| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Rasmussen, B., Maharaj, N., Sheehan, P., & Friedman, H. S. (190701). Evaluating the Employment Benefits of Education and Targeted Interventions to Reduce Child Marriage. Journal of Adolescent Health, 65(1), (S16-S24). |
| 2018 | Bertram, M. Y., Sweeny, K., Lauer, J. A., Chisholm, D., Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B., Upreti, S. R., Dixit, L. P., George, K., & Deane, S. (180519). Investing in non-communicable diseases: an estimation of the return on investment for prevention and treatment services. The Lancet, 391(10134), (2071-2078). |
| 2018 |
Patton, G. C., Olsson, C. A., Skirbekk, V., Saffery, R., Wlodek, M. E., Azzopardi, P. S., Stonawski, M., Rasmussen, B., Spry, E., & Francis, K. (180221). Adolescence and the next generation. Nature, 554(7693), (458-466). doi: 10.1038/nature25759 |
| 2017 | Sheehan, P., Sweeny, K., Rasmussen, B., Wils, A., Friedman, H. S., Mahon, J., Patton, G. C., Sawyer, S. M., Howard, E., & Symons, J. (171014). Building the foundations for sustainable development: a case for global investment in the capabilities of adolescents. The Lancet, 390(10104), (1792-1806). |
| 2016 | Chisholm, D., Sweeny, K., Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B., Smit, F., Cuijpers, P., & Saxena, S. (160501). Scaling-up treatment of depression and anxiety: A global return on investment analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 3(5), (415-424). |
| 2014 | Stenberg, K., Axelson, H., Sheehan, P., Anderson, I., Gulmezoglu, A. M., Temmerman, M., Mason, E., Friedman, H. S., Bhutta, Z. A., & Lawn, J. E. (140101). Advancing social and economic development by investing in women's and children's health: A new Global Investment Framework. The Lancet, 383(9925), (1333-1354). |
Key details
Areas of expertise
- Health economics
- Emerging trends in technology and innovation
- Investment in adolescent health and wellbeing
- Finance of investment in health interventions
- Assessment of interventions to reduce child marriage & gender violence
Available to supervise research students
Available for media queries
About Bruce Rasmussen
Professor Bruce Rasmussen's work has encompassed health economics, regional economics, innovation and economic development. His most recent work has been on estimating the economic returns to investment in health for WHO, UNICEF and the UNFPA, with previous work done for the US Chamber of Commerce, APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum (LSIF) and the APEC Business Advisory Council.
Currently, with the VISES team, he is working on an investment case in adolescent wellbeing for the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) (hosted at the WHO) as part of the work for the Global Forum for Adolescents in October 2023. In 2022, he led an investment case for the WHO to increase its funding levels. He recently completed a project for UNICEF on the cost of not investing in education in Syria. Results of the investigation will be presented to the Syrian Minister of Education and the Global Forum for Education in June 2023.He is also Chief Investigator in a study for the Ford Foundation on exploring ways in which China’s development finance can become more effective in providing equitable development in Global South countries.
In 2015-2016, he led the work on a UNFPA adolescent project on evaluating interventions to reduce child marriage and intimate partner violence. Other multi-country evaluation studies have estimated the benefit-cost ratios for interventions to treat disease and health conditions for children and mothers, those with mental health issues and for a range of interventions to improve the well-being of adolescents. Two papers with results were published in The Lancet (2017) and Journal of Adolescent Health (2019) on the evaluation child marriage interventions. He led work in Burundi for UNICEF to develop an investment evaluation framework to establish economic and social returns from health and education programs for adolescents.
He has also conducted research for the US Chamber of Commerce on health and productivity. This work estimated the economic cost of absenteeism, presenteeism and early retirement, with research being conducted in China.
From August 2017, Bruce was Vice Chair (Academic) of the APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum, where he led work on encouraging Ministers and Ministries of Finance in the APEC region to more actively engage in developing innovative ways of financing health.
Previously, Bruce had a career specialising in finance, spanning the senior levels of both the public and private sectors. In government, he held a number of senior positions, most significantly as Assistant Director General, Finance in the Victorian Treasury. He also spent seven years at the ANZ Bank, where he held various senior business strategy roles, most notably as Chief Manager, Retail Strategy in the Retail Bank and Chief Manager, Development of the Private Bank.
Qualifications
- PhD, Victoria University, Australia, 2009
- MPA, Harvard University, USA, 1985
- MEc, La Trobe University, Australia, 1977
- BEc (Hons), La Trobe University, Australia, 1974
Key publications
Bruce has over 103 publications, with a selection listed here.
A more comprehensive list of Bruce's publications is available in the VU Research Repository.
Book (showing 1 of 1)
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Rasmussen, B. (100101). Innovation and commercialisation in the biopharmaceutical industry: Creating and capturing value. |
Commissioned research report (showing 2)
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Rasmussen, B., Sweeny, K., Welsh, A., Kumnick, M., Reeve, M., & Dayal, P. (200101). Increasing Social and Economic Benefits Globally. Washington DC: United States Chamber of Commerce. |
| 2019 | Rasmussen, B., Sheehan, P., Sweeny, K., Symons, J., & Maharaj, N. (190101). Adolescent Investment Case Burundi: Estimating the Impacts of Social Sector Investments for Adolescents. Bujumbura: UNICEF Burundi. |
Journal article (showing 6 of 14)
Research funding for the past 5 years
Please note:
- Funding is ordered by the year the project commenced and may continue over several years.
- Funding amounts for contact research are not disclosed to maintain commercial confidentiality.
- The order of investigators is not indicative of the role they played in the research project.
