Speakers

Teodor Cristian Blidaru is a 5th year medical student from Romania, currently serving as the Liaison Officer to Student Organizations of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA). Teodor’s work is focused mainly on developing networks of healthcare students coming from interprofessional backgrounds, aiming to increase the impact of youth in Global Health. The main structures Teodor is involved in are the World Health Students’ Alliance and the World Healthcare Students’ Symposium. He is also IFMSA’s focal point and advocate on the topic of Antimicrobial Resistance.

John Norcini, PhD is President and CEO of FAIMER®), a non-profit committed to improving world health through a focus on education in the health professions. Before joining, Dr. Norcini held a number of senior positions at the American Board of Internal Medicine. His principal academic interest is in assessment and he has published extensively, lectured and taught in many countries, and is on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals in health professions education.

Dr. Heikki Murtomaa is professor emeritus and head of the department of Oral Public Health at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He is the author several text books and numerous scientific publications. He has supervised 25 doctoral theses and lectured on different international forums. Dr. Murtomaa has worked as a WHO consultant on several occasions. He has previously been the president of the Association for Dental Education in Europe and a board member of International Federation of Dental Educators and Associations. Dr. Murtomaa is currently the visiting professor at the Kyushu Dental University, Japan and Tehran University of Medical Health Sciences, Iran.

Mohammad Abdolahad was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1982. He received his PhD. In Nanoelectronic Engineering from University of Tehran in 2013 and immediately joined to the university as faculty member in school of electrical and computer engineering. During recent 4 years, he published more than 25 papers and 9 USA Patents in the field of cancer detection by nanoelectronic devices. He introduced CNT-ECIS, SiNW-ECIS, NELMEC, Metas-Chip and CDP as new miniaturized systems for cancer diagnosis. He won the “Best Young Inventor” medal of WIPO in 2016 based on his research and developed systems on technology of cancer diagnosis. He received the “Best Young Scientist from Iran Academy of Science” Also he published the first Iranian paper in “Nature Communications” journal. He published more than 20 USA Patents in the field of technical cancer diagnosis. He is now the coordinator of nanobioelectronic devices lab in UT and Adjoin professor of Tehran university of Medical Sciences.He also supervises more than 5 clinical trial projects on innovative electrical methods in cancer diagnosis and therapies under the ethical certificate of TUMS. He is undergoing to develop the “electro technical oncosurgery” as a new joint Fellowship-Post doc between surgery and electrical engineering disciplines.

Professor Omar Al-Rawas is the Director of the Medical Research Centre at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), and a Professor and Senior Consultant Pulmonologist at the Department of Medicine of College of Medicine and Health Sciences (COMHS), SQU. His research focuses is on lung function and epidemiology of respiratory conditions, with more than 90 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and many conference presentations and published abstracts. He has previously been the Dean of COMHS - SQU, Chairman of SQUH Board, President of Oman Medical Association, and Chairman of the Health Sector Committee of the Research Council of Oman.

Dr. Christoph Hamelmann is the WHO Representative in Iran. He has previously been the director of WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development in Venice; a center of excellence focusing on determinants of health, health equity and investment approaches for health and well-being in the context of a people-centered approach to universal health coverage. He also led the UNDP Regional Health and Development Programme in Europe, Central Asia and the Arab States, and was the Global Coordinator of the UN Interagency Initiative on Sustainable Procurement in the Health Sector.

Dr. Duarte Nuno Vieira is the dean and full professor at Faculty of Medicine at the University of Coimbra, the chairman of the scientific advisory board of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, president of the Ibero-American Network of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Science Institutions, temporary forensic consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, member of the Forensic Advisory Board of the International Committee of Red Cross, and member of the Forensic Expert Group of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. He has also been the president of the International Academy of Legal Medicine (2006-2012), International Association of Forensic Sciences (2008-2011), World Association of Police Medical Officers (2008-2011), Mediterranean Academy of Forensic Sciences (2005-2007), Latin American Association of Medical Law (2005-2007), and European Council of Legal Medicine (2009-2018).

