Toni Ashton is a New Zealand health economist and a former full professor at the University of Auckland, specializing in the funding and structure of health systems.
Academic career
Ashton completed a PhD titled Quasi-Markets and Contracting for Health Services at the University of Auckland, with Basil Sharp as her doctoral advisor. She then joined the faculty of the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland's Tāmaki campus, rising to full professor in 2012. She has also been affiliated with the Child Poverty Action Group.
Ashton's research focuses on health reforms and on how health services are organized and funded. In 2013, she co-led a collaboration between New Zealand and Canada to investigate models of community care for complex health needs in older adults; the Canadian side of the five-year project was led by Dr. Walter Wodchis at the University of Toronto.
In 2019, Ashton and Felicity Goodyear-Smith published a critique of New Zealand's health system. Their study identified seven areas of weakness, including division between primary care and hospitals, inequity between treatments for injury versus disease, lack of funding, and workforce issues, and described how these weaknesses worsened inequitable access to healthcare. Ashton has also researched the cost of a healthy retirement in New Zealand.
In 2010, while an associate professor, Ashton received a University of Auckland Sustained Excellence in Teaching award.
Selected works
Ashton has contributed to numerous peer-reviewed publications, including:
- Conroy Wong, Lata Jayaram, Noel Karalus, et al. (2012). "Azithromycin for prevention of exacerbations in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (EMBRACE): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial." The Lancet.
- Raina Elley, Ngaire Kerse, Bruce Arroll, Boyd Swinburn, Toni Ashton, Elizabeth Robinson (2004). "Cost-effectiveness of physical activity counselling in general practice." The New Zealand Medical Journal.
- Anita Lal, Marj Moodie, Toni Ashton, Mohammad Siahpush, Boyd Swinburn (2012). "Health care and lost productivity costs of overweight and obesity in New Zealand." Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
- Marion Haas, Toni Ashton, Kerstin Blum, et al. (2009). "Drugs, sex, money and power: an HPV vaccine case study." Health Policy.
- Gregory Kolt, Grant M. Schofield, Ngaire Kerse, Nick Garrett, Toni Ashton, Asmita Patel (2012). "Healthy Steps trial: pedometer-based advice and physical activity for low-active older adults." Annals of Family Medicine.
- Jalal Mohammed, Nicola North, Toni Ashton (2015). "Decentralisation of Health Services in Fiji: A Decision Space Analysis." International Journal of Health Policy and Management.
References
- Ashton, Toni (1999). Quasi-Markets and Contracting for Health Services (PhD thesis). ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland.
- "University of Auckland: Eleven New Professors Appointed." Scoop News, 1 February 2012.
- "New collaboration between New Zealand and Canada." Health Research Council of New Zealand, 27 June 2013.
- "'Complex, fragmented' health system is fuelling inequities." The University of Auckland, 2019.
- "University of Auckland Teaching Excellence Award Winners 2010–2013." The University of Auckland.
