Title:  Assessing the value of interventions for rare and undiagnosed diseases.

Tara Lavelle is an Assistant Professor at the Tufts Medical Center Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies and an Investigator at the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health. Her research advances the use of comparative and cost-effectiveness research of interventions for children and other vulnerable populations. She has investigated the cost-effectiveness of a range of health care interventions, including vaccines, medical devices, genomic sequencing, and pharmaceuticals. Dr. Lavelle is recognized for her expertise in investigating the preferences of patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders in the health care decision making process and incorporating these values into cost-effectiveness evaluations. She aims to understand and measure the societal impact of illness on patients and family members, and how interventions may improve outcomes within and outside the health care system, with the goal of incorporating these societal outcomes into cost-effectiveness analyses.