Dr Sophy Shih
Senior Research Fellow
,ѱʱ, DrPH,GradDipEco
Medicine & Health
The Kirby Institute
Dr Sophy Shih is a senior health economist with expertise in economic evaluation and health service research. She has extensive experience of designing and implementing trial-based economic assessments, performing economic evaluations, and building economic models. Dr Shih was trained in health economics, public health and biomedical science. She has worked on a broad range of topics including viral infection, rare genetic diseases, cancers, diabetes, psycho-oncology, and disability with a focus on prevention and screening.
In 2019, Dr Shih joined the SERP at the Kirby Institute and the NPESU at the Centre for Big Data Research in Health as a Senior Research Fellow/Health Economist. Her current working programs focus on HCV and HIV testing strategies and treatment uptake and scaling up of point-of-care (POC) technology to enhance testing forHCV and HIV infection and reduce mortality and morbidity of these infectious diseases.
Dr Shih was a subcommittee member of the Clinical Guidelines Network at Cancer Council Australia and co-authored the “Economics of Keratinocyte Cancer” chapter of the NHMRC-endorsed clinical guidelines “Clinical Practice Guidelines for Keratinocyte Cancer”.
E-mail
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- Wiseman V. et al. Shih S (AI) Centres of Research Excellence: Stronger Investments for Infectious Diseases (STRIDE), National Health & Medical Research Council/Centres of Research Excellence, 2023.
- Grebely J, Treloar, C, Martinello M, Kingsland M, Pedrana A, Cunningham P, Marshall A, Esserman D, Cunningham E, Shih S, Lafferty L, Dore G, Mathews S, Gray R, Causer L. Enhancing point-of-care testing for hepatitis C infection: the OPTIMISE study. MRFF Clinical Trials Activity Grant 2023
- Grebely J, Dore G, Lloyd A, Cunningham P, Marshall A, Treloar C, Shih S, Gray R, Causer L, Law M. A national program to scale-up point-of-care hepatitis C testing and treatment. NHMRC Partnership Grant, 2022
- Grebely J, Dore G, Marshall A, Treloar C, Gray R, Shih S, Degenhardt L, Amin J, Read P, Alavi MS. Enhancing hepatitis C testing and treatment among people who inject drugs in drug treatment settings: the ETHOS III Study. NHMRC Partnership Grant, 2021.
- Grebely J, Shih S TF, Wiseman V. Health Economic Evaluation for the NSW dried blood spot (DBS) HIV and HCV Testing Pilot Program. New South Wales Health, 2021.
Winner of the Elsevier 2023 award for the theme of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3): Good health and well-being, Winning Article “Optimizing point-of-care testing strategies for diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C virus infection in Australia: a model-based cost-effectiveness analysis” The Lancet Reginal Health Western Pacific, Elsevier 2023
Dr Shih has collaborated with colleagues specialized in infectious diseases since she joined the Kirby Institute in 2019. Her current work on developing the health economics framework for point-of-care testing of infectious diseases will inform future infectious diseases control policy, including evaluation of a national program to scale-up hepatitis point-of-care (POC) testing and treatment; economic evaluation of the NSW dried blood spot (DBS) self-sampling HIV and HCV testing pilot program; an RCT investigating HCV POC testing to improve treatment uptake in people who inject drugs (the TEMPO study); cost-effectiveness analyses of HCV testing and treatment in NSW prisons, and the economic assessment of accelerating the uptake of initiatives to address HIV drug resistance surveillance in Papua New Guinea (ACTUP-PNG study). Dr Shih is a CI on two NHMRC Partnership Grants (ETHOS III study and a national program for hepatitis C testing and treatment) and one MRFF Clinical Trials Activity Grant (OPTIMISE study) to examine the scale-up of point-of-care hepatitis C RNA testing and a CI on the NSW Health funded study evaluating the dried blood spot (DBS) testing for HIV/HCV.
My Research Supervision
Huei Jiuan Wu (PhD candidate, Kirby Institute) - Effect of point-of-care HCV testing with rapid initiation of direct-acting antiviral therapy for elimination of hepatitis C among gay and bisexual men by 2030 in Taiwan: a modeling study and cost-effectiveness analysis
Quang Nguyen (PhD candidate, Kirby Institute) - Modelling the cost-effectiveness of point-of-care HIV viral load testing and HIV drug resistance monitoring when provided as part of routine HIV treatment and care services in PNG