Course curriculum

Assuming no prior programming knowledge, this course focuses on teaching the core R skills required to build a health economic model. By the end of the course delegates will have built a reproducible health economic model in R. Get immediate access to the course materials, and join us at the live code clinics. For more information see the free preview lessons in the drop-down below.

    1. Welcome

    2. Course overview

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. Why use R for Health Economic Evaluation?

      FREE PREVIEW

    4. Coursebook

    5. Code download

    6. Live code clinic schedule

      FREE PREVIEW

    1. Lesson Objectives

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. Content overview

    3. Using R and RStudio

    4. Operations

    5. R objects

    6. Evaluations

    7. Quiz

    8. Object Classes

    9. Objects Exercise

    10. Object Structures

    11. Object Structures - Code Demo

    12. Object structures exercise

    13. Reading in and summarising data - Presentation

    14. Reading in and summarising data - Demo

    15. Using External Packages

    16. Reading in Data - Exercise

    17. * Optional: Troubleshooting

    18. Additional Resources

    1. Lesson Objectives

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. Content Overview

    3. Functions Presentation

    4. Functions Quiz

    5. Functions Code Walkthrough

    6. Functions from External Packages

    7. Functions Brainteaser

    8. Functions Exercise

    9. Advanced: Documentation & Testing

    10. Advanced: Models as Packages

    11. Advanced: Lexical Scoping

    1. Lesson Objectives

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. Content Overview

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. Conditionals

    4. Conditionals Exercise

    5. Loops Presentation

    6. Loops Code Walkthrough

    7. Loops Quiz

    8. Loops Exercise

    9. lapply() Code Walkthrough

    10. lapply() Quiz

    11. lapply() Exercise

    12. Sampling

    13. Sampling exercise

    14. Matrix Multipliction

    15. Matrix Multiplication Quiz

    16. Code Optimisation

      FREE PREVIEW

    17. Code Optimisation Quiz

    1. Lesson Objectives

      FREE PREVIEW

    2. Content Overview

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. Introduction to the case study model

    4. Model Code Walkthrough

    5. Case Study Quiz

    6. Case Study Exercise

    7. Case Study Exercise - Solution Walkthrough

    8. * Optional - Case Study Advanced Exercise

    9. * Optional - Case Study Advanced - Solution Walkthrough

    1. * Optional: Using for loops vs the apply family

    2. * Optional: Validation and internal checks in functions

    3. * Optional: Reading data from Excel using openxlsx

      FREE PREVIEW

About this course

  • 5.5 hours of video content
  • Extensive Code Repository
  • 4 x 1 hour live code clinics
  • Online Coursebook


Live code clinics

Our live code clinics for this session of the course will be run at the following times. Attendance is optional, we also provide a discussion forum.

  • 30 April 2025: 2-3pm London (9-10am New York; 6-7pm Dubai)

  • 07 May 2025: 2-3pm London (9-10am New York; 6-7pm Dubai)

  • 21 May 2025: 2-3pm London (9-10am New York; 6-7pm Dubai)

  • 28 May 2025: 2-3pm London (9-10am New York; 6-7pm Dubai)


Instructors

Robert Smith, PhD

Dark Peak Analytics | University of Sheffield

Rob is an expert in the use of R for health economic modelling. He has previously worked at the UK Joint Biosecurity Centre, the UK Health Security Agency, the World Health Organization and The University of Sheffield. He has consulted for a wide range of organisations including top 10 pharmaceutical companies, national health ministries and HTA bodies. He is a keen proponent of the use of R for HTA; serving as co-director of the international R-HTA consortium and the World Health Organisation’s Health Economic Assessment Tool Expert Advisory Group.

Felicity Lamrock, PhD

Queens University Belfast | National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics

Felicity is Programme Director for the MSc in Data Analytics at Queens University Belfast and a Statistical Advisor to the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics. As well as teaching, Felicity has published tutorial papers on the use of R for health economic evaluation, and is a co-director of R-HTA consortium.

Nichola Naylor, PhD

Dark Peak Analytics | OI Pharma Partners

Nichola is an experienced health economist specialising in the burden of antimicrobial resistance and drug resistant infections. She has held positions at the UK Health Security Agency and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.


