Raoh-Fang (Jasmine) Pwu, PhD, is the Director, National Hepatitis C Program Office, Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan. She also is adjunct Assistant Professor at the Taipei Medical University and Fu Jen Catholic University.
Trained as an epidemiologist at the College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Dr Pwu has gained expertise in research designs and analysis of large/claims database early in her career. Along the research path she found economic evaluations in healthcare quite interesting and became determined to pursue a career in this field. She is one of the first researchers to excel in modeling cost-effectiveness of medicines and public health interventions in Taiwan. She gives lectures and advises students on analytic-decision models and their applications. Since completing her master thesis, she has over 20 years of experience in research and application in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) studies.
Dr Pwu and several of her college colleagues founded a consulting company specializing in clinical/epidemiological research design and data analysis in 1999. However, when the Taiwan government asked her to develop a health technology assessment (HTA) system in Taiwan in 2007, she began working for the Division of HTA, Center for Drug Evaluation. She became the second Director of the HTA Division since 2009. In this role, she and her team have developed a strong HTA system and research.
Dr Pwu is an enthusiastic collaborator. Therefore, she welcomes any chance to serve the Society. She served on the INAHTA Board from 2010-2012. She and her HTA colleagues from Thailand and Korea created HTAsiaLink in 2010 and she served as their President from 2014 to2016. Dr Pwu has been an ISPOR member since 2001 and joined the ISPOR Asia Consortium Health Technology Assessment Agencies Committee in 2010.
ISPOR Vision Statement by Raoh-Fang (Jasmine) Pwu, PhD
As the world experiences drastic change and global healthcare systems face huge challenges, ISPOR and its members face an uncertain future, but a future steeped in opportunity that will require adapting and changing. The ISPOR Strategic Plan (Update 2024) guides us all to a strong future, encouraging members to stand as one diverse, but integrated, Society. As a Board member in 2019, we developed and shaped consensus around these strategies that year. Much has been invested to ensure that these strategic pillars would be supported through realistic objectives and key tactics, with appropriate resources allocated. However, shortly after it was announced, we encountered a tsunami of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite facing unprecedented hardships, I see ISPOR standing strong in storms and being more determined than ever to make our vision reality.
ISPOR’s mission is to promote HEOR excellence to improve decision making for health globally, which we bear in our heart as the core value of the Society. As we enter the post-COVID era, our members all over the world now face challenges, such as policy changes, research focus shifts, and healthcare system reforms.
If elected President, in addition to continuously pursuing the goals supporting the 4 strategic- pillars, there are 3 areas I will be specifically focusing on:
First, ISPOR should remain flexible in terms of our response to outside challenges. This includes not only how ISPOR should respond to political-economic pressure, but also to be able to recognize the evolving needs of individual members. I will build on my previous Board, government, and academic experience to continue leading the Society in addressing challenges and taking advantage of opportunities. I would also encourage us to be more data-driven and to further seek collaborations with other societies and organizations.
Second, I believe this is time when utilization of available and emergent technologies as well as bolder healthcare policies are needed. As a Society dedicated to decision making, ISPOR must further cultivate the healthcare ecosystem and boldly welcome others to join, to become fully integrated throughout ISPOR, and to help us to grow and evolve.
Third, “think (or research) globally, act locally” will be a common practice in the post-COVID era. Every part of the world has become central, in a sense, and we should embrace this. As an individual from Taiwan, I understand being different in the evolving global health research community. We must continue to discover what is common and best practice in HEOR and HTA studies globally and elevate those from smaller or emerging areas. ISPOR HTA Roundtables and their connections to patients and other stakeholders provide unique platforms that could be more fully utilized in dialogue and change. If elected, I will offer a different perspective in the leadership team and strive to enhance communication and collaboration, as well as encourage use of technology to make training and other programs more available globally. ISPOR has always been a Society dedicated to collaboration and diversity—now is a great time to further enhance the role of members everywhere and take advantage of the expertise and knowledge that exists across our entire Society. I would be proud to serve as your Society President.