Harsha Thirumurthy

About

Harsha Thirumurthy, PhD, is the Founders Professor in Population Health at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. He serves as Associate Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics Research, and is involved with the Population Studies Center and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics as a Senior Fellow. Additionally, he is an Associate at the Population Aging Research Center and co-Director of the Behavioral Economics and Global Health Insights Lab. His department is Medical Ethics and Health Policy, and he is affiliated with the Graduate Group in Demography. His educational background includes a BA in Economics and Physics from Oberlin College, and advanced degrees in Economics from Yale University, culminating in a PhD in Economics. His research focuses on health economics, behavioral economics, and population health, with particular interest in HIV prevention, maternal and child health, and health behavior change. Thirumurthy has contributed to understanding the impact of financial incentives on health behaviors, the effectiveness of cash transfer programs in improving health outcomes, and addressing misinformation related to HIV vaccines. His work involves developing interventions and policies aimed at improving health outcomes in global populations, especially in low-income settings.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Family medicine
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Internal medicine
• Public administration
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
• Nursing
• Clinical psychology

Selected publications

• Political partisanship influences behavioral responses to governors’ recommendations for COVID-19 prevention in the United States

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 537 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Voluntary physical distancing is essential for preventing the spread of COVID-19. We assessed the role of political partisanship in individuals' compliance with physical distancing recommendations of political leaders using data on mobility from a sample of mobile phones in 3,100 counties in the United States during March 2020, county-level partisan preferences, information about the political affiliation of state governors, and the timing of their communications about COVID-19 prevention. Regre…

  DOI

• Effect of SMS reminders on PrEP adherence in young Kenyan women (MPYA study): a randomised controlled trial

  The Lancet HIV · 2021 · 85 citations

  DOI

• Interpersonal psychotherapy delivered by nonspecialists for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder among Kenyan HIV–positive women affected by gender-based violence: Randomized controlled trial

  PLoS Medicine · 2021 · 62 citations

  BACKGROUND: HIV-positive women suffer a high burden of mental disorders due in part to gender-based violence (GBV). Comorbid depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are typical psychiatric consequences of GBV. Despite attention to the HIV-GBV syndemic, few HIV clinics offer formal mental healthcare. This problem is acute in sub-Saharan Africa, where the world's majority of HIV-positive women live and prevalence of GBV is high. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a randomized controlle…

  DOI

• The effect of a social network-based intervention to promote HIV testing and linkage to HIV services among fishermen in Kenya: a cluster-randomised trial

  The Lancet Global Health · 2025-03-28 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: In sub-Saharan Africa, highly mobile men such as fishermen have a low uptake of HIV testing, prevention, and treatment. This study aimed to examine whether a HIV status-neutral, social network-based intervention could improve testing and linkage to prevention and treatment among fishermen in Kenya. METHODS: The Owete cluster-randomised trial mapped the male social networks of fishermen in three communities along Lake Victoria in Siaya County, Kenya, and identified distinct social net…

  PublisherDOI

• Diet‐focused behavioral interventions to reduce the risk of non‐communicable diseases in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A scoping review of existing evidence

  Obesity Reviews · 2025-03-24 · 5 citations

  reviewOpen access

  PURPOSE: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are on the rise worldwide, with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bearing more than three-quarters of global deaths from NCDs. Unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for NCDs. This scoping review compiles evidence on the effectiveness of diet-focused behavioral interventions in LMICs. METHODS: We conducted a search of five databases to identify studies that evaluated a broad set of behavioral interventions to address diet in LMICs. The final sample…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant K01HD061605

  NIH · $638k · 2017

• Secondary distribution of HIV self-tests: an innovative strategy for promoting male partner testing and reducing risk

  NIH · $3.2M · 2016–2022

• NIH Grant R01MH105254

  NIH · $3.0M · 2021

Frequent coauthors

• Joshua Graff Zivin

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  85 shared

• Markus Goldstein

  World Bank

  75 shared

• Gabriel Chamie

  University of California, San Francisco

  68 shared

• Diane V. Havlir

  University of California, San Francisco

  64 shared

• Bienvenu Kawende

  University of Kinshasa

  60 shared

• Moses R. Kamya

  Makerere University

  58 shared

• Audrey Pettifor

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  54 shared

• Abigail B. Shoben

  The Ohio State University

  52 shared

Labs

• Behavioral Economics and Global Health Insights LabPI

Education

• B.A., Economics & Physics

  Oberlin College

  1998

• M.A., Economics

  Yale University

  2002

• Other, Economics

  Yale University

  2003

• Ph.D., Economics

  Yale University

  2006

Similar researchers at University of Pennsylvania

• John Q. Trojanowskih-296
• Craig B. Thompsonh-277
• Daniel J Raderh-236