Rate My Professor William Leung
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About William
William Leung is a Senior Lecturer in Health Economics in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, Faculty of Medicine. He holds a BA (Econ), MSc (Op Res), MSc (Comp Sci), and MSc (Health Econ) from the University of York. Prior to academia, he served as an operational research analyst in the British National Health Service, applying discrete-event simulation and modeling tools to cancer treatment pathways with Professor Val Belton, Dr. Mark Elder, and others. Leung serves as Postgraduate Course Director for the Certificate in Public Health, Diploma in Public Health, and Diploma in Health Management. He is Portfolio Lead (Teaching), has acted as co-Head of Department, Chair of the tri-campus Public Health Academic Committee (term until 2028), and Acting Chair of the Public Health Board of Studies. His teaching portfolio includes convening PUBH 736 Economic Evaluation and PUBH 735 The Economics of Health Policy Decision Making, plus contributions to the undergraduate medical programme. He has supervised Master of Public Health theses, such as Ryan Gage's on sun protection and cost-effectiveness in schools, Mereana Wilson's on the Waikoūura Framework for Lake Rotorua management, and Anne Russell's on oral health care for dependent older people.
Leung's research specializations encompass health economics, including meta-analyses (e.g., calcium intake effects on fractures and bone density with Distinguished Professor Ian Reid), within-trial and decision-analytic cost-effectiveness analyses, and cost/burden studies in asthma (with Professor Richard Beasley), cancer, chronic pain management, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, eHealth, migraine, osteoporosis, physical activity, rural health, smoking cessation, and sun safety. He leads the economic component of the US CDC-funded SHIVERS project (Professor Michael Baker) and contributes to international collaborations on rheumatic fever, skin cancer, neuro-endocrine tumours, and multiple sclerosis. As a named health economist co-investigator, he has helped secure over $20 million in contestable New Zealand research funding. Leung engages in external consultancies, including The Royal Society of New Zealand's 2017 antimicrobial resistance evidence update and peer reviews for the Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit and PwC's Youth Mental Health Project evaluation. Key publications include Noble et al. (2026, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine) on budesonide-formoterol for asthma; Leung et al. (2025, ERJ Open Research) on mild asthma treatment cost-effectiveness; Gordon et al. (2022, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health) on skin cancer costs; Leung et al. (2016, PLoS Medicine) on adjuvant trastuzumab; and Bolland et al. (2015, BMJ) on calcium and fracture risk.