Professor Giampiero Favato

Professor Giampiero Favato is a health economist and the Director of the Institute of Leadership and Management in Health at Kingston University London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the European Cancer Organisation.

His research centres on the economics of public health policy, particularly the economics of inequalities in accessing medical treatments. His primary area of expertise is valuation under uncertainty and its applications to health economics.

Professor Favato's most impactful work involves human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. His research contributed directly to the decision by health ministers in England, Scotland and Wales to extend the national HPV vaccination programme to include adolescent boys. By modelling the complexities of human sexual behaviour and HPV transmission, he demonstrated the limitations of previous cost-effectiveness studies. His earlier research also influenced Italy to adopt gender-neutral HPV vaccination before the UK did.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, his work focused on reducing the mortality risk of COVID-19 infection for the frail, elderly population, contributing to reducing excess mortality in care homes. He collaborated with Dr. Cristina Oliva on research examining how complex statistical data about the pandemic was communicated to the public and how this affected behaviour change. The outcomes of his research prevented Italy from following the ill-advised and now publicly discredited "Eat Out to Help Out" British policy. His research also explored how misinformation spreads, revealing that web banners warning about potentially inaccurate information were ineffective in limiting the circulation of unverified content.

Professor Favato's work exemplifies how rigorous health economics research can directly shape public health policy with tangible benefits for population health.