Emma Frew

Professor Emma Frew PhD, MSc, BA (Hons)

Department of Applied Health Sciences
NIHR Research Professor
Professor of Health Economics

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)7748141677
Email: e.frew@bham.ac.uk
Twitter

Address: Health Economics Unit
Applied Health Sciences
Public Health Building
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham, B15 2TT

Emma’s research interests are in the Economics of Obesity and the use of health economics methods to generate evidence to support public health decision making. The application of these methods includes economic evaluation, econometric and decision-analytic modelling methods.

Emma leads The Centre for Economics of Obesity, a new Centre for using health economics to support obesity policy tackling the wider determinants of disease including the impact of greenspace, transport, retail, schools and workplace. She works closely with policy and commercial partners and is particularly interested in ensuring the evidence produced aligns with the decision-making needs within public health appreciating the complex systems that obesity policy fits within.

Qualifications

PhD in Health Economics, University of Nottingham, 2003
MSc in Health Economics, University of York, 1998
BA (Hons) Economics and Marketing, University of Strathclyde, 1997

Biography

Emma is an NIHR Research Professor (awarded 2020) and Professor in Health Economics at the Department of Applied Health Sciences.

Emma studied at The University of Strathclyde for a BA (Hons) in Economics and Marketing (1993-1997) and at The University of York for a MSc Health Economics (1997-1998). She joined the Economics Department, University of Nottingham in 1998 as a Research Assistant and during that time completed a PhD in Health Economics (1999-2003) under the supervision of Professor David Whynes and Dr Jane Wolstenholme. She joined the University 麻豆精选 in 2002.

Following her PhD, Emma was responsible for undertaking reviews of economic evidence as part of the NICE appraisal process and supporting clinical trials with economic evaluation.

In 2015 she was awarded a personal fellowship as a NIHR Career Development Fellow to work closely with Birmingham City Council Public Health team managing and developing services to help tackle childhood obesity. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008, Reader in 2016 and Professor in 2019.

Teaching

Teaching activity:

MSc Health Economics
BA (Hons) Economics
Public Health MPH/Diploma/Certificate

Postgraduate supervision

If you are interested in doing a PhD that aligns with Emma’s research interests then please get in touch.

Research

To see Emma present at the Knowledge Translation meeting hosted by the National University Ireland (June 2018)

To see Emma present at the International Health Economics Association main-congress meeting in Boston on her research in childhood obesity (June 2017)

Emma’s research programme is seeking to answer the following key questions around obesity policy. Common across all these questions is an understanding of what and how evidence meets public health decision making needs:

What is the economic value of green space?
How can workplaces impact on lifestyle behaviours?
What are the short- and long-term impacts from the National School Food standards?
What is the economic value of interventions within the retail space to improve purchasing habits?
What is the cost-effectiveness of active travel policy?

Other activities

Elected Board member, International Health Economics Association (iHEA)
Member of Strategic Council All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity
Committee member, iHEA Student Paper Award
Founding member of the iHEA Special Interest Group on Economics of Obesity
Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Association member:

Health Economists’ Study Group (HESG)
International Health Economics Association (iHEA)
Association of Study of Obesity (ASO)

Editorial board member:

International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity
Pharmacoeconomics-Open

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Albon, E, Afentou, N, Dretzke, J, Hall, J, Ogwulu, CO, Price, M, Clare, K, Singhal, R, Tahrani, A, Frew, E & Moore, D 2025, '', Health Technology Assessment.

Pokhilenko, I, Frew, E, Murphy, M & Pallan, M 2025, '', PLOS ONE, vol. 20, no. 1, e0310597.

Daley, AJ, Griffin, RA, Sanders, JP, Gokal, K, Ives, N, Skrybant, M, Parretti, H, Edwardson, CL, Biddle, SJH, Jolly, K, Greaves, C, Greenfield, SM, Maddison, R, Esliger, DW, Sherar, LB, Frew, E, Mutrie, N, Maylor, B, Yates, T, Tearne, S & Moakes, CA 2025, '', International Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

Krouwel, M, Greenfield, S, Sanders, JP, Gokal, K, Chalkley, A, Griffin, RA, Parretti, H, Jolly, K, Skrybant, M, Biddle, S, Greaves, C, Esliger, DW, Sherar, LB, Edwardson, C, Yates, T, Maddison, R, Frew, E, Mutrie, N, Ives, N, Tearne, S & Daley, AJ 2024, '', BMJ open, vol. 14, no. 10, e085233.

