Dr Siobhan Bourke (Department of Health Services Research & Policy)  presented her work at the Rare Disease Day Special Public Lecture - "Bridging health and social care" yesterday at the Finkel Lecture Theatre as part of the JCSMR Director's "Health through Discovery" Public Lecture Series 

Dr Bourke's research has mainly focused on health economic evaluation and orphan drug policy in the UK. She completed her PhD in health economics on "The Economics of Orphan Drugs" at Bangor University in 2018.

Orphan drugs are generally described as the treatments for rare diseases. Pharmaceutical companies previously neglected the development of drugs for rare conditions, government intervention was required to help incentivise research into this area. This lead to the creation of the orphan drug Act in the United States. Dr Bourkes' talk focused on the background of the US Orphan Drug Act, the issues orphan drugs faces today and how patient advocacy could still have a major impact in providing treatment for rare diseases.