Annie Abello

Annie joined NATSEM in 1997. Annie's involvement in NATSEM has focused on model development, particularly MediSim, a microsimulation model of Australia's pharmaceutical benefits scheme; STINMOD, NATSEM's static microsimulation model on income tax and social security policy; and the Returns to Education Model REDMOD. Other involvement include applications of Medisim, particularly the distributional impact of the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS) and the effect of changing the rules of the PBS in various ways, e.g. greater differentiation in setting copayments; research on health inequalities between Australia's rich and poor; analyses of labour market transitions and earnings dynamics of the general population, dynamics of child poverty using SEUP longitudinal data; and alignment of demographics in a dynamic model.

University of Canberra
ACT 2601
2601
Australia

Email: annie.abello@natsem.canberra.edu.au
Web: http://www.canberra.edu.au/centres/natsem/people/researchers/annie-abello

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Sharyn Lymer

Sharyn joined NATSEM in 2004 from NSW Health. Sharyn has a strong background in statistics, particularly in the health arena. She is interested in health and health modelling especially inequality and access issues. At NATSEM Sharyn has been the lead modeller in developing the microsimulation model of the Australian Medicare system. She has also been heavily involved in small area microsimulation in the need for aged care in Australia. Currently, she is pursuing her Phd, looking at the projected costs of health care in an ageing Australia over the next 50 years, using dynamic microsimulation.

University of Canberra
2601
Australia

Email: sharyn.lymer@natsem.canberra.edu.au
Web: http://www.canberra.edu.au/centres/natsem/people/researchers/sharyn-lymer

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Laurie Brown

Laurie Brown joined NATSEM in September 2001, having worked for the past eight years as a lecturer and senior lecturer in the School of Geosciences, University of Wollongong where she taught urban geography, population and health studies. Prior to this, Laurie worked as a health services researcher and epidemiologist with the Lipid and Diabetes Research Group, at the Christchurch School of Medicine in New Zealand. Laurie has a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in geography, and MSc and PhD in medical geography from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ. She has postgraduate certificates in epidemiology from the New England Institute of Epidemiology, Tufts University, Boston, and Cambridge University, UK. Laurie will play a leading role in NATSEM's health modelling and related projects. She has over fifteen years experience in public policy research, particularly in relation to health and the impacts of social change and economic restructuring. Her current research interests include diabetes epidemiology, the corporate transformation (privatisation) of Australian hospitals, impacts of the 'greying' of Australia's population on demand for health services, and the provision of and accessibility to health services in rural and remote Australia.

University of Canberra
2601
Australia

Email: laurie.brown@natsem.canberra.edu.au
Web: http://www.canberra.edu.au/centres/natsem/people/senior_managers/laurie-brown

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Ann Harding

Ann joined the Centre as the inaugural Director in January 1993 and is Professor of Applied Economics and Social Policy at the University of Canberra. During the past 13 years Ann has led the development of highly sophisticated microsimulation models and databases, so that policy makers can gain much better information about the likely distributional impact of current and proposed policies. More recently Ann has steered microsimulation modelling in Australia beyond its traditional 'tax and social security' focus to such new areas as health, aged care, housing and regional issues, with the goal of extending sophisticated quantitative decision-support tools to policy makers in these areas. This research is largely being financed through ARC and NHMRC grants. Ann has published widely on income inequality, poverty, and the distributional impact of government programs, and is a prolific contributor to public policy debate in Australia, with her work typically being cited every week in the media. In 1996 she was elected a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and in 2003 was elected President of the International Microsimulation Association. She serves on a range of government and academic boards and advisory committees. Ann holds a Bachelor of Economics degree with first class honours from the University of Sydney and a PhD from the London School of Economics. Prior to joining NATSEM Ann worked on policy and research within the Federal departments of Social Security, Treasury and Health, Housing and Community Services

University of Canberra
ACT 2601
Australia

Email: ann.harding@natsem.canberra.edu.au
Web: http://www.canberra.edu.au/centres/natsem/people/executive/ann-harding

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Ben Phillips

Ben Phillips is an Assistant Director in Industry Policy at the Housing Industry Association specialising in housing economics and statistical modelling. Prior to this Ben worked at NATSEM at the University of Canberra as a Senior Research Fellow, where he had worked since 2001, mainly on the creation of regional microsimulation models. Prior to this he worked at the Australian Bureau of Statistics as an economic researcher in the Methodology Division. Ben's experience also includes work for the forecasting unit of the Bureau of Tourism Research.

79 Constitution Ave.
Campbell ACT 2612
Australia

Email: b.phillips@hia.com.au