Christopher J.L. Murray is Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington. A physician and health economist, his work has led to the development of a range of new methods and empirical studies to strengthen the basis for population health measurement, measure the performance of public health and medical care systems, and assess the cost-effectiveness of health technologies. IHME is focused on the challenges of measurement and evaluation in the areas of health outcomes; health services; financial and human resources; evaluations of policies, programs, and systems; and decision analytics.

Dr. Murray’s early work focused on TB control and the development with Dr. Alan Lopez of the Global Burden of Disease methods and applications. In this work, they developed a new metric to compare death and disability from various diseases and the contribution of risk factors to the overall burden of disease in developing and developed countries. This pioneering effort has been hailed as a major landmark in public health and an important foundation for policy formulation and priority setting.

Dr. Murray worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1998 to 2003 where he served as Executive Director of the Evidence and Information for Policy Cluster while Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland was Director-General. From 2003 until 2007, Dr. Murray was the Director of the Harvard University Initiative for Global Health and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, as well as the Richard Saltonstall Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Murray has authored or edited fourteen books, many book chapters, and more than 130 journal articles in internationally peer-reviewed publications. He holds BA and BS degrees from Harvard University, a DPhil in International Health Economics from Oxford University, and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School.