Dr Thomas Mason
Senior Lecturer in Health EconomicsProfile
Tom studies the effects of policy interventions on health and economic outcomes. His research focuses on the following areas:
- Methods for causal inference
- Regional economic policy
- Supply and demand in the health care labour market
- The economics of addiction
- The effects of financial incentives in health care
- The measurement of inequalities in chronic disease
He is interested in how policies and organisational arrangements affect the behaviours and outcomes of individuals and institutions, and how these impacts can be estimated using microeconometric methods.
Tom is a co-investigator on over ?13m of externally awarded research funding, from funders including the NIHR, MRC, the DHSC Policy Research Programme and NHS England. His current externally funded projects include:
- leading a quantitative evaluation of the economic and health effects of regional economic policy (community wealth building), using modern quasi-experimental approaches such as synthetic control and Callaway and Sant'Anna difference-in-differences (, ?1.6m);
- co-leading the drug and alcohol theme of the Lancaster NIHR Mental Health Research Group, quantifying the consequences of co-occurring acute mental health and addiction disorders (, ?11.3m);
- estimating the effects of nurse continuity of care on patient outcomes and health care use, using propensity score matching and large-scale primary care data (NIHR Three Schools, ?100k).
Tom is co-Director of Research in the Division of Health Research at Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é, and a member of the NIHR Public Health Research Programme Funding Committee, providing economics expertise. He is co-convenor of the economics network for the NIHR School for Public Health Research, and co-ordinates the international health economics mailing list on JISCMail.
His research has informed national policy and NHS decision-making. A public health resource allocation formula he co-developed was adopted by the Department of Health as the basis for target allocations of the public health grant from 2016, and his evaluations have been commissioned by and reported to bodies including NHS England, the Department of Health and the Home Office.
My Role
Tom is co-Director of Research in the Division of Health Research
External Roles
Tom is a member of the NIHR Public Health Research Programme Funding Committee, providing economics expertise.
He is co-convenor of the economics network for the NIHR School for Public Health Research, and co-ordinates the international health economics mailing list on JISCMail
He is a longstanding member of the , and contributor to the recently created and Groups.
He is a reviewer for economics/health journals and provides expert advice to studies funded by organisations such as the NIHR, and he sits on the steering committee of two NIHR funded clinical trials.
Research Grants
Research Grants at Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é:
- Funding source: NIHR Mental Health Research Group Award. (awarded in 2026). Role: Co-lead of the drug and alcohol research theme.
- Funding source: NIHR Three Research Schools Prevention Research Programme: (2026 - present)
- Funding source: NIHR Public Health Research (NIHR169449). (CoWBELLs) (2025 - present)
- Funding source: NIHR Research Support Service Research Methods Fund Award. (2025 - present)
Current Teaching
Current:
- DHR409 Applied Health Economics (Module Lead) (2023 - present)
- DHR403 Principles of Research Design and Practical Research Ethics (Supervisor) (2023 - present)
- DHR499 Dissertation (Supervisor) 2023 - present
Previous:
- DHR529 Data Analysis (Module Lead) 2023 & 2024
Qualifications
BA(Hons) Economics and Politics, MSc Economics, PhD, FHEA
PhD Supervisions Completed
Thesis Title
Career Details
Prior to 2023
Tom studied his BA(Hons) in Economics and Politics (2005-2008) at Keele University, and an MSc in Economics from the University of Manchester in (2009-2010), with a focus on econometrics.
He was later awarded a PhD at University of Manchester, where he worked as a Research Associate and Fellow. His teaching activity at Manchester included teaching Econometrics to BSc Economics students, and the Economics of Health to MSc Economics students.
He have worked as a Senior Research Analyst in private sector health economics consultancies producing research for government agencies, third sector and pharmaceutical clients.
PhD Supervision Interests
Tom currently supervises PhD students on a range of topics across his research expertise, including estimating the effects of AI-assisted diagnosis in breast cancer screening, the impacts of admission to hospital at the weekend or weeknight for emergency care outcomes, the productivity impacts of the adoption of scribes in secondary care, and the effects of COVID-19 on inequalities in cancer care in England. He is happy to accept enquiries for PhD study on questions across his research interests.
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01/10/2025 → 30/09/2028
Research
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01/10/2025 → 30/06/2026
Research
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24/02/2025 → 30/04/2026
Consultancy
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01/09/2024 → 30/11/2025
Consultancy
Membership of committee
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference - Academic
Expert Opinion
Prize (including medals and awards)
- Health Economics