Dr Ajay Mahal is an economist with over 25 years’ experience in health systems and policy research and evaluation. His recent research has focused on evaluation of health system interventions. Ajay's research interests span a range of economically relevant questions pertaining to household and national level impacts of (ill) health, human resources for health, fiscal-federalism and health, and social protection. He has also been engaged in collaborative research on the intersection of clinical epidemiology and household economics.

He has authored over 160 journal articles, book chapters and books. He serves on the editorial boards of 3 journals (Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Health Systems and Reform and the International Journal of Non-communicable Diseases).

His experience on international health systems practice has included serving as (a) resident advisor to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority, for a project of the Harvard Institute for International Development in Gaza; (b) technical advisor to the Indian National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health; (c) senior advisor on a health sector transformation project funded by the government of Malaysia under the office of the Prime Minister; and (d) as health economics advisor to the PNG National Department of Health.

His research on the economics of health and health systems has been supported by a range of international organizations, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, Accenture, and the International Labour Office (ILO).