DrThomas Hone

I am an Associate Professor in the Public Health Policy Evaluation Unit within the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London. I have broad interests in health systems research, particularly quantitative and quasi-experimental evaluations of health policies and services in low- and middle-income countries. My work aims to understand how reforms, financing structures, and service delivery models impact health outcomes and equity.

I completed my undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge before starting the Masters of Public Health (MPH) at Imperial in 2012. I joined the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial as a PhD student in January 2014, continuing my research as a Research Fellow and Lecturer.  

Research Interests

My research focuses on strengthening health systems through rigorous quantitative evaluation and policy analysis. Key areas include:

• Health System Financing & Universal Health Coverage - Investigating how fragmented financing and mixed public-private provision affect equity and performance. This through my co-leadership of the NIHR-funded project on Health System Fragmentation and Universal Health Coverage in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and India and my role as co-investigator of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Health financing for UHC in challenging times: leaving no-one behind, with the University of York.
• Health System Reform, Primary Health Care & Policy Impacts - Evaluating health system reforms such as Brazil’s Mais Médicos programme and Family Health Strategy, and the dissolution of Mexico’s Seguro Popular.
• Health Systems & Health Inequalities - Examining how health systems can mitigate or exacerbate health inequalities, including racial and ethnic inequalities. In conjunction with the Institute of Health Policy Studies (IEPS) in Brazil, I am a co-Principal Investigator of an NIHR project addressing racial health inequalities in Brazil.
• Health Systems in Crisis & Conflict - Studying health system resilience during periods of violence, instability and economic recession. This has been through a MRC/Wellcome-funded study on urban violence and health system impacts in Rio de Janeiro using linked big data and quasi-experimental methods.

Teaching

I am the Co-Director for the Master of Public Health (Online) programme at the School of Public Health, alongside Dr Bethan Davies. I am also a module lead for the BSc in Global Health. My teaching spans a broad range of topics in global and public health related to health systems including evaluating health policy, bias and discrimination in healthcare, evidence appraisal for health policy, primary healthcare, and health systems in LMICs. I focus on teaching that can bridge research and policy.

I supervise PhD students examining health system performance and reform. I also supervise research projects related to health systems for students from the BSc Global Health, MPH, MPH Online and BSc in Medical Biosciences courses.