Dr. Prathip Phantumvanit is currently the dean at Faculty of Dentistry at Thammasat University and board member of Thai Dental Council. He also serves as the WHO Advisory Expert Panel on Oral Health since 1988 and has served as the Vice-chair of Public Health Committee of the World Dental Federation (FDI). Dr. Prathip Phantumvanit is the recipient of the Merit Award in International Community Dentistry from the American Association for Public Health Dentistry in 2006 and Distinguished Service Award from the International Association for Dental Research in 2012. He is also the founder of the household water defluoridation devise and co-founder of the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART).

Erika Placella has over 18 years of experience in public health. She is currently the health advisor for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the focal point for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) within the SDC’s Global Programme Health Division. Ms. Placella has previously worked for various medical and public health organisations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East in the field of zoonoses, sexual, reproductive, child health, food security, and NCDs. She is a member of the WHO Global Coordination Mechanism on NCDs working groups and collaborates closely with the WHO Regional Office for Europe on supporting member states in developing, monitoring, steering and evaluating NCD strategies and action plans.

Dr. Robert Sebbag is a physician at the department of infectious diseases and HIV aids at Pitié-Salpêtrière public hospital,member of the board of Action against Hunger (ACF), and the member of the board of international NGOMerieux Foundation.

He has previously been the vice president at Sanofi (Access to Medicines in developing countries), and the president of RS Health Consulting.

Paolo Villari is full professor of Hygiene and director of the Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases of Sapienza University of Rome. He obtained his MD degree at the University “Federico II” of Naples, where he gained also his specialization in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine. He completed his post-graduate training in the US during 1991-1993 when he was a visiting scientist at the department of Health Policy and Management of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston where he obtained his Master Degree in Public Health in 1992. During the years 1995-1996, he was guest investigator at the Laboratory of Microbiology of the Rockefeller University in New York. Scientific interests of Paolo Villari include systematic reviews and meta-analysis in public health, health care management and molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases.

Dr. Charles Boelen is a medical doctor and international consultant, a specialist in public health (University of Montreal, Canada), epidemiology (McGill University, Montreal), health system management (Harvard and Stanford Universities, USA) and education of health professionals (University of Paris XIII, France). In over 30 years of collaboration with the World Health Organization, he developed health workforce development projects with Ministries of Health and Higher Education, professional associations and academic institutions. He is best known for his work on Social accountability of academic institutions, Primary health workers, the WHO strategy “Towards Unity for Health”.

Benoît Miribel has chaired the French Foundations Center (CFF) since June 2015. He is cofounder of a new foundation named “One Sustainable Health for All” (June 2020) where he acts as Secretary General. He is a member of the French Economy, Social and Environmental Council (CESE). Before, he has joined Institut Mérieux from April 2019 to June 2020, as Vice-President Global Health. He has been, from January 2007 to March 2019, the Director General of Fondation Mérieux, an organization dedicated to the fight against infectious diseases mainly in developing countries. He has been the Honorary Chairman of Action against Hunger (ACF) since June 2013, an NGO that he chaired from 2010 to 2013 and managed as director general from 2003 to 2006. He was also a member of the High Council for International Cooperation (HCCI), a member of the Commission's White Paper of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2008), and of the National Commission on Human Rights (1998-2001 and 2011-2013).

Mrs. Netnapis Suchonwanich is the former Deputy Secretary-General of National Health Security Office in Thailand. She graduated with a Bachelor degree in Pharmacy and Master degree in IT Management.  She played a key role in Universal Coverage Scheme development since the beginning of UHC implementation in 2002.  She has developed many health insurance information systems which cover the core business applications such as Beneficiaries enrollment system, Birth registry and neonatal defect, provider registration, financial and accounting system, electronic claim system with automatic financial tracking process. She has been nominated as member for National Essential Drug Subcommittee for price negotiation working group for competitive medicines submitted to be essential medicines in Thailand

Dr. Kiarash Aramesh is the director of The James F. Drane Bioethics Institute and a faculty member at the Department of Biology and Health Professions at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Before joining the Edinboro University, he worked as a Visiting Scholar at Duquesne University and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has also been faculty member at the Medical Ethics and History of Medicine at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran. His research interests include clinical research ethics, global health governance, and the science-pseudoscience debate.

