The Centre for Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics was established in 2020 at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, with the aim of advancing the fields of health economics and pharmacoeconomics in Croatia. Although these disciplines are of fundamental importance for improving healthcare system management, health economics and its subfield, pharmacoeconomics, remain underrepresented in the Croatian education system, with a relatively small number of specialised experts recognised within the international academic and professional community.
Through its activities, the Centre for Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics:
- contributes to the theoretical and practical understanding of the key elements of public healthcare systems;
- develops and implements economic tools in healthcare decision-making processes, thereby contributing to greater transparency and consistency in decision-making;
- applies key analytical methods to develop economic evaluations and cost-effectiveness models for investments in health technologies, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices and public health interventions;
- applies health preference elicitation methods and works to strengthen the role of patient and citizen preferences in health policy development at both national and local levels;
- conducts scientific research through projects funded by reputable institutions, including the Croatian Science Foundation and the European Social Fund;
- contributes to the development of a framework for strengthening the role of economists in health policy-making and healthcare management, as well as to the integration of economic perspectives and tools into discussions on criteria for assessing the cost-effectiveness of healthcare investments, prioritisation of limited financial resources, management of processes, institutions and human capital, healthcare financing, and related issues;
- analyses healthcare efficiency, measures and evaluates treatment outcomes, and assesses the quality of healthcare;
- coordinates the postgraduate specialist study programme Health Economics – MBA, in cooperation with the Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb;
- provides tailor-made training programmes designed to meet the specific needs of the healthcare industry and the public healthcare sector.
Project Report: Value in Health – Empirical Research and Application (UIP-2019-04-3721)
Members
Assoc. Prof. Ana Bobinac – Head of the Centre
Ana Bobinac obtained her Master’s degree in Health Economics in 2005 from the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where she subsequently joined the doctoral programme in 2006. She received her PhD from Erasmus University in 2012 in the field of pharmacoeconomics, with a dissertation entitled Economic Evaluations of Health Technologies: Insights into Measuring and Valuing Benefits.
She has participated in numerous scientific projects, both applied and methodological, in the fields of economic evaluation of health technologies, healthcare quality and efficiency analysis, and the improvement of healthcare decision-making and management systems.
In 2013, the Dutch Research Council awarded Ana Bobinac a prestigious three-year VENI Talent Programme grant. In 2010, the Netherlands Health Technology Assessment Association (NVTAG) awarded her the prize for the best scientific paper by a young researcher in the field of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in the Netherlands. In 2020, the Croatian Science Foundation awarded her a five-year Installation Research Project, supporting the establishment of a new research group in the field of health economics.
Ana Bobinac has also worked on numerous commercial projects with the pharmaceutical industry, conducting pharmacoeconomic budget impact analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses of pharmaceuticals, medical products and public health interventions. As a consultant, she collaborated with the World Bank on the analysis of Croatia’s national pharmaceutical policy and access to healthcare. She also participated in two projects financed by the European Social Fund, serving as project leader and scientific adviser.
After nearly eleven years at the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Ana Bobinac joined the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, in 2018, where she initiated the establishment of the Centre for Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics (CHEP).
The Centre’s activities include the application of economic evaluation methods across healthcare sectors and for the needs of different stakeholders, scientific research aimed at improving health policy tools, healthcare cost-effectiveness and efficiency analysis, the measurement and valuation of health outcomes, healthcare quality assessment, as well as education through professional workshops and the postgraduate specialist study programme Health Economics – MBA, delivered in cooperation with the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb. Assoc. Prof. Bobinac participated in establishing the programme and serves as its programme director.
Assoc. Prof. Davor Mance
Davor Mance graduated in Economics from Trier University, Germany, in 2004, obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of Sussex in 2006, and earned his PhD from the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, in 2015.
He has been employed at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, since October 2007. He currently teaches Research Methodology, Cost Management and Business Valuation at the Faculty of Economics and Business, as well as Public Sector Economics at the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka.
His research interests focus on the design of institutional mechanisms and on the organisation and governance of public goods, including pharmacoeconomics.
Assoc. Prof. Nikolina Dukić Samaržija
Nikolina Dukić Samaržija received her PhD from the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, in 2014, with a dissertation entitled Valuation of Stated Preferences for the Improvement of Public Preventive Health Programmes.
Her research, conducted through a range of scientific projects, has focused on the application of stated preference methods to the improvement of public health programmes, as well as on issues related to efficient management within the public healthcare system.
Throughout her research career, Nikolina has established successful cooperation with the Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka.
She transfers the knowledge and expertise acquired through many years of education and research in the field of health economics through teaching and supervision within the Doctoral Study Programme at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka.
Prof. Neda Vitezić
Neda Vitezić is a Full Professor with tenure at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, specialising in Auditing, Business Performance Analysis, Controlling, and Public Sector Performance Analysis. She teaches at all levels of study, from undergraduate to doctoral programmes, including Business Economics and the joint doctoral programme Management and Economics of the Public Sector.
She has undertaken professional and academic training in the United States, the United Kingdom, Austria and Hungary, and has served as a visiting professor in the United States, the United Kingdom, Slovenia and Montenegro.
She has authored several books and monographs and published more than 130 scientific papers in international and Croatian journals and conference proceedings. She has led several research projects funded by the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education, managed international projects, and served as principal investigator of the Croatian Science Foundation-funded research project Model for Measuring the Efficiency of Public Healthcare Services. She has also participated as a researcher in a pharmacoeconomics project led by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka.
The results of these projects have been disseminated through publications in scientific journals, invited lectures and participation in international conferences in the fields of public health and pharmacoeconomics.
Her research interest in the public sector dates back more than twenty years. She developed the course Public Sector Performance Analysis within the postgraduate study programme in Public Administration and teaches Analysis of Socially Responsible Management in the Public Sector within the doctoral programme in public administration.
She has completed two periods of professional training in Cleveland, USA, focused on public sector management at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.
For more than twelve years, she has headed the postgraduate specialist study programme in Controlling. She has also served three terms as Head of the Department of Business Economics and has been a member of numerous committees and professional associations. She is the recipient of several awards for scientific achievement, has acted as an international and national reviewer, and has served on the editorial board of Public Administration Review.
Throughout her academic career, she has held a number of senior management and academic leadership positions, including Vice-Rector, Vice-Dean, Department Head and other managerial roles.
PUBLIKACIJE I PROJEKTI
CHEW 2026
4th Croatian Health Economics Workshop – Call for papers
23rd and 24th September 2026 – Hotel Lone, Rovinj, Croatia
The Croatian Health Economics Workshop encourages the exchange of ideas and best practice, with the aim to promote discussion of high-priority topics for the health systems of Central and Eastern European countries (including EU-member and non-member states). More generally, the workshop acts as a platform for transferring knowledge within Central and Eastern Europe and with the broader international community.
For this 4th edition, CHEW will be held at Hotel Lone in Rovinj, in the Croatia region of Istria, on the 23rd and 24th September 2026.
To select contributions for the workshop, we now welcome submissions of abstracts or full papers using economic approaches to study the broad areas of health and health care, including but not limited to financial sustainability, long-term care and ageing, data linkage and outcomes measurement, healthcare workforce, health outcomes research and decision-making, effects of economic events on health outcomes, effects of health events on economic outcomes, and financial incentives.
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
Please submit your abstracts (max 350 words, preferably structured) or full papers via the form available here no later than 17th May 2026. Early Career Researchers, authors from Central and Eastern European (or with papers focused on these countries) are particularly encouraged to submit.
IMPORTANT DATES
Abstract submission deadline: 17th May 2026
Notification of acceptance: By the 8th June 2026
Full paper submission: By the 31st August 2026
The workshop will start on Wednesday 23rd September and close in the late afternoon of Thursday 24th September 2026.
WORKSHOP FORMAT
The workshop will accept up to 15 full papers. Each accepted paper will be assigned a discussant who will receive the paper ahead of the workshop. Papers submitted by Early Career Researchers will be discussed by expert senior academics. Each session will run as follows:
- a brief presentation by the author (15 min)
- a thorough discussion of the paper by the assigned discussant (15 min)
- open discussion with the audience (5 min)
KEYNOTE LECTURE
The 2026 CHEW keynote lecture will be delivered by Prof. Matt Sutton. Matt is a Professor of Health Economics at the University of Manchester and an adjunct Professor at Monash University in Melbourne (Australia). He has been elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2025, and is an NIHR Senior Investigator since 2016. Furthermore, he has been a member of multiple of funding, fellowship, and expert panels in the NIHR and other national bodies. Matt’s research focuses on policy evaluation and applied econometrics. His research interests span the use and impact of financial incentives in health care, the healthcare workforce, influences on health behaviours and equity in health and healthcare. He is also an Associate Editor of Health Economics since 2007.
VENUE, LOGISTICS, FEES
The workshop will be held at the wonderful Hotel Lone in Rovinj. Rovinj and Istrian peninsula are one of the jewels of the Adriatic coast. Rovinj offers plenty of alternative accommodation options for the participants to choose from. The international airport in Pula is well connected to various destinations in Europe and the UK during the summer season.
Participants can register to the workshop for a conference fee of 600€ inclusive of accommodation at hotel Lone (check-in 22nd, check-out 24th, a limited number of rooms are available on a first come, first served basis) or without accommodation for a conference fee of 400€.
In both cases, the registration fee is inclusive of all conference lunches, refreshments and the conference dinner on 23rd September 2026.
If you have any additional questions about the conference, including travel, logistics, registration or fees, please contact us via email at chew@efri.uniri.hr.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
- Prof. Ana Bobinac (University of Rijeka, HR, Chair)
- Igor Francetić (SUPSI, CH & University of Manchester, UK)
- Ismar Velić (University of Rijeka, HR)
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTE
- Igor Francetić (SUPSI, CH & University of Manchester, UK, Chair)
- Prof. Ana Bobinac (University of Rijeka, HR)
- Prof. Ria Ivandić (University of Zagreb, HR)
- Luke Munford (University of Manchester, UK)
- Ismar Velić (University of Rijeka, HR)