Sean Y. Sylvia
Associate Professor of Health Economics
Principal Investigator, Digital Health Economics & Policy Lab (DHEPLab) · Co-founder and CEO, CollectiveGood
Department of Health Policy and Management
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
I am a health and development economist studying innovative approaches to improve healthcare delivery in underserved communities globally. My research combines experimental and quasi-experimental methods with behavioral and data science to address challenges in health systems, digital health, and AI in healthcare.
I direct the Digital Health Economics & Policy Lab (DHEPLab) and am a Faculty Fellow at the Carolina Population Center and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. I am also an Affiliate of the UNC Gillings Center for Artificial Intelligence and Public Health.
Current Work
- At CollectiveGood: a field pilot of clinician-in-the-loop evaluation for AI clinical decision support with Cone Health (UNC Kickstart Venture Studio award, 2026).
- With CollectiveGood and DHEPLab: asynchronous peer consultation for rural clinicians, covering rapid skill assessment, reviewer selection, and aggregation of independent judgments (NIH NIMHD STTR Phase I; UNC subaward PI).
- Behavioral nudges for Diabetes Prevention Program adherence with UNC Health and El Centro Hispano (Humana Foundation, 2026 to 2027).
- Healthy Future 2.0, the next phase of an early-childhood program in rural China, with Stanford.
- Off-Label, a newsletter on health economics for the digital age.
Digital Health Economics & Policy Lab
The lab I direct at UNC Gillings works across three areas: clinical decisions and clinician learning, patient preferences and personalized care, and collective intelligence and health systems.
Recent Updates
NIH NIMHD STTR Phase I awarded to CollectiveGood with a UNC subaward (subaward PI) to develop and evaluate asynchronous peer consultation for rural clinicians
Led "AI for Academic Workflows," a faculty workshop for the Department of Health Policy and Management, UNC Gillings
CollectiveGood received a UNC Kickstart Venture Studio award (Sean Sylvia, PI) for a field pilot of clinician-in-the-loop evaluation of AI clinical decision support with Cone Health
Presented "AI-Enhanced Curriculum Delivery for Community Health Workers: Evidence and Design from the Healthy Future Platform" at the Stanford REAP Conference, KU Leuven
First issue of Off-Label, the DHEPLab newsletter: "The $50 Billion AI Healthcare Bet That's Missing the Economics"
Co-taught "Data Sciences for Modeling and Health Technology Assessment" at Addis Ababa University with Sachiko Ozawa
Humana Foundation pilot begins: tailored behavioral nudges to improve Diabetes Prevention Program adherence (PI)
Panel, "Technology for Sustainable Primary Health Care," ADRI International Conference