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Contact information


rachel.hounsell@gtc.ox.ac.uk

Rachel Hounsell

MSc

PhD candidate

PhD candidate, Research Fellow at the Modelling and Simulation Hub, Africa (MASHA)

Rachel is a health economist and mathematical modeller with an interest in applied research and communications for policy. Her modelling focus is on vaccine-preventable diseases, malaria, and epidemic modelling. She has experience in public health, intervention planning, project management, design and communications, and stakeholder engagement. 
Rachel is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Oxford and works as a Research Fellow at the Modelling and Simulation Hub, Africa (MASHA). Through MASHA, Rachel has done policy-applied modelling with several African governments, including work with the South African COVID-19 Modelling Consortium to support the South African Government’s response to the pandemic. Her PhD research is policy-driven, working with the Ugandan EPI programme to evaluate the potential introduction of booster vaccination for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. Prior to this, Rachel worked as a technical advisor for the World Health Organization (WHO), as an economic consultant for the Southern African Development Community, in project management and research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and co-founded an international initiative in social innovation for health across five countries in partnership with WHO.

Rachel is involved in supervision, teaching and course design at the University of Cape Town through a BMGF Grand Challenges doctoral training programme, and at Oxford on the MSc IHTM and MSc Modelling for Global Health.

Thesis - Modelling the Epidemiological and Economic Impact of Introducing Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis-Containing Vaccine Booster Doses in Uganda.

Education - MSc in International Health & Tropical Medicine (with Distinction) University of Oxford (2019)

Master of Commerce in Development Finance (with Distinction, graduated top of class), Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town (2014)

Honours, Economics (with Distinction), University of Cape Town (2012)

Bachelor of Social Sciences, Economics & Political Science (with Distinction)                                    University of Cape Town (2010)

Previous Experience:
Research Fellow (Health Economics & Infectious Disease Modelling), Modelling and Simulation Hub, Africa (MASHA), University of Cape Town (2019 – 2024).
Modelling & Research Consultant, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) (2022 – 2024) 
Health Economics Consultant (Evaluating the national COVID-19 testing programme in England), EY-Oxford Health Analytics Consortium (2022 – 2023)
Lecturer and Course Coordinator, University of Oxford (2021-2024)
Technical Advisor, World Health Organization (2016 – 2018)
Research Fellow and Project Manager, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2017)
Research Fellow and Project Manager, Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town (2014 – 2016)
Economic Consultant, Southern African Development Community (2014 – 2016)
Health Systems Researcher, Overseas Development Institute (2013 – 2014)