Keynote Speaker

Christopher Murray, MD, DPhil

Institute Director
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
University of Washington

Dr. Christopher Murray is the first director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
A physician and health economist, he is a former executive director of the Evidence and Information for Policy Cluster at the World Health Organization and led the work with Alan Lopez on the pioneering Global Burden of Disease project.

IHME’s mission is to monitor global health conditions and health systems as well as evaluate interventions, initiatives, and reforms. According to IHME, multiple global health efforts have sprung up over the past several decades as health spending has risen to unprecedented heights, accounting for 9 % of total economic output. Yet a lack of objective, comparable, and comprehensible information on health hinders these various efforts from achieving their highest aims.

Dr. Murray will provide an update on IHME’s formation and initiatives. He will also discuss opportunities and roles for the health GIS user community in health metrics and evaluation, with special emphasis on increasing data dissemination and creating tools that equip others with the capacity to assess health conditions and health system performance.