Dr. McLaren’s research builds the evidence base to guide health and economic policy by developing rigorous applied econometric approaches that leverage existing data to answer important questions. Her work contributes to three strands of literature: (1) estimating the impact of access to health resources on economic outcomes, (2) generating rigorous evidence to address the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic and (3) identifying the causes of high unemployment in low-income countries. She maintains a strong network of South African research partners at the Department of Health, Statistics South Africa (central statistics agency), National Treasury, Human Sciences Research Council, National Health Laboratory Service, and the University of Cape Town.