Pallan, M, Murphy, M, Morrison, B, Sitch, A, Adamson, A, Bartington, S, Dobell, A, Duff, R, Frew, E, Griffin, T, Hurley, K, Lancashire, E, McLeman, L, Passmore, S, Pokhilenko, I, Rowland, M, Ravaghi, V, Spence, S & Adab, P 2024, '', The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 21, 123.

Pallan, M, Murphy, M, Morrison, B, Pokhilenko, I, Sitch, A, Frew, E, Rawdin, C, Adams, R, Adamson, A, Bartington, S, Dobell, A, Duff, R, Griffin, T, Hurley, K, Lancashire, E, McLeman, L, Passmore, S, Ravaghi, V, Spence, S & Adab, P 2024, '', Public Health Research, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 1-167.

Afentou, N, Jackson, L, Andrade, LF, Elliott, S, Hull, K, Shepherd, J & Frew, E 2024, '', Sustainability, vol. 16, no. 12, 5222.

Stathi, A, Withall, J, Crone, D, Hawley-Hague, H, Playle, R, Frew, E, Fenton, S, Hillsdon, M, Pugh, C, Todd, C, Jolly, K, Cavill, N, Western, M, Roche, S, Kirby, N, Boulton, E, Thompson, J, Chatwin, K, Davies, A, Szekeres, Z & Greaves, C 2023, '', Trials, vol. 24, no. 1, 772.

Candio, P & Frew, E 2023, '', PLOS One, vol. 18, no. 4, e0284634.

Sultan, H, Grayson, N, Jones, S, Pike, D, Greenham, S, Needle, D, Sadler, J & Frew, E 2023, '', Journal of Town and Country Planning .

Krouwel, M, Greenfield, SM, Chalkley, A, Sanders, JP, Parretti, HM, Gokal, K, Jolly, K, Skrybant, M, Biddle, SJH, Greaves, C, Maddison, R, Mutrie, N, Ives, N, Esliger, DW, Sherar, L, Edwardson, CL, Yates, T, Frew, E, Tearne, S, Daley, AJ & Kwaghe, AV (ed.) 2023, '', PLOS One, vol. 18, no. 9, e0291040.

Daley, AJ, Griffin, RA, Moakes, CA, Sanders, JP, Skrybant, M, Ives, N, Maylor, B, Greenfield, SM, Gokal, K, Parretti, HM, Biddle, SJH, Greaves, C, Maddison, R, Mutrie, N, Esliger, DW, Sherar, L, Edwardson, CL, Yates, T, Frew, E, Tearne, S & Jolly, K 2023, '', Pilot and Feasibility Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 45.

Candio, P, Mujica, FP & Frew, E 2023, '', BMC Public Health, vol. 23, no. 1, 721.

Luli, M, Yeo, G, Farrell , E, Ogden, J, Parretti, H, Frew, E, Bevan , S, Blakemore, A, Brown, A, Logue, J, Menon, V, Isack, N, Lean , M, Roberts , A, McEwan , C, Gately , P, Roberts, K, Williams, S, Williams, G, Astbury, N, Maria, B, Clare, K, Combet, E, Dimitriadis, GK, Finlayson, G, Heslehurst, N, Le Brocq, S, McGinley, P, Mueller, J, O'Kane, M, Richards, R, Batterham, RL & Miras, A 2023, '', EClinicalMedicine, vol. 58, 101962.

Review article

Onyeaka, H, Duan, K, Miri, T, Pang, G, Shiu, E, Pokhilenko, I, 脰gtem-Young, 脰, Jabbour, L, Miles, K, Khan, A, Foyer, C, Frew, E, Fu, L & Osifowora, B 2024, '', Food and Energy Security, vol. 13, no. 4, e572.