Dr. Dainius Pavalkis is Provost Kazakh national medical university and professor at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, and the former Minister for Education and Science of Lithuania (2012-2015). He is the author of numerous publications mainly focusing on colorectal cancer, radio and chemotherapies, surgery and quality assurance measures, and has conducted many international research and science activities in different fields, giving priority to biomedical research and biotechnologies for health care. During Lithuanian Presidency of the European Council, he finalized Horizon 2020, Erasmus plus and other future programs for EU development. He was responsible for preparation of the Smart specialization strategy in Lithuania and is the member of the Scientific Panel for Health (SPH) of European Commission, a member of advisory group to Commissioner Carlos Moedas Research and Innovation Strategic Expert High Level group (RISE HL).

Dr. Wahid Majrooh is a technical adviser, international relations director, spokesperson, and senior international relations adviser to H.E the Minister of Public Health of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He is a graduate of the medical faculty of Herat University in 2008 and has worked in different senior management positions with International Aid and Diplomatic agencies. As a youth entrepreneur, Dr. Wahid Majrooh has established Creative Youth Private School, Creative Youth Private Preschool and recently the first high tech Mother and Fetal Diagnostic center “AfMed Superspeciality Ultrasound Clinic” in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Dr. Pattara Leelahavarong, a Program Leader of HITAP, is a Ph.D. graduate in Health Economics from the University of Glasgow. She has worked for Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP) as a researcher in 2008 in the area of health technology assessment (HTA) using economic modelling including pharmaceutical, medical devices, and health promotion programs. She has also been involved in the national policy decision making process as a member of the Health Economic Working Group and Price Negotiation Working Group under the Subcommittee of National List of Essential Medicine which HTA.

Dr. Syed Mohammad Abbas Zaidi is currently working as Assistant Professor at H.S.Z.H. Govt. Unani Medical College, Bhopal (India). He is Associate member of Japan Neuroscience Society and has presented many research papers in various countries such as Iran, Japan, USA, Malaysia, England and Srilanka. He has many published papers in various reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of two national Indian journals, member of ethical committee review board of Unani Medicine in Bhopal. He received the best paper award in a scientific conference at Kualalumpur (Malaysia) in 2011 and the Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India has conferred him the Young Scientist Award in February 2017.

Charlotte Marchandise is the civil society deputy Mayor for Health of the city of Rennes, France and President of the WHO Healthy Cities French Network. She is also co-chair of Global Urban Air Pollution Observatory (GUAPO). She has been working as an international expert, coordinator, communication officer and project manager in the corporate world and social and environmental NGOs. She defends a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach and has developed a local policy of health promotion, health equity and environmental health with a systematic democratic point of view in order to empower inhabitants. She is an advocate for city diplomacy and health and works at organizing cooperation amongst cities, governments, universities, and the grassroots movements through collective intelligence and the Sustainable Development Goals global agenda.

Andreas Alois Reis (MD, MSc) is the Co-Lead of the Global Health Ethics Team in the Department of Innovation, Evidence and Research at WHO in Geneva, Switzerland. After medical studies and practice in internal medicine in Germany, France and Chile, he pursued studies in health economics and obtained a post-graduate degree in biomedical ethics. His main area of work is public health ethics with focus on ethics and infectious diseases. He has lectured and organized trainings for WHO in more than 40 countries, has published widely and is the co-editor of three books on bioethics and public health ethics.

Dr. Allali is the principal chief engineer with more than 25 years of experience as official staff member of the Moroccan government, leading member of civil society, and international expert in Climate Change, Environment and Green Economy; providing diverse services as workshop organisation, project evaluation, and preparation of policy and operational financial mechanisms. He is a lead author and leading member of the IPCC Bureau for the preparation of the Third and Fourth Assessment reports (1998-2008). Nobel peace award collaborator of the IPCC in 2007, and founder of the Moroccan association on environment and health since in 2009.

Prof. Timo Ulrichs studied medicine in Marburg and Berlin, worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Boston and New York and did his medical specialization in medical microbiology and infection epidemiology at the Charité University Medicine, and has a doctoral degree in public health. He has focused his scientific work on tuberculosis research and control, health care system strengthening and global health and has been working at the German Federal Ministry of Health. Timo Ulrichs currently works as professor for global health at the Akkon University for Human Sciences and is the founding director of the institute for research for international assistance.

Dr Najeeb Al-Shorbaji has been working as Freelance consultant in knowledge management and eHealth since March 2017. He is the former vice-president for Knowledge, Research and Ethics at eMarefa and the former director of Knowledge, Ethics and Research at WHO. He has worked for WHO in Amman, Alexandria and Cairo as Coordinator and information Scientist. He is currently the President of the eHealth Development Association, a Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics and a member of a number of national, regional and international scientific associations and committees.

Dr. John Ashton is a graduate of the University of Newcastle and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with a background in psychiatry, family medicine and sexual health. He is also a specialist in public health. The author of many scientific papers and books, Dr. Ashton is best known for his work on Health Promotion, Aids prevention, harm reduction and Healthy Cities. Former President of the United Kingdom Faculty of Public Health, he is senior consultant to the WHO European Healthy Cities Network and senior adviser on recovery following the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy in London.

Professor Teo Yik Ying is Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. Prof Teo has gained international recognition for his work in genomics. He has conducted large scale genomic studies on populations from Africa, Europe and Asia, and currently chairs an international consortium investigating the genetic diversity of cosmopolitan and indigenous populations in Asia.  Prof Teo has served as the Director for the Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research and is the Founding Director for the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research. For his contributions and achievements to academic and public health, Prof Teo was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Outstanding Young Persons of the World award in the category of Academic Leadership and Achievements.

Muhammad Hamid Zaman is Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and International Health at Boston University. Prof. Zaman’s current research is focused on developing novel solutions to improve the quality of medicines, with a particular focus on how drug quality affects anti-microbial resistance. He is also working on multi-disciplinary educational and research endeavors focusing on improving refugee health in Lebanon, Syria, Uganda and Pakistan. In addition to his research, his newspaper columns have appeared in newspapers around the world, including the New York Times, Project Syndicate, Express Tribune, Huffington Post and US News and World Report.

Dr Ali Akbari Sari is a Professor of Health Policy and Economics, and Dean of School of Public Health at Tehran University of Medical Sciences since 2013. He has got an MD from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (1997), and a PhD in Health Policy from University of York, UK (2006). He is also Associate Editor of Hakim Health Systems Research Journal, advisor of Deputy for Research in Iran Ministry of Health, and Secretary of the Committee for Iran Scientific Medical Journals. He has supervised over 100 postgraduate students and published over 120 papers in peer reviewed journals.  

Nanoot Mathurapote has been working at Thailand’s National Health Commission Office (NHCO) since 2008.  As a head of Global Collaboration Unit, she is in charge of creating and expanding collaboration with international partners to advocate public participation in the policy process and health in all policies approach from Thailand’s experience namely the process of health assembly, health impact assessment and health charter. She has advocated public participation in the policy process and HiAP in many international conferences, e.g., WHO SEARO regional workshop on implementation of HiAP, WHO EMRO regional consultation on Urban Health: a Strategy for Reducing Health Inequities, Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health.

Dr. Selma Karabey is Professor of Public Health at Istanbul University.  She currently serves as the Chair of Post-graduate Education Program on Public Health at the Istanbul Medical Faculty and the members of National Committee of Program Developing on Public Health Post-graduate Education. She has worked as a Senior Advisor of National Program on Multi-sectoral Health Approach leaded by the Turkish Ministry of Health and has been acting as a board member of BirIZ Association which is performing community mental health. Her major interests are mental health promotion and social policies in health.

John Lavis holds the Canada Research Chair in Evidence-Informed Health Systems. He is the Director of the McMaster Health Forum, Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed Policy, and Professor in the Department of Health Evidence and Impact at McMaster University. Dr. Lavis supports policymakers and stakeholders to harness research evidence, citizen values and stakeholder insights to strengthen health and social systems and get the right programs, services and products.He holds an MD from Queen's University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in Health Policy from Harvard University.

Prof. Ilona Kickbusch is the founder of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. She advises countries and organizations on their global health strategies and trains health specialists and diplomats in global health diplomacy and has had a distinguished career with the World Health Organization. She was key instigator of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and WHOs Healthy Cities Network and continues to advise the WHO. As director of the Global Health Division at Yale University School of Public Health, Prof. Kickbusch was responsible for the first major Fulbright Program on global health. 
Ilona Kickbusch is a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, acts as Council Chair to the World Health Summit, and is vice-president of the European Health Forum Gastein. She has been involved in German G7 and G20 activities relating to global health and the global health initiatives of the German EU presidency in 2020. She additionally chaired the international advisory board for the development of the German global health strategy. She has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in recognition of her "invaluable contributions to innovation in governance for global health and global health diplomacy".
Professor Kickbusch’s key interests relate to the political determinants of health, health in all policies and global health. She also advocates for women leaders in global health.

Dr. Benoit Varenne is Dental Officer in the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) department, World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. Dr. Benoit has also served as the Regional Advisor for Oral Health in the WHO African region and the focal point for the WHO/ITU “Be He@lthy, Be Mobile” programme. He has the experience of working in public health consultant for several years, as a consultant for WHO in the Eastern Mediterranean region and worked closely with numerous NGOs and other international health organizations. He has assisted ministries of health and health care planners across the world with a special focus on the African continent.

Mazda Adli is Director of the Mood Disorders Research Group at the Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, and Chair of the Fliedner Klinik Berlin, Centre for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine. He has dedicated his research and personal engagement on strategies to overcome treatment-resistant depression and the treatment of bipolar disorder. Another area of interest is the investigation of modulators of individual stress vulnerability. In addition, he has initiated an interdisciplinary Research Group for Neurourbanism that examines the relation between cities and the mental health of their inhabitants. As executive Director, he was among the cofounders of the World Health Summit until 2012.

Dr. Arash Rashidian is the Director of Information, Evidence and Research in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the World Health Organization; leading WHO regional agenda in areas of health information systems, evidence-informed policymaking, knowledge sharing, research development, e-health, publishing, and official languages. He is the Executive Editor of the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, the flagship WHO publication in EMR. He has an established career in health policy and systems development. He joined the WHO from his position as Professor of Health Policy and Deputy Chancellor of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Previous positions include: founding Director of National Institute of Health Research in Iran, Visiting Professor at Imperial College London in UK, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran, Visiting Associate Professor at Aga Khan University in Pakistan, Assistant Professor at LSHTM, UK, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Bangor University in UK.

Paulo Saldiva is a pathologist, full professor of Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine at University of São Paulo, the director of the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine in Brazil and Scientific Advisory Committee of the World Meteorological Organization. He is member of the panel of specialists of the IARC/WHO for topics related to air pollution and cancer. His research interests include Pulmonary Pathology, Autopsy Pathology, Verbal Autopsy, and Environmental Pathology.

Hamid R. Rabiee received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University in 1996. From 1993 to 1996 he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories, and from 1996 to 1999 with Intel Corporation. He is currently a Professor of Computer Engineering at Sharif University of Technology, and Director of AICT, DML, BCB, BCS, and VASL Research Labs. He was also a Visiting Professor at the Imperial College of London for the 2017-2018 academic year. His research interests include statistical machine learning and Bayesian statistics with applications in social networks, multimedia systems, cloud and IoT privacy, bioinformatics, and brain networks.

Prof. Fernando Salgado Blanco is a graduate in Medicine and Surgery (Ph.D) at University of  Santiago de Compostela (1987). He specialized in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing University and is the founder, coordinator, and professor at the Master of Acupuncture Programme at the University of Santiago de Compostela. He is a visiting professor at Tehran University of Medical Science and has been coordinator and professor of Postgraduate Course on Medical Acupuncture in Porto University and Central Caribean University in Puerto Rico. He is a member of the directive board of the Spanish Medical Acupuncture Society and of the Editorial Committee of the International Acupuncture Review. 

Martin Voss is an inter- and transdisciplinary working sociologist, university professor for social scientific disaster research, the head of the Disaster Research Unit (DRU) at the Freie Universität Berlin and CEO of the non-profit Company “Academy of the Disaster Research Unit (ADRU)”. His areas of specialization encompass the whole disaster management cycle, beginning with the perception of existential risks and ending with sustainable practices to secure wellbeing.

Siamak Bidel MD, PhD, Medical Doctor and Epidemiologist, Senior Researcher working for more than 20 years in medical practice and research.Currently working as a senior researcher, Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, and Diabetes Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), and as a clinician city of Helsinki health care system, Helsinki, Finland. Published many articles, book chapters, and commentary in the international level. Research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and so on.

Dr. Taufique Joarder is serving as the Research Director, USAID’s Multisectoral Nutrition Project, FHI 360, Bangladesh Office. He completed his Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) from Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and has been involved as an Associated Faculty in its Health Systems Program. His areas of interest include health and nutrition policy, health systems, human resources for health, medical anthropology, mixed methods research, implementation science, and psychometrics.

Alexander Krämer is an expert in the field of Public Health with background in internal medicine and epidemiology, and one of the founders of the first School of Public Health in Germany at Bielefeld University. His research fields consists of a global public health perspective: urban health, climate change, infectious diseases and refugee health. As senior professor, he is the director of the Graduate Research Programme FlüGe at Bielefeld University, Germany, addressing refugee health from inter- and trans-disciplinary views.

Bertino Somaini received his Medical degree (MD) from the University of Zurich, and has a Master in Tropical Medicine from Mahidol University, Bangkok, and a Master of Public Health from Berkeley (USA). He has a wide expertise in the work with members of NGO, governments, private sector and international organizations within Public Health, Prevention and Health Promotion. He was been the CEO of Health Promotion Switzerland and worked with the University of Zurich and was the vice director of the Federal Office of Public Health in Switzerland.

Jo Ivey Boufford, M.D. ​is President of the International Society for Urban Health (2017-9) and Clinical Professor of Global Public Health at the College of Global Public Health at New York University. She served as President of The New York Academy of Medicine (2007-2017) and Dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University (1997-2002. Prior to that, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from November 1993 to January 1997, and as Acting Assistant Secretary from January 1997 to May 1997. She served in a variety of senior positions in (1982-1985) and as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) (1985-1989). Locally, she serves on the boards of the United Hospital Fund, Emblem Health, and the Regional Plan Association. She is Vice Chair of the NYS Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) and Chair of its Public Health Committee. She was elected to membership in the US National Academy of Medicine (formerly IOM) in 1992. She is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Boufford received her BA (Psychology) magna cum laude from the university of Michigan, and her MD, with distinction, from the University of Michigan Medical School. She is Board Certified in pediatrics.
 

John G. Meara, MD, DMD, MBA is the Kletjian Professor of Global Surgery, Director of the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, and Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Meara serves as the Plastic Surgeon-in-Chief of the Department of Plastic & Oral Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital.   He was Co-Chair for the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery and was a commissioner on the Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems in the SDG Era and the Lancet Oncology Commission.  In 2008 he created the Paul Farmer Global Surgery Fellowship program. He is also interested in value-based health care and implementation science research, including time driven activity-based cost research and outcomes research. Dr. Meara has led several ICHOM projects focusing on outcomes reporting and international benchmarking.

Dr. Zahra Zeinali is a medical doctor from Iran and has pursued further education in global health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is currently working as a policy officer at EAT Foundation, focused on translating science to policies that protect health of people and the planet through sustainable food systems. Formerly, she has served in several roles including graduate research assistant at the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and regional coordinator for the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the International Federation of Medical Students´ Associations. She is a member of the Junior Doctors Network of the World Medical Association.

Prof. Luciano Saso is a Prof. at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He coordinated several research projects in the field of pharmacology and has been referee for many national and international funding agencies and international scientific journals in the last 25 years. He has extensive experience in international relations and he is currently vice-rector for European University Networks and Member of the Council for Doctoral Education at Sapienza University of Rome. He has been a member of the Steering Committee of the UNICA network of the Universities from the Capitals of Europe and its president since 2015. He is the Representative of Sapienza University in  the M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centers, Universities and National Academies. He is author of more than 200 scientific articles published in international journals.

Atiye has a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nonlinear Dynamics and Control Laboratory from the University of Washington, Seattle. Atiye also holds a MSc in Computer Engineering, Control and Robotics Laboratory from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Atiye brings seven years of experience working on projects from optimal detection of epidemic disease outbreaks to privacy of networks using online optimization algorithms, distributed conflict resolution, and bio-inspired design of a ground robot. Atiye is interested in developing mathematical models for complex disease dynamics which provide accurate inferences from disease surveillance data which will aide in future endeavors for improving and saving people’s lives. As a member of IDM’s team Atiye will be developing a statistical model and optimization algorithm for model calibration and parameter space exploration. These novel methods will be used to generate quantitative results across various disease models.

Kamran Abbasi is a doctor, journalist, editor, and broadcaster. Following five years in hospital medicine, in various medical specialties such as psychiatry and cardiology, he worked at The BMJ from 1997 to 2005. He is now back at The BMJ in a new role as executive editor for content, leading the journal's strategic growth internationally, digitally, and in print.

André Pereira is Professor of Law at the University of Coimbra in Portugal and holds a PhD in Law specializing in “Patients’ Rights and Medical Liability”. He is the Director of the Centre for Biomedical Law, president of the Institutional Review Board of AIBILI, president of the Council of Bioethics of the Portuguese Society of Human Genetics, a fellow of ECTIL in Austria. Dr. Pereira is member of several Ethics Committees, member of the National Council of Ethics for Life Sciences, and member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He has previously been the treasurer of the World Association for Medical Law.

Prof. Michael Thiede is the director of Scenarium; a consulting firm specialised in international healthcare management and policy consulting. He is also a professor of healthcare management at IUBH International University, Berlin. He regularly lectures on health economics and financing in international postgraduate programmes, and has previously been an an associate professor for health economics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He has worked with and advised leading development organisations, including UN bodies, NGOs, government agencies and private sector enterprises. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Kiel in Germany.

Yohsuke Takasaki is a director of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Japan, and has engaged in health policy, health finance, global health, addressing aging, and health innovation with ICT. He has also served as a policy advisor to governments of low-middle income countries on UHC with fully utilizing ICT. Yohsuke got a PhD (Okayama University), and two master’s degrees (Harvard University and Columbia University), and continues his academic activities as a visiting associate professor. Yohsuke has devoted his early career to both advanced medical services and primary care as a family doctor. He has also been organizing a study group for leaders of the public and private healthcare sectors in Japan.

Professor Ilhan SATMAN, M.D. has been working as a professor of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at the Istanbul University Medical Faculty. Her major research interests are epidemiology of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Satman coordinated the population-based diabetes surveys in Northern Cyprus and Turkey. She is recently appointed to heading Turkish Institute for Public Health & Chronic Diseases. She has been chairing TEMD Diabetes Study Group, and Writing Committee of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Diabetes, and Scientific Board of National Diabetes Program.

Joachim Seybold studied medicine in Gießen, Germany and obtained his MD in 1996. He worked at the Imperial College in London in lung research before specializing in Internal Medicine at Charité in 2003.He also holds an MBA from the University of Bradford (UK).Since 2010 he is appointed as the Deputy Medical Director of Charité. Beyond that, Dr. Seybold is the coordinator of Charité hilft – a program for the medical care of refugees at various locations in the city of Berlin. Together with up to 40 colleagues from Charité he set up outpatient clinics in refugee shelters, the health screening program for newly arrived refugees, the clinic for mental health for refugees, and vaccination programs. More than 75,000 refugees have been treated so far within the Charité hilft program.

Dr. Aluisio Segurado received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of São Paulo, where he is currently Full Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine. In the same institution he also acts as President of Hospital das Clinicas Central Institute Board and President of the International Relations Committee. Dr. Segurado has been involved in clinical studies related to infectious diseases and tropical medicine throughout his academic career and is currently conducting a cohort study to investigate the natural history and viral kinetics of ZIKV in Brazil as part of the ZikAlliance Research Consortium under the sponsorship of the European Commission. 

Dr Hajjeh is an infectious diseases expert and epidemiologist, and a senior public health leader with extensive experience