Current Position: Health Economist (Senior Service Fellow), Division of Diabetes Translation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Brief Bio: Dr. Shrestha joined CDC in 2007 as a Prevention Effectiveness Fellow and became involved in modeling emergency preparedness and responses, which included modeling pediatric vaccine stockpile consequences and planning medical responses in a disaster. In 2009, Dr. Shrestha joined the Division of Diabetes Translation at CDC as a health economist. His research, primarily focuses on the economics of diabetes-related health outcomes, currently includes diabetes-related medical costs in youth covered by Medicaid; indirect costs from diabetes; trends in county-level disparity in diabetes; trends in the costs of diabetes-related preventable hospitalizations; and many others. Dr. Shrestha has had many articles published in peer review journals, including in Diabetes Care, Ophthalmology, Vaccine, Clinical Infectious Disease, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, and others. He received the 2011 Kaafee Billah Award for excellence in economic research at CDC. He was nominated for a 2012 Charles C. Shepard Science Award for demonstrating excellence in science at CDC.
Penn State Demography Program: I chose the dual-degree and demographic concepts and methods have complemented those of applied economics, contributing to my work at CDC in many ways.