What's included

Follow at your own pace, with extensive course materials, code demos and exercises. Ask questions of our experts at our live code-clinics.

  • Online coursebook with code chunks, descriptions of methods and with exercises & solutions

  • Recorded presentations covering the key concepts, and with step by step code walkthroughs

  • Code repository containing all code from the demonstrations, exercises and solutions

  • Live code-clinics with a chance to ask questions about any of the materials


Testimonials

Feedback from previous courses

“The course was great! The slides and explanations were clear. The exercises with solutions were really helpful, and loads of example code were made available. Having access to the recordings and the online book made the whole learning experience easier. ”

Dr Rami Cosulich, Research Associate, University of Sheffield

“The main tutor Rob was an excellent teacher, very knowledgeable and explains things very clearly at a good pace. The course material and resources were also excellent. I would thoroughly recommend and endorse this course.”

Dr Louise Linsell, Principal Statistician Visible Analytics

“The Dark Peak Analytics team is second to none. Very helpful, insightful, and friendly. Would highly recommend to anyone wanting to advance their HEOR skillsets in R. ”

Dr Michael Kim, Takeda/UIC

“Really accessible, loved the content with practice questions. This made it far less daunting for a complete beginner like myself.”

Delegate from NHS Scotland

“The course was great and took me through all of the elements of R and RStudio needed to get me started on modelling. The mixture of videos, exercises and written content was very helpful. ”

Fionn Woodcock, Senior Consultant SourceHE

“The course delivery has been great! I particularly appreciate the live and updated content and the accompanying coursebook.”

Delegate from GSK

“Great course!”

Bo Vandenbulcke, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

“The format worked well (mix of taught sessions and code clinics), tutors were all great and very knowledgeable and engaging. Really appreciated being able to get feedback on my code. I've come away feeling a lot more confident, and also of how much left I have to learn.”

Delegate from FTSE100 Pharma

“This course was the best training I’ve attended. It covered many areas essential to understanding the content, including how to structure your model, vectorization, a variety of needed commands and their efficiency, creating custom functions, combining functions to create a model, plotting data, and so much more.”

Aaron Winn, Associate Professor University of Illinois

“This microsimulation in R is really well structured and informative course. Especially, they provide you a bunch of codes that you can run on your own program. I definitely recommend this course to those who are interested in applying this knowledge to their study. ”

Sodam Kim, University of Illinois


Book your place now

Choose between the **Live** course, with live sessions and the **Content Only** course without live sessions.

  • £495.00

    Commercial (Live)

    Book

  • £325.00

    Commercial (Content Only)

    Book

  • £195.00

    Non-commercial (Content Only)

    Book

  • £295.00

    Non-commercial (Live)

    Book


Why use R for Health Economic Evaluation?




FAQ

  • How long will I have access to course materials for?

    For 12 months. Some of our materials are also downloadable, so you can still refer to them after that period.

  • When are the course materials made available?

    Course materials are provided immediately - giving plenty of time

  • What software do I need on my computer?

    To run the code provided, we recommend delegates have R Version 4.0.2 (2020-06-22) or newer, and RStudio (https://www.rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/)

  • I want something more bespoke, do you teach other courses?

    Yes, we teach bespoke courses on a range of other topics in addition to teaching these topics in live sessions within Industry, Universities and Government. For our full pathway see https://www.courses.darkpeakanalytics.com/bundles/r4he-modelling-skills

  • Will I get an invoice?

    Yes, you'll receive an invoice by email after booking.

  • Do you provide discounts for LMIC?

    Yes, we offer a discount for those booking from a LMIC. Please use the discount code: lmic50 for a 50% discount on the content only version of the course.

  • What kinds of questions can I ask in the code clinic?

    Anything you like. We will prioritise questions about the course materials, but feel free to bring any other challenges you are facing (related to R or Health Economics).

  • Can I book for a large group? Do you offer discounts for large groups?

    It is possible to book for others using a 'gift' purchase. We do offer discounts for large group bookings, please contact us to get a booking link.

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