2021
|
COVID-19 Impact on Child Marriage: Updates to CMOI User Guide and Investment Case
From: Avenir Health
Other investigators: Dr John Symons
For period: 2021-2021
|
Not disclosed |
|
Economic Analysis for WHO Investment Case 2.0
From: World Health Organization
Other investigators: Dr John Symons, Mrs Neelam Maharaj, Ms Margarita Kumnick, Dr Kim Sweeny, Prof Peter Sheehan
For period: 2021-2021
|
Not disclosed |
|
Modelling impact of vaccines in Australia
From: Shawview Consulting Australia Pty Ltd
Other investigators: Ms Margarita Kumnick, Dr Kim Sweeny
For period: 2021-2021
|
Not disclosed |
2020
|
An Investment Case Study on HPV Vaccination in Vietnam
From: United Nations Population Fund
Other investigators: Dr Kim Sweeny, Dr John Symons, Mrs Neelam Maharaj, Ms Alison Welsh
For period: 2020-2022
|
Not disclosed |
|
China's Development: Finance, Growth Models and Sustainable Development in Recipient Countries
From: Ford Foundation Beijing
Other investigators: Prof Peter Sheehan, Prof Bhajan Grewal
For period: 2020-2022
|
Not disclosed |
|
Syria Education and Development Investment Case (SEDIC)
From: UNICEF - Syria Country Office
Other investigators: Prof Peter Sheehan
For period: 2020-2020
|
Not disclosed |
2019
|
Investing in Women's Sight - Benefits Across Generations
From: Fred Hollows Foundation
Other investigators: Dr Kim Sweeny, Dr John Symons, Ms Celeste Young
For period: 2019-2021
|
Not disclosed |
|
Cost of Eliminating Child Marriage and Intimate Partner Violence
From: United Nations Population Fund
Other investigators: Prof Peter Sheehan, Mrs Neelam Maharaj
For period: 2019-2019
|
Not disclosed |
|
WorkWell Evaluation: Measuring Cost Effectiveness and Return on Investment (ROI) of the WorkWell Program
From: WorkSafe Victoria
Other investigators: Dr Kim Sweeny, Ms Alison Welsh
For period: 2019-2019
|
Not disclosed |
2018
|
Cost Benefit Analysis of Health Interventions to Improve Labour Productivity
From: US Chamber of Commerce Grant
Other investigators: Prof Peter Sheehan, Dr Kim Sweeny, Dr John Symons, Ms Alison Welsh, Ms Margarita Kumnick, Mrs Neelam Maharaj
For period: 2018-2020
|
Not disclosed |
|
Investment Framework Case Study: Estimating the Impacts & Opportunity Costs of Social Sector Investments for Adolescents (10-19 years) in Burundi.
From: UNICEF-Bujumbura/Burundi
Other investigators: Dr John Symons, Dr Kim Sweeny, Prof Peter Sheehan, Mrs Neelam Maharaj, Ms Alison Welsh, Ms Margarita Kumnick
For period: 2018-2019
|
Not disclosed |
|
Economic evaluation youth work program for the centre for multicultural youth
From: Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues
Other investigators: Dr John Symons
For period: 2018-2018
|
Not disclosed |
|
Economic evaluation youth work program for the city of Whittlesea
From: City of Whittlesea
Other investigators: Dr John Symons
For period: 2018-2018
|
Not disclosed |
|
A Case for National Investment in Adolescent Health & Wellbeing in India
From: United Nations Population Fund, Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies
Other investigators: Prof Peter Sheehan, Dr Kim Sweeny, Dr John Symons, Mrs Neelam Maharaj
For period: 2018-2018
|
Not disclosed |
|
Establishment of Victorian Energy Policy Centre (VEPC)
From: Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
Other investigators: Mr Bruce Mountain, Prof Peter Sheehan, Mrs Neelam Maharaj, Ms Alison Welsh, Dr Steven Percy, Dr Kelly Burns, Ms Stephanie Rizio
For period: 2018-2020
|
$1,859,999 |
2017
|
Building Strength and Capability through Diversity
From: Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Ltd, Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies
Other investigators: Dr Fiona Macdonald, Ms Celeste Young, Dr Joanne Pyke
For period: 2017-2021
|
Not disclosed |
|
Climate change and social determinants of health and wellbeing scoping study.
From: Director of Housing, Department of Health and Human Services
Other investigators: Prof Roger Jones, Ms Celeste Young, Dr Kim Sweeny, Prof Peter Sheehan
For period: 2017-2017
|
Not disclosed |
2014
|
Mapping and understanding bushfire and natural hazard vulnerability and risks at the institutional scale.
From: Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Ltd
Other investigators: Prof Roger Jones, Prof Peter Sheehan, Ms Celeste Young
For period: 2014-2018
|
$460,000 |
Supervision of research students at VU
Available to supervise research students
Available for media queries
Completed supervision of research students at VU
| No. of students | Study level | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | PhD | Associate supervisor |
| 1 | Associate supervisor |
Completed supervision of research students at VU
| Students & level | Role |
|---|---|
| PhD (8) | Associate supervisor |
| (1) | Associate supervisor |
Key academic roles
| Dates | Role | Department / Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2011 - Present |
Director VISES
|
Victoria University |
| Dates | Role & Department/Organisation |
|---|---|
| Jan 2011 -
Present
|
Director VISES
Victoria University |
Key industry, community & government roles
| Dates | Role | Department/Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 2017 - Jun 2019 |
Academic Co-Chair
|
APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum |
| Dates | Role & Department/Organisation |
|---|---|
| Jul 2017 - Jun 2019 |
Academic Co-Chair
APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum |
Professional memberships
- Member, Economic Society of Australia
- Member, Harvard Club of Australia
