Lee Ann Burke

Biography

Dr Lee-Ann Burke was awarded a PhD from University College Cork in 2010. She previously graduated with a BA Joint Honours Degree in Economics and French and a MA in Economics from University College Cork. Her principal research interests are in the area of mental health. Areas investigated in her PhD were the determinants of mental health status and mental health related inequalities and dynamics over time through implementing panel data methods and factor analysis techniques. Lee-Ann was awarded a Government of Ireland Scholarship from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences to complete this PhD research. Lee-Ann is a member of the China teaching team in the Department of Economics and also teaches modules on quantitative techniques and health economics in addition to supervising health economics masters students. More recently, Lee-Ann has become involved in teaching and supervising students of European Development Studies through the Geography department, bringing to that her interest in health economics by investigating health outcomes in Europe.

Research Interest

Lee-Ann is working as the lead health economist on a European research project on adolescent mental health with the National Suicide Research Foundation in Cork and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Her role in this project is to ascertain the cost effectiveness of schools based mental health interventions carried out throughout Europe. Eleven countries in Europe are participating in this research projected, funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Health Program. The SEYLE consortium work in schools in Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Estonia, Israel, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. More information on this suicide research can be found at www.seyle.eu. Other research interests include mental health research in Ireland, such as mental health inequalities, differences in mental health levels between groups, how mental health changes over time, whether changes are regular or sporadic, and also how mental health variables such as the GHQ-12 can be investigated further to reveal underlying specific mental health issues. A further research interest of Lee-Anns is investigating factors which affect attendance at economics lectures. Lee-Ann is undertaking research into these factors as part of a teaching qualification, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.