September 26-27, 2019
Harvard University Center for the Environment, Cambridge, MA
Read our Risk Analysis special issue.
View workshop agenda and read papers
Download workshop program
Read about John S. Evans in Risk Analysis
On September 26-27, 2019, HCRA hosted a workshop on “Risk Assessment, Economic Evaluation, and Decisions.” The workshop honored John S. Evans, who has been a core member of HCRA since its founding almost 30 years ago. The conference was held at the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and featured presentation of papers by leading experts.
The workshop aimed to support improved public policy decisions, and had two overlapping themes:
(1) Building on the contributions of John S. Evans, and
(2) Addressing issues at the intersection of risk assessment and economics.
Dr. Evans has contributed significantly to risk analysis. His many contributions include addressing uncertainty through assessing the value of information, using structured approaches to elicit expert judgments, and developing approaches for assessing risks in data-limited contexts, such as intake fractions. The second theme is developing innovative approaches for better integrating risk assessment and economics. This theme is inspired by the need to address unresolved issues identified by the 2009 National Research Council report, Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment. Topics include estimating changes in risk associated with benchmark dose and other quantal models to support monetary valuation for benefit-cost analysis; accounting for changes in averting behavior when estimating the health effects of changes in exposures; and characterizing uncertainty and its implications for decision making.
Lead supporter:
Society for Risk Analysis Economics and Benefits Analysis Specialty Group
Additional supporters:
Center for Health Decision Science, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy and Environment
Harvard University Center for the Environment
Industrial Economics, Incorporated
Mohammad A. Alolayan
Paustenbach and Associates