Dr Katharina Merollini was appointed as a Research Fellow in health economics from 2016-2022 and Lecturer in Health Economics since 2022 and is part of the Sunshine Coast Health Institute and the School of Health. Prior to this she worked as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She undertook her Master Degree at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany and completed her PhD at QUT in 2011.
She has successfully supervised PhD students and serves as a reviewer and guest editor to a number of peer-reviewed journals, such as the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the European Journal of Cancer Care and the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
Her current work investigates lifetime costs of surviving cancer in Queensland. Economic modeling provides an ideal platform to predict future healthcare expenditure and to show the potential impact of more investment in cancer prevention. This project is a collaboration with the Cancer Council Queensland and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.
Professional Memberships
- IHEA: International Health Economics Association
- ISPOR-AC: International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research – Australia Chapter
- AHES: Australian Health Economics Society
Research Grants
|
Project |
Project Investigators |
Funding Body |
Years |
Amount |
|
Improving access to primary care for older adults in rural aged care homes: implementation of a nurse practitioner |
Dr Alison Craswell, Ms Kaye Coates, Prof Alison Mudge, Dr Marianne Wallis, Mrs Joan Chapman, Dr Katharina Merollini |
Queensland Health |
2022-2024 |
$119,552 |
|
Can functionality and compassion-based interventions be used for people with, or at-risk of, an eating disorder |
Dr Kate Mulgrew, Ms Celine Jona, Dr Katharina Merollini |
UniSC Partnership Internal Funding Scheme |
2022-2023 |
$25,320 |
|
Flu Vaccination |
Dr Katharina Merollini, A/Prof Lisa Hall, Dr Kate Halton, Prof Stephen Lambert, Dr Chisato Imai |
AusHSI / QUT |
2015-2020 |
$60,000 |
HDR opportunities / Research Collaboration
Costs of Surviving Cancer – a Queensland study (COS-Q) contains linked state and national healthcare data to capture all health service utilization for up to 20 years from the date of cancer diagnosis, including hospital admissions, emergency presentations, healthcare costing data, Medicare services and pharmaceuticals. The data will be used to investigate the long-term health service use and cost of cancer survivorship on a population level in Australia. The aims of this project are:
- To quantify lifetime health service use by cancer patients from the date of diagnosis.
- To identify factors associated with high and low health service use.
- To estimate lifetime health service use and cost by cancer type from the date of diagnosis using economic modelling.
- To identify opportunities for improvement for future health service delivery.
For opportunities to use this data, collaborate or start a higher research degree, please contact Dr Katharina Merollini: kmerolli@usc.edu.au or A/Prof Louisa Gordon: Louisa.Gordon@qimrberghofer.edu.au.
Research areas
- Financial toxicity: financial hardship faced by cancer patients
- Lifetime costs of surviving cancer in Queensland, Australia: health service usage from cancer diagnosis up to 20 years
- The cost-effectiveness of skin cancer prevention
- Systematic literature reviews
- Health service efficiency & evaluation research
- Economic evaluation of palliative care & cancer care support services
Teaching areas
- Public Health Research
- Economic Evaluations
- Quantitative Research Methods
Dr Merollini's specialist areas of knowledge include health economics, health services research and economic evaluations