Yizhi Liang
PhD Student in Health Economics
Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Southern California
I am a PhD student in Health Economics at the Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Southern California. My research spans health economics, health policy, and health services research, with a focus on health-economic modeling, real-world evidence and causal inference, and financial protection against the costs of illness.
How this work connects to current policy ↓
Interests
- Health-economic modeling (cost-effectiveness & value of information)
- Real-world evidence & causal inference
- Financial protection & health equity
- AI-assisted HEOR workflows
Education
- PhD in Health Economics, in progress
University of Southern California - MS in Global Health and Population, 2024
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health - MBBS in Public Health · BMgmt in Financial Management, 2022
Sichuan University
My work in the current policy landscape
Recent developments in US health policy and global HTA, each paired with the part of my work that addresses the same question. Selected by hand from primary sources.
Last reviewed October 5, 2026
Health-economic modeling and value of information
CMS proposes to release a proposed national coverage determination on the day FDA authorizes an eligible Breakthrough device, with a final decision about 60 days later for Class II devices and 90 days later for Class III devices.
I study when to grant access now and when to wait for more evidence, using value of information and coverage with evidence development.
Real-world evidence and causal inference
Final ICH guidance, issued by FDA, on planning, designing, analyzing and reporting non-interventional studies that use real-world data for safety assessment of medicines.
At Stratevi I analyzed real-world data for an oncology targeted therapy, from cohort construction to time-to-event outcomes, and separately drafted a real-world evidence proposal that uses propensity score matching for an indirect treatment comparison.
Financial protection and health equity
Interim final rule that implements the Medicaid community engagement requirement. States must apply it no later than January 1, 2027.
My MEPS study estimates how family-level multimorbidity relates to out-of-pocket burden, medical debt and cost-related barriers to care across private, public and no coverage.
AI-assisted HEOR workflows
The group states that health technology developers are accountable for any use of AI in joint clinical assessment dossiers and that human oversight should be maintained throughout every AI-assisted step.
At Merck I built an AI-assisted quality-control workflow for Excel-based health economic models, designed so that the human reviewer keeps scoping, adjudication and final accountability.
HTA and market access
Final rule for a mandatory Medicare Part B model that calculates drug inflation rebates from an international price benchmark across 19 reference countries, including Germany.
At Stratevi I developed internal market access reference materials on the German AMNOG pathway, covering HTA procedures and pricing and reimbursement mechanisms.
Version 8.0 of the methods that the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in Germany follows in its assessments. The English translation became available on July 1, 2026.
The same AMNOG reference materials cover German health technology assessment procedures.