Health Economics & Artificial Intelligence for Public Health
Ruth Manuela
Pérez Hernández
PhD in Health Systems Sciences
Associate Researcher B · Mexican Social Security Institute
I generate evidence on the cost, impact, and sustainability of chronic disease, mental health, and work disability within Mexico's social security system, and I build artificial intelligence models to anticipate them.
01 — Profile
Her research examines the efficiency, impact, and sustainability of health interventions, labor productivity, and institutional spending, with an emphasis on chronic disease, mental health, and work disability.
She applies quantitative and artificial intelligence tools to turn clinical and epidemiological evidence into information useful for decision-making in social security, and she leads interinstitutional collaborations that connect academia with institutional practice.
02 — Research Lines
Four areas of work
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01
Political economy of health and social security
Financial sustainability of the health system and the social costs of chronic disease.
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02
Health and the labor market
The impact of illness on productivity, work disability, and occupational structure.
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03
Social determinants of health
Sedentary behavior as a socio‑occupational phenomenon: lifestyles and institutional contexts.
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04
Data analytics and artificial intelligence
Predictive models built on large health datasets to support public decision‑making.
03 — Featured Project
EpiForecast‑MX
A methodological, AI‑based model for the predictive and comparative analysis of epidemiological time series for priority conditions in Mexico.
It turns public epidemiological data into reproducible predictive intelligence, with transferable criteria for progressively incorporating new disease families into the national analysis. Its purpose is for the models to be integrated into epidemiological surveillance systems, strengthening risk anticipation and the planning of public health interventions.
Interinstitutional collaboration
- Mexican Social Security Institute
- Tecnológico de Monterrey
- National Institute of Public Health
- Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry
Ongoing presentation — ALASS Congress 2026, Montreal, Canada
04 — Publications
Selected scientific output
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Lead authorDOI ↗
Glycemic and Blood Pressure Control in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Disability Costs Covered by Social Security, Evidence From Mexico
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Corresponding authorDOI ↗
Sedentarismo laboral en distintos contextos ocupacionales en México: prevalencia y factores asociados
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DOI ↗
Cost of the Cervical Cancer Screening Program at the Mexican Social Security Institute
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DOI ↗
HPV testing for cervical cancer screening appears more cost‑effective than Papanicolau cytology in Mexico
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PubMed ↗
Estimating the cost of treating patients with liver cirrhosis at the Mexican Social Security Institute
05 — Teaching & Training
Training of human resources
Supervision of master's theses at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, all completed with the degree awarded, on epidemiological forecasting with machine learning methods.
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2026
Generalización de modelos nacionales de pronóstico epidemiológico hacia un enfoque modular con desagregación por sexo y entidad federativa en México
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2026
Predicción de brotes de sarampión en México mediante modelos de aprendizaje automático (2010–2023)
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2026
Análisis y pronóstico de la depresión en México: de la evidencia epidemiológica a la inteligencia predictiva
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2026
Análisis y pronóstico epidemiológico de enfermedades neurológicas y trastornos mentales con enfoque a la enfermedad de Parkinson
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2026
Análisis y pronóstico epidemiológico de la enfermedad de Alzheimer en México
Graduate teaching
- Introduction to qualitative methods applied to public health
- Application of quantitative and qualitative methods to health systems research
- Doctoral seminars
Peer review
- Modelos de regresión para el análisis del gasto catastrófico en salud, con énfasis en regresión cuantílica
- Household cost of accessing contraceptive services among women in urban communities in Ghana
06 — Conferences & Talks
Recent outreach
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Upcoming
ALASS Congress 2026
Presentation of the EpiForecast‑MX project: artificial intelligence models for predictive epidemiological surveillance.
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Talk
Public Health Futures — 2nd Public Health Conference
“AI‑Based Forecasting to Shift Epidemiological Surveillance Toward Predictive Approaches: Depression, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's as Use Cases.”
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Talk
Helix Summit México 2026
“Predicción basada en IA para transitar la vigilancia epidemiológica clásica hacia enfoques predictivos: los casos de la depresión, el Alzheimer y el Parkinson.”
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Poster
20th Congress on Public Health Research
“Costos de las incapacidades laborales: diabetes y los controles de la hipertensión y glucosa. México.”
07 — Contact
Let's talk
Open to interinstitutional collaboration, peer review, and applied research projects in health economics and artificial intelligence.