The Centre for Health Policy (CHP) strives to identify, critique, co-design, implement and evaluate policy options that protect the health of populations; to formulate, with partners, strategies that improve access, organisation, and delivery of health services or programs, particularly as they affect the most vulnerable; and to identify strategies for enhancing the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of health care systems in addressing the most pressing health and care challenges.
We offer a leading independent voice on health policy, generating new evidence and insights to inform debates and strengthen health care decision making.
The Centre boasts a diverse, interdisciplinary group of scholars including health economists, evaluation and implementation scientists, clinicians, social scientists, legal scholars, policy analysts, sociologists, political scientists, demographers, and executive managers. In 2025 the Centre comprised 110 academic and professional staff, 46 Graduate Research students, and 27 honorary staff representing a diverse group of experts from industry, government and NGO sectors. Many staff members serve as advisors to federal, state, and international organisations.
The Centre for Health Policy has seven broad streams:
- Cancer Health Services Research
- Demography and Ageing
- Disability and Health
- Evaluation and Implementation Science
- Health Economics
- Healthy Housing
- Law and Public Health
We are also home to Melbourne Health Economics, which undertakes a range of health economics work including economic evaluation, measuring and valuing health and wellbeing, health systems research, economic modelling and risk prediction, health inequality, and methodological research. Through research and training, Melbourne Health Economics supports national and international improvements in health and health equity. Its projects work to inform policy-making decisions at State, Commonwealth and International levels, and it operates within the Centre for Health Policy at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.
Embedded within Melbourne Health Economics is M-VAC, the Melbourne Health Technology and Value Assessment Collaborative. Established in 2021, M-VAC is a flagship initiative contracted to conduct value-based assessments and evaluations of pharmaceuticals, health services and technologies, preventive and curative programs, and digital health applications. It provides a comprehensive stream of research, consultancy, and advisory services to underpin value-based health care agendas and reforms.
The Centre for Health Policy runs a number of short courses in Health Program Evaluation and Health Economics:
- Designing Economic Evaluation Alongside Clinical Studies
- Evaluating Public Health Interventions using Economic and Epidemiologic Methods
- Health Program Evaluation: Scoping the Evaluation
- Introduction to Cost Effectiveness Analysis in Health
- Measuring Inequality and Mobility in Health and Income
- Practical methods for Health Economic Evaluation
Together, our research, training, and partnerships position the Centre for Health Policy as a leading force in shaping evidence-informed health policy and driving equitable health system reform across Australia and globally.