Dr Wei Yang is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Health Economics and Policy and Director of the Institute of Gerontology at King’s. Wei’s research examines how health and long-term care (LTC) financing policies shape equity in access to care, efficiency in service provision, and the economic and mental well-being of older people.

Wei’s research has been funded by leading national and international funders, including the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the China National Science Foundation, National Institute for Health and Care Research and Horizon EU. She was awarded the prestigious ESRC Future Research Leaders Award for her pioneering work on the equity implications of health and LTC financing. Her research has been published in top-tier journals such as Social Science & Medicine, European Journal of Health Economics, China Quarterly, Health Policy and Planning, and Journal of Gerontology. Her work has been cited in high-profile reports by the Chinese government, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization, and has influenced national debates on health and LTC reform in both China and the UK. She has consulted for WHO and Population Services International, and her findings have been featured in The Guardian, The Economist, South China Morning Post, and De Groene Amsterdammer.

Dr Yang’s recent projects have included innovative methodologies for measuring disability using multidimensional WHO and UN frameworks, and econometric evaluations of efficiency and productivity in English and Chinese LTC systems—methods later adopted by the UK Office for National Statistics. Her research has also explored the broader impacts of health financing policies on mental health, labour market participation, and cognitive ageing.

As Director of the Institute of Gerontology since 2021, Dr Yang leads a vibrant team of researchers, has expanded global collaborations with institutions such as the University of Hong Kong, and has grown the Institute’s public profile through high-profile lectures, international conferences, and media engagement. She serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Aging and Social Policy, Aging and Health Research, and Global Health Research and Policy, and is a member of the American Gerontological Society and the International Health Economics Association.

Dr Yang earned her PhD in Health Economics and Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, her MPhil in Medical Sociology from the National University of Singapore, and her BA in Sociology from Fudan University, China.

Research

• Health and long-term care financing
• Health equity
• Cognitive decline
• Longitudinal studies
• Life course
• Machine learning

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Key Concepts in Global Health
• Research Design and Practice Studio

PhD supervision

Wei welcomes potential PhD students interested in working with longitudinal datasets and conducting research on health and ageing. She is particularly keen to supervise students with an interest in applying machine learning and AI in this field.

Further details

See Wei's research profile