David Contreras-Loya is a UC MEXUS-CONACYT Doctoral Fellowship recipient who is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Health Policy at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He studies the causal effects of education and health interventions in both low- and middle-income countries under the mentorship of Professor Paul Gertler, whose impact evaluation research focuses on learning what works in human development. Additionally, Contreras-Loya also collaborates with the Center for Healthcare Innovation Research in Progress (CHIRP) on a National Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems (NSHOS) for factors associated with the adoption of biomedical, care delivery, and patient engagement innovations.
Contreras-Loya’s research combines traditional econometric techniques with data-adaptive statistical methods for estimation of causal effects. These include state-of-the-art analytical techniques such as Targeted Learning founded by Professor Mark van der Laan, also at UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
During 2018-2019, Contreras-Loya holds a consultancy appointment for the World Bank, conducting causal inference with the VP, Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions (EFI) Practice Group. He is also the Co-PI (along with Dr. Sandra Sosa-Rubí) to a nationwide impact and economic evaluation of multidisciplinary care for patients with Type-2 Diabetes in Mexico, funded by CONACYT.
For additional information, Contreras-Loya can be reached by email at davidcon@berkeley.edu.
For more information about Paul Gertler, Mark van der Laan or Targeted Learning please visit the following pages: