Dr Armando Vargas-Palacios

Profile

I am a Senior Research Fellow in Health Economics at the Academic Unit of Health Economics (AUHE) at the University of Leeds. My research focuses on the economic evaluation of new and innovative medical technologies. I specialise in the use of simulation techniques to assess the economic value and overall impact of medical technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital health interventions within the NHS. This includes evaluating their effects on installed capacity, waiting and referral times, and carbon footprint.

I am a leading health economist on the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) in Accelerated Surgical Care, and I collaborate closely with the Leeds Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

With over 10 years of experience in developing economic evaluations for medical technologies, I have expertise in conducting evaluations alongside clinical trials as well as using model-based approaches. I am a co-applicant on several large-scale health technology assessments (HTAs) and research grants. These projects focus on assessing the economic value of new medical technologies, their contribution to achieving NHS net-zero goals, and their system-wide implementation.

Prior to my role with the NIHR HRC, I served as Deputy Lead for Health Economics at the MedTech Co-operative, where I supported and advised small to medium-sized enterprises on generating health economics evidence for their technologies. My expertise lies in simulation modelling techniques for economic evaluation, particularly discrete event simulation, using Simul8.

I hold a PhD in health-related research from the University of Sheffield, with a focus on economic evaluation, and an MSc in Health Economics from the Centre of Teaching and Research (CIDE) in Mexico.

Since 2024, I have led the Modelling Group at AUHE. I am also an active member of the Health and Care Operational Research Network (HaCORN), where I have been leading the Health Economics subgroup since 2025. Additionally, I serve as an Associate Editor for Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics and am a regular reviewer for Vaccine, Nature, and PLOS One.

Responsibilities

• Lead of the Modelling group
• Deputy health economics lead in Medical devices: Accelerated surgery Health Research Centre

Research interests

My research interest focusses on methods to evaluate new and innovative technologies, evaluate its health economics impact and NHS impact on its Net Zero pledge. Some of the research projects and organisations I am currently involved are:

• ReMed project (https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR131475)
• EXTEND (https://www.york.ac.uk/healthsciences/research/trials/ytutrialsandstudies/trials/extend/)
• Sterling (https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR131475)
• HRC https://hrc-surgical.nihr.ac.uk/
• HaCORN (https://arc-swp.nihr.ac.uk/research/projects/hacorn/)

Qualifications

• PhD in Health Economics (Univesity of Sheffield)
• MSc in Health Economics (Centre for Research and Teaching, CIDE, Mexico)
• BA in Health Economics (Ibero-American University, Mexico)

Professional memberships

• Health Economics Study Group (HESG)
• Health and Care Operational Research Network (HaCORN)

Student education

I have ample experience as a lecturer in various health economics modules at the undergraduate and graduate level.  I also act as supervisor of master and Doctroal level

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Health Sciences
• Academic Unit of Health Economics
• Complex interventions
• Test Evaluation Group
• Diagnostics and pathology
• Surgical technology
• Decision Modelling Group
• Health economics