Albert Okunade - Department of Economics

Albert A. Okunade, PhD, is a Professor of Economics (Full Graduate Faculty) and Senior Research Fellow at the Methodist-LeBonheur Center for Healthcare Economics at The University of Memphis. He has authored and co-authored more than 100 publications, including in high quality economics, accounting and finance journals (e.g., Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, Southern Economic Journal, Economic Modelling, Applied Economics, Economics Letters, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Small Business Economics: an Entrepreneurial Journal, etc.). At the University of Memphis, he has received several meritorious professional academic honors, including: The Willard Sparks Eminent Faculty award (the highest distinction given ‘annually to a single faculty member who has achieved sustained excellence over a long period of years in research, teaching, service and outreach’); Distinguished Research award in Social Sciences, Business and Law; University College Advising award; University Honors Program Fellowship award, Graduate Mentor award; George Johnson Fellow award; First Horizons University Professorship award; Suzanne Downs-Palmer Professorship award (multiple); Superior Performance in University Research award (multiple); Graduate Research Mentoring Excellence award; Graduate Teaching and Research Mentoring Award for Engaged Teaching Excellence award; and several annual ‘Outstanding Papers’ awards for his publications in peer-review journals, etc. Dr. Okunade has also received external professional awards from The African Finance and Economics Association (AFEA), The American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon), Publons Global Peer Reviews, Outstanding Campus Leaders, Sam Walton Free Enterprise (SIFE), and The FedEx Corporation (Memphis, TN), among others.

Professor Okunade is currently an Associate Editor for Health Economics (a globally leading peer-refereed academic journal), has served as an Associate Editor of Decision Sciences (Section on Healthcare Economics and Operations Research) and as the Guest Editor for ‘Special Issues’ of high-quality peer-refereed academic journals (e.g., Journal of Health Care Finance, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance). He is currently serving on the Editorial Advisory Board of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis and is an ad hoc referee for economics and finance manuscripts at broadly ranged, high-quality scientific journals. He was appointed to the Founding Board of Trustees of The American Society of Health Economists (ASHEcon) and was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Health Economics Association (iHEA) and appointed to the Board of Directors of Christ Community Medical Clinic. Dr. Okunade served on the Scientific Advisory Committees at major national and international conferences, has received several internal and external grants, teaches broadly ranged graduate and undergraduate economics courses in health care and pharmaceutical economics and public policy, urban, and forecasting, etc. Professor Okunade has served and continues to serve on major committees, appointed and elected, at the university level, across Colleges, and in the economics department. He is the immediate past Coordinator of the economics PhD program (2008-2018) at the University of Memphis where he has so far chaired 10 PhD. Dissertations and served as committee member on 23 other Dissertations in Economics (Fogelman College of Business and Economics) and Mathematical Statistics (College of Arts and Sciences). He is an external evaluator of faculty for tenure and promotion at major US universities and internationally and was appointed to serve a one-year term as the 2018-19 Interim Associate Dean for Faculty and Administration, Fogelman College of Business and Economics, University of Memphis.

Dr. Okunade’s research areas are applied econometrics, healthcare economics and finance, innovation economics, entrepreneurship, labor economics, and public economics. He is a member of The American Economic Association (AEA) and has presented papers at the AEA meetings and other major conferences in Senegal, China, The UK, Finland, Ireland, and Canada, etc. Citations to his work are broad and interdisciplinary. He has ranked ‘Top 3 nationally’ in research productivity among all Black Ph.D. economists in the US and was on faculty sabbatical to Harvard University. He has consulted in healthcare and public economics and has written several Op Eds and quoted in Memphis Business Journal, The Commercial Appeal, Germantown and Collierville Appeal, and The Tennessean. He grants interviews to local TV stations.