PhD, Health Policy and Management, 2002, Johns Hopkins University

MSc., Health Policy and Management, 1997, Harvard University

M.D., 1993, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Japan

Byung-Kwang Yoo, MD, MSc, PhD

Assistant Professor,
Community & Preventive Medicine

Contact Information:

University of Rochester
Community & Preventive Medicine
601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 644
Rochester, NY 14642

Office: 4-W312
Phone: (585) 275-3276

Email: Byung-Kwang_Yoo@urmc.rochester.edu

Research:

Economics of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases and newborn screening. International comparison of health care systems.

Dr. Yoo’s research interests include (1) Individual behavior patterns in seeking vaccination, particularly influenza vaccination, explored with microeconomic theory, (2) Evaluation of health intervention effectiveness using econometric methods to account for self-selection and other biases present in non-experimental data, (3) Cost-benefit/cost-effectiveness analysis of newborn screening programs, e.g., congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and (4) International comparisons of health care systems among developed and developing countries. Prior to joining the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, Dr. Yoo worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Health Policy at Stanford University and as a Health Economist/Prevention Effectiveness Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. In addition, he was a medical resident in orthopedic surgery at Osaka National Hospital, Osaka, Japan.

Dr. Yoo recently started a five-year research, “Effects of individual behavioral responses on benefits of influenza vaccination”, sponsored by National Institute of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. This research aims to examine the determinants of flu vaccination receipt among Medicare elderly, and to construct computer simulation models for predicting the population-wide benefits of influenza vaccination programs.

• Yoo BK, “How Economic Evaluation Research can Influence Policy-Making Processes - Differences between Japan and the U.S.” Ronza, July 2007, p.103-109 (in Japanese)
• Yoo BK, “How can Health Economics contribute to Health Care Reform?”, Iryo keizai kenkyu kikou (trans. Institute for Health Economics and Policy), vol.10 No. 1, 2007, p.55-67 (in Japanese)
• Yoo BK, “Health Economics’ Potential Contribution to Japan’s Health Care Reform?”, Monthly Institute for Health Economics and Policy, vol.152, April 2007, p.1-10 (in Japanese)
• Yoo BK, Grosse S and Frick K, “Self-selection and Evaluation of Influenza Vaccination Effectiveness among Elderly”, Vaccine, 2006, 24(40-41):6374-75
• Yoo BK, Grosse S, and Frick . “Self-selection and Evaluation of Influenza Vaccination Effectiveness among Elderly.” Vaccine, in press.
• Yoo BK, and Frick K. "The Instrumental Variable Method to Study Self-selection Mechanism: A Case of Influenza Vaccination.” Value in Health, 9(2):114-22, 2006.
• Yoo BK, and Frick K. “The Determinants of Influenza Vaccination Timing.” Health Economics, 14(8):777-91, 2005.
• Yoo BK, Bhattacharya J, McDonald KM, and Garber AM. “Impacts of Informal Caregiver Availability on Long-term Care Expenditures in OECD Countries.” Health Services Research, 39 (6 Pt 2):1971-92, 2004.

Book

• Yoo BK, “Health Economics for ‘Reform’” (“Kai-kaku” no Tame no Iryou-Keizai-Gaku in Japanese), Medicus Publisher, Suita-shi, Osaka, Japan, July 2006 (ISBN4-8404-1759-8).