Emeka Elvis Duru

Emeka Elvis Duru is a PhD candidate in the Pharmacoeconomics and Health Outcomes Research program at the University of Utah. His research focuses on health insurance design, patient access to novel therapeutics, and the use of stated preference methods to inform value-based coverage strategies. He is a recipient of the Kuramoto Graduate Research Fellowship and an academic grant from Sawtooth Software, which supports his work using discrete choice experiments to explore benefit preferences and willingness to pay for GLP-1 therapies for obesity. 

About the Project: 

Elvis’s research investigates how health insurance design affects access to GLP-1 receptor agonists among people with obesity. Motivated by growing disparities in access to anti-obesity medications, his work intends to use a discrete choice experiment to quantify patient preferences and simulate trade-offs individuals are willing to make under different insurance benefit structures. He aims to generate real-world evidence that informs payer coverage decisions, employer benefit design, and federal policy discussions around obesity care equity. His DCE study is part of a broader dissertation project advised by Dr. T. Joseph Mattingly II. 

Academic Background and Motivation: 

Elvis holds a strong background in pharmacy and health economics and outcomes research, with practical experience in real-world evidence generation, cost-effectiveness modeling, and health technology assessment. His motivation stems from a desire to bridge the gap between data and policy, especially in under-addressed populations disproportionately affected by access barriers. He has presented his work at national conferences and actively contributes to scholarship on pharmaceutical access and insurance equity.