The Global Health Lab Team

Harsha Thirumurthy, PhD
Co-Director

Harsha Thirumurthy is a Professor in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also Associate Director at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics and a Research Associate at Penn’s Population Studies Center. In addition, he also serves as Co-Director of the Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI). Dr. Thirumurthy’s interests lie at the intersection of economics and public health. A major focus of his research has been to use insights from economics and psychology to design and evaluate interventions to achieve better health outcomes in low-income settings. His research has also studied the economic impacts of large-scale health initiatives. Dr. Thirumurthy has led numerous randomized trials of behavioral interventions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. He has published peer-reviewed articles in leading journals in economics, public health, and medicine, including JAMA, The Lancet HIV, PLOS Medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of Public Economics, and the American Economic Journal-Applied Economics. Dr. Thirumurthy completed a PhD in economics at Yale University. He is an Affiliate of the Bureau for Research on the Economic Analysis of Development and Chair of the Population Sciences review panel at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Selected Projects

Akiba: A savings intervention to reduce men’s engagement in HIV risk behaviors

Kisumu, Kenya

Behavioral Science Economics HIV and STIs Sub-Saharan Africa

Secondary Distribution of HIV Self-tests: an Innovative Strategy for Promoting Partner Testing and Reducing HIV Risk

Kisumu, Kenya

Behavioral Science Economics HIV and STIs Sub-Saharan Africa

In The News

• Alison Buttenheim, Harsha Thirumurthy, and two colleagues from Wits University in South Africa published a commentary in The Lancet Global Health - Maximising the value of nudge units for global health. The commentary reflects on the work of the Indlela nudge unit in South Africa over the past three years. It also addresses the need for nudge units and behavioral scientists engaged in global health research to invest in strengthening local capacity.
  The Lancet Global Health · Harsha Thirumurthy · Alison Buttenheim
• BEGIN Lab Co-Directors Alison Buttenheim and Harsha Thirumurthy host launch event at UPenn Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics.
• Aaron Richterman and Harsha Thirumurthy's new article showing cash-transfer programs reduced risk of death in low- and middle-income countries featured in New York Times
  Nature; The New York Times · Harsha Thirumurthy

Recent Publications

• Mobile delivery of COVID-19 vaccines improved uptake in rural Sierra Leone
  Nature · March 2024
• Hypertension Diagnosis, Treatment, and Control in India
  JAMA · October 2023
  Varghese JS, Venkateshmurthy NS, Sudharsanan N, Jeemon P, Patel SA, Thirumurthy H, Roy A, Tandon N, Narayan KMV, Prabhakaran D, Ali MK.
• Improving HIV testing, linkage, and retention in care among South African men through U= U messaging: A study protocol for two sequential hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trials.
  BMC Public Health · October 2023
  Medina-Marino A, Sibanda N, Putt M, Davey DJ, Smith P, Thirumurthy H, Bekker LG, Buttenheim A.