Economics and health are interlinked in many ways, as seen in the vicious cycle between poverty and ill health. Dr Yoel Lubell leads the economic team at the MORU Mathematical and Economic Modelling Group, based in Bangkok, Thailand. His research focuses on the evaluation of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines for infectious diseases, with the aim of providing guidance on malaria elimination and control of artemisinin resistance in the Mekong region. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/