Dr. Galárraga's research interests are in the areas of health economics and applied behavioral economics, with a special focus on the economic aspects of HIV treatment and prevention, and health systems in low- and middle-income countries. A large portion of his research in health economics has concerned the impact of health reform and insurance expansion decisions. His research on health systems reform has led to publications evaluating the impact of social health insurance programs (such as Seguro Popular in Mexico, the National Hospital Insurance Fund in Kenya, and Medicaid in the U.S.) on various economic and health outcomes. He has also published research on the effects of conditional and unconditional cash transfers (and economic incentives) for health behavior change, including incentives to exercise as well as incentives to improve HIV prevention and treatment outcomes. Other papers have concerned economic efficiency research (including cost effectiveness, cost benefit and cost utility studies).

Dr. Galárraga is an Associate Professor of Health Services Policy and Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, where he has worked since 2010. He also holds joint appointments at Brown University’s Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC), Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research, and the International Health Institute. Prior to assuming his positions at Brown, he was a Researcher at the Institute of Business and Economics Research at the University of California at Berkeley, and at the Health Economics Division of the Mexican National Institute of Public Health (INSP), where he conducted research and taught for four years. He has also been a visiting professor at Boston University, Northeastern University, and at the Center for Population and Development Studies at Harvard University; has worked at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Ethiopia, as well as Mathematica Policy Research Inc., John Snow Inc., and Hellen Keller International; and has consulted for several international organizations including the World Bank, UNAIDS, World Health Organization, and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

He has served as Associate Editor for BMC Health Services Research; and currently serves as Health Economics Associate Editor for the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS), where he has been a member of the Editorial Board since 2015.