Professor David Bishai is Clinical Professor in Public Health and Director of the School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining HKU, Professor Bishai had served as Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for 27 years and served in the government as a health officer for the state of Maryland in 2021.

As a world-renowned educator, researcher, and practitioner, Professor Bishai has made lasting contributions to scholarship. A leading health economist, his research focuses on the performance and financing of global public health activities, primary healthcare, vaccines, and health disparities. He is the author of two books and more than 260 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and has raised USD50 million in grant support from NIH, CDC, World Bank, WHO, ADB and foundations. His award-winning courses on systems thinking and health economics have reached over forty-thousand students. As President of the International Health Economics Association, he helped to establish a global mentoring network for early career researchers. During his government service, he used local evidence to eradicate racial gaps in COVID vaccination.

Professor Bishai maintains certification by both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in Philosophy and Physics, his Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Los Angeles, his Medical Doctorate from the University of California at San Diego, and his Doctor of Philosophy from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.  

1. Bishai D,  Brenzel L, Padula W. “Handbook of Applied Health Economics in Vaccines” Oxford University Press. 2023. [link]
2. Bishai D and M Schleiff. “Achieving Health for All: Primary Health Care in Action” Johns Hopkins University Press. 2020. [link]
3. Bishai D, Resnick B, Lamba S, Cardona C*, McCullough M, Leider J, Gemmill A. Being accountable for capability getting public health reform right this time. American Journal of Public Health. 2022; 112: 1374-1378. [link]
4. Lamba S*, Wolfson C*, Cardona C*, Alfonso Y*, Gemmill A, Resnick B, Leider J, McCullough M, Bishai D. Past local government health spending was not correlated with COVID-19 control in US counties. Social Science and Medicine Population Health. 2022; 17: 101027. [link]
5. Alfonso YN*, Leider, JP, Resnick B, McCullough JM, Bishai D. US public health neglected: flat or declining spending left states ill equipped to respond to COVID-19. Health Aff (Millwood). 2021; 40: 664-671. [link]
6. Bishai D, Rochaix L. The meliorist project in health economics. Health Economics. 2020: 29; 537-539. [link]
7. Rao KD, Kachwaha S, Kaplan A, Bishai, D. Not just money: what mothers value in conditional cash transfer programs in India. BMJ Global Health. 2020; 5: e003033. [link]
8. Li Q, He H, Duan L, Wang Y, Bishai DM, Hyder AA. Prevalence of drink driving and speeding in China: a time series analysis from two cities. Public Health. 2017; 144, S15-S22. [link]
9. Bishai D. Generalized nutrient taxes can increase consumer welfare. Health Economics. 2015; 24: 1517-1522. [link]
10. Bishai D, Johns B*, Nair D*, Lefevre A*, Simons E*, Dabbagh A. The cost effectiveness of supplementary immunization activities for measles: a stochastic model for Uganda. Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2011; 203: S107-S115. [link]