Hana Ross earned her B.A. and M.A. at the Prague School of Economics. In 2000, she received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has over seventeen years’ experience in conducting research on the economics of tobacco control and in management of research projects in low- and middle-income countries, including projects funded by the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the European Commission, the Bloomberg Global Initiative, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Ross published more than 60 articles and independent reports on issues related to tobacco taxation, cigarette prices, costs of smoking, illicit trade, youth access laws and other economic aspects of tobacco control. She also co-authored the 3rd and 4th editions of Tobacco Atlas.
Her current research projects focus on the economic impact of tobacco control interventions in Africa, South East Asia, and in the European Union. She is also interested in the economic impact of risk factors associated with non-communicable diseases such as obesity, lack of physical activity, and alcohol consumption. Dr. Ross currently supports several research capacity building projects primarily focusing on Africa and Asia.