Professor Nana Anokye
Divisional Lead / Professor - Health Economics

Summary

Nana Anokye is a Professor of Health Economics and the Convenor of Brunel Global Health Academy, and Africa Regional Working Group. He is the Health Economics Lead for NIHR North West London Applied Research Collaboration. Nana is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and the Chair of the International Society of Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) low and middle-income countries research council. He is a member of Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) College of Experts and an Institute of Leadership and Management certified coach and mentor.

His research explores the interconnectedness between demand/uptake of lifestyle behaviour and the value for money of public health interventions. Nana's work on Economics of Physical Activity has been used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to formulate four national public health guidelines on exercise referral schemes, and brief advice for adults in primary care. It also informed the 2016 position statement by Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise. His economic models have been adapted by researchers in UK, Africa, Europe and South America. 

He has quantified how time and money prices influence behaviour change. Having won the Walduck Prize for Research Impact, Nana’s work further secured prestigious UK Department of Health funding to conduct the first ever English general population survey on the economics of physical activity.

His interests in public health are wide-ranging. How primary care can improve health outcomes; whether financial incentives improve maternal and child health; and what the link between shopping vouchers and breastfeeding may be, are some of the public health questions Nana is keen to answer.

He an ardent gym goer, and his quest for knowledge led him to investigate whether physical activity was any more independent from sedentary behaviour.

As a former broadcast journalist, Nana is passionate about communicating research and supporting research careers through podcasts – the Research Life, which he co-founded with colleagues.

Nana has a PhD in Health Economics (Brunel), an MSc in Environmental Resources Management from Brandenburg University of Technology (Germany) and, a BA in Economics and Sociology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana).