- Associate Professor, Global Health
- Associate Professor, Medicine - General Internal Medicine
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Dr. Watkins is an associate professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and in the Department of Global Health. He currently leads the University of Washington site for the Disease Control Priorities Project and is affiliated with the Implementation Science Program in the Department of Global Health. Additionally, he is the co-director of the Learning for Action in Policy Implementation and Health Systems (LAPIS) initiative. He studies health system reform and policy challenges, with a particular emphasis on universal health coverage and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases in low-income countries.
His team works in three thematic areas: (1) population and economic modeling to support policy analysis, (2) integrated healthcare delivery, and (3) use of evidence in policy formulation. In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. Watkins teaches on global noncommunicable diseases and quantitative research methods and practices as a hospitalist at Harborview Medical Center.
Dr. Watkins received a bachelor of science from Rhodes College and a doctor of medicine from Duke University before moving to Seattle, where he completed a residency in internal medicine at the UW, an MPH through the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and a research fellowship in health economics with the Disease Control Priorities Network.
- BS, Rhodes College
- MD, Duke University School of Medicine
- MPH, University of Washington
- Burden of Disease
- Chronic Disease (incl. Cardiovascular, Diabetes)
- Cost-Effectiveness
- Health Economics
- Health Financing
- Health Outcomes
- Health Policy
- Implementation Science
- Metrics and Evaluation
- Modeling
- Mortality
- Non-Communicable Diseases
- Research
Watkins DA, Nugent RA, Saxenian H, Yamey G, Danforth K, et al. Intersectoral policy priorities for health. Chapter 2. In: Jamison DT, Gelband H, Horton S, Jha P, Laxminarayan R, Mock CN, Nugent R, eds. Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition, Volume 9. 2018. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0527-1_ch2.
Watkins DA, Jamison DT, Mills A, Atun R, Danforth K, et al. Universal health coverage and essential packages of care. Chapter 3. In: Jamison DT, Gelband H, Horton S, Jha P, Laxminarayan R, Mock CN, Nugent R, eds. Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition, Volume 9. 2018. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0527-1_ch3.
Jamison DT, Alwan A, Mock CN, Nugent R, Watkins D, et al. Universal health coverage and intersectoral action for health: findings from Disease Control Priorities, 3rd Edition. Lancet 2018; 391(10125):1108-20. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32906-9.
Watkins DA, Qi J, Kawakatsu Y, Pickersgill SJ, Horton SE, Jamison DT. Resource requirements for essential universal health coverage: A modelling study based on findings from Disease Control Priorities, 3rd Edition. Lancet Glob Health 2020; 8(6)e829-39. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30121-2.
Lofgren KT, Watkins DA, Memirie ST, Salomon JA, Verguet S. Balancing health and financial protection in health benefit package design. Health Econ. 2021 Dec;30(12):3236-3247. doi: 10.1002/hec.4434.
Nugent R, Barnabas R, Golovaty I, Osetinsky B, … Watkins D. Costs and cost-effectiveness of HIV/NCD integration in Africa: From theory to practice. AIDS 2018; 32(suppl 1):S83-S92. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000001884.
Watkins DA, Yamey G, Schaferhoff M, Adeyi O, Alleyne G, et al. Alma-Ata at 40 Years: Reflections from the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health. Lancet 2018; 392(10156):1434-60. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32389-4.
Watkins DA, Hale J, Hutchinson B, Kataria I, Kontis V, Nugent R. Investing in noncommunicable disease risk factor control among adolescents worldwide: A modelling study. BMJ Glob Health 2019; 4:e001335. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2018-001335.
Watkins DA. Cardiovascular health and COVID-19: Time to reinvent our systems and rethink our research priorities. Heart (Online First: 03 November 2020). doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2020-318323.
Pickersgill SJ, Msemburi WT, Cobb L, Ide N, Moran AE, Su Y, Xu X, Watkins DA. Modeling global 80-80-80 blood pressure targets and cardiovascular outcomes. Nat Med. 2022 Aug;28(8):1693-1699. doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01890-4.
Watkins DA, Msemburi WT, Pickersgill SJ, Kawakatsu Y, Gheorge A, et al. NCD Countdown 2030: efficient pathways and strategic investments to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal target 3.4 in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet. 2022 Mar 26;399(10331):1266-1278. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02347-3. Review. PubMed PMID: 35339227; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8947779.