Lee Ann Burke

Dr Lee-Ann Burke is a Senior Lecturer in Economics in University College Cork specialising in health economics. Her research focuses on adolescent mental health, reproductive health, nutrition, and clinical service evaluation, with publications in journals including PLOS ONE, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Health Economics Review, The Economic and Social Review, and the Irish Journal of Medical Science. Her work is impactful and has informed national clinical guidelines, public health and education policy in Ireland, and contributed to international mental health policy through the global implementation of Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM).

She has held major roles on externally funded projects exceeding €16 million, including leading the economic evaluation work packages for the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) trial (€4.7 million) and the Zero Hidden Hunger consortium (€10 million).

Within UCC, Lee-Ann is a founding member and Treasurer of Mná@UCC, the university’s largest staff network with over 500 members, supporting women’s leadership, visibility, and engagement across the institution. She will assume the role of Co-Chair of the network in September 2026. She has also served as Chair of Examinations in the School of Economics and Programme Director for the BA Business & Financial Economics programme.

Dr Burke also contributes regularly to public scholarship through RTÉ Brainstorm, national radio interviews, and public engagement on economics, health and wellbeing.

Dr Burke is an experienced lecture with over 20 years of teaching experience in UCC. 

Dr Burke founded, and continues to champion, the BA Economics LinkedIn Network (460+ graduates), established to support economics students on UCCs Bachelor of Arts programmes. The network serves as a live networking and mentoring platform connecting current students with alumni working across a range of sectors. It is actively embedded into teaching, helping BA students understand career pathways, labour market trends, and the transferable value of an economics degree within an interdisciplinary arts programme. She is also a graduate of the programme, having studied Economics and French.

Dr Burkes research focuses on adolescent mental health, women’s reproductive and mid-life health, nutrition, and health service evaluation.

She served as Lead Health Economist on the European Commission FP7 Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) trial, delivered with the National Suicide Research Foundation and Karolinska Institute, where she led the economic evaluation of school-based mental health interventions across 11 European countries. Her analysis identified Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) as the most cost-effective intervention. YAM has since reached over 170,000 adolescents across 17 countries, with more than 1,600 instructors trained globally.

Her broader research examines mental health inequalities, longitudinal patterns in psychological distress, and women’s reproductive and midlife health.

She is currently Work Package Lead within the €10 million Horizon Europe Zero Hidden Hunger Consortium, examining the economic burden of micronutrient deficiency and the cost-effectiveness of nutrition interventions across Europe.

She also conducts longitudinal microdata analysis using Growing Up in Ireland Study data, examining adolescent nutrition, parental labour supply and wellbeing. Her methodological expertise includes cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-of-illness modelling, and interdisciplinary health economics research.