journal of BMC series) and is an active member of iHEA and HSG. He holds a Ph.D. in Actuarial Science and Health Economics from UNSW Business School, previously served as a Postgraduate Fellow at Yale University, and obtained his M.Phil. and B.A. from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China.
DIRECTOR OF ACADEMICS: YIPENG LV
Dr. Lv Yipeng is an Associate Professor at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and a recipient of the Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program. His research focuses on health emergency management and public health policy evaluation, including areas such as the optimal allocation of pre-hospital emergency resources, collaborative models for public health emergency response, and economic evaluation of public health strategies. With expertise in systems science perspectives, he employs methods including modeling and simulation, econometrics, and mathematical operations research to conduct quantitative studies in health policy and management.
In recent years, he has led more than 7 research grants, including projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan. As a corresponding or first author, he has published more than 30 academic papers in high-quality international journals such as Resuscitation, American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM), and BMJ Public Health. His research findings have been adopted by local government authorities, contributing to the implementation of policies such as subsidy programs for vulnerable populations and early childhood emergency response networks.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS: YAO XIAO
Dr. Xiao Yao is an Associate Professor and Postgraduate Supervisor at the School of Health Management, Guangzhou Medical University, and a Yangcheng Young Scholar. She graduated from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine with a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine degree. Her current main research focuses on Social Medicine and Health Services Administration, with an emphasis on areas such as medical insurance, public health, health policy, community health, integration of traditional Chinese medicine wellness with intelligent healthcare, and other related fields. She possesses an interdisciplinary research background combining health management and medicine. Dr. Xiao has long been dedicated to teaching reform and empirical research in the field of health management. She has led projects funded by various organizations including the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, the Academic Association of Social Sciences of Guangdong Province, the Academic Association of Social Sciences of Guangzhou City, the Department of Education of Guangdong Province, the Education Bureau of Guangzhou City, the Health Commission of Guangdong Province, and the Hospital Association of Guangdong Province. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading medical journals. Dr. Xiao has obtained the Global Health Certificate from Peking University and Duke University. She is an expert in the national undergraduate thesis (design) random inspection review panel. Her academic appointments include Standing Committee Member of the Sports and Health Specialized Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Preventive Medicine Association, Member of the Guangdong Social Insurance Association, Member of the Guangdong Primary Health Care Association, Member of the Guangdong Medical-Preventive Integration Association, and Member of the Health Governance Professional Committee of the Guangdong Health Management Association.
DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP: WEI PENG
Dr. Wei Peng is a PhD holder and Associate Chief Nurse currently serving as Head Nurse of the Department of Oncology at the West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University. Her research primarily focuses on oncology nutrition and aromatherapy. She is committed to alleviating toxic side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy among cancer patients through evidence-based dietary nutritional interventions and aromatherapeutic approaches, with the aim of improving therapeutic outcomes and enhancing patients’ quality of life.
In addition, Dr. Peng has extensive experience in nutrition policy research. She is dedicated to translating scientific evidence into policy recommendations to promote the quality of nutritional nursing care and improve health outcomes for cancer patients, with particular attention to health equity among socioeconomically disadvantaged and vulnerable populations.
Dr. Peng has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on 15 research projects, including National Major Science and Technology Projects (Policy and Management category), General Programs of the Natural Science Foundation of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and research projects funded by the Sichuan Provincial Health Commission. She has published more than 30 academic papers in international journals, including International Journal of Biological Macromolecules and Intensive and Critical Care Nursing. She was also awarded the Second Prize for Scientific and Technological Achievement by the Sichuan Nursing Association.