Christopher J.L. Murray

Christopher Murray
Murray in 2010
Born	Christopher J. L. Murray (1962-08-15) August 15, 1962 (age 62) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Spouse	Emmanuela Gakidou
Relatives	Megan B. Murray (sister)
Academic career
Field	Global health Health economics
Institutions	University of Washington (2007–present) Harvard School of Public Health (2003–2007) WHO (1998–2003)
Alma mater	Harvard University (AB, MD) University of Oxford (DPhil)
Contributions	Global Burden of Disease
Awards	Rhodes Scholarship (1983) John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award (2018)

Christopher J. L. Murray^[1][2] (born August 16, 1962) is an American physician and economist serving as Professor and Chair of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a public health research institute best known for publishing the Global Burden of Disease Study. Prior to joining the University of Washington, Murray was the Richard Saltonstall Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health and Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Murray also served as Executive Director of the Evidence and Information for Policy Cluster at the World Health Organization, where he served under Gro Harlem Brundtland.

Alongside collaborators such as Alan Lopez and Julio Frenk, Murray is best known for creating the Global Burden of Disease Study, an international effort to catalog the causes of death and disability worldwide. Beginning with the 1993 World Development Report, Murray and his collaborators published several iterations of the Global Burden, culminating in a December 2012 edition of The Lancet featuring only research and commentary from Murray and his collaborators.

Murray pioneered concepts such as the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), a measure now broadly used to evaluate the cost effectiveness of health interventions. Much of his research has been funded by the Gates Foundation, whose focus on global health was strongly influenced by Murray and the 1993 World Development Report.