The federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau is directing considerable attention to advancing and strengthening the understanding of the economics of MCH services in a number of areas including the following: cost effectiveness and benefits; measures and assessment of costs and outcome benefits associated with quality of care; modeling provider/user behaviors; health care financing related to access and/or health outcomes; assessment of alternative illness management scenarios; value of cost and benefits information; and ethical issues related to explicit policies of resource allocation. This grant is intended to attract doctoral candidates and postdoctoral fellows to the field of MCH health economics and to help support their scholarship and acquisition of the requisite knowledge base and skills. The proposed program will provide the highest quality academic training, exceptional mentorship, and cutting-edge research opportunities to prepare public health professionals to meet these challenges.

Goal. The goal of the UCLA Maternal and Child Health Economics Analysis Training Program is to promote and support doctoral and postdoctoral training in MCH health economics analysis.

Eligibility. Students admitted to any department in the School of Public
Health for doctoral or postdoctoral training will be screened by Program
faculty and staff for the following qualifications:

• Demonstrated professional and/or clinical experience in maternal and child health in public health, nursing, medicine, nutrition, social work and other academic fields.
• Interest in pursuing an MCH-related economic analysis.

Award. The award will fund two qualified individuals in the School of
Public Health each year for the next two years. The award is $18,000 for
each awardee.

Curriculum. Students admitted through all departments will fulfill the
requirements of the department plus those of the MCH Economics Analysis Training Program which include the following:

• Training in Applied Areas: MCH health economics analysis
• Training in Research Methods and Statistics
• Foundation in an Academic Discipline

Course work in substantive economics courses is available not only within
the School of Public Health but also through the College of Letters and
Science, Departments of Economics and Political Science, the School of
Education, and the School of Public Policy and Social Research.

Contact: Dr. Neal Halfon or Dr. Linda Lange, Child and Family Health
Program, UCLA School of Public Health, (310) 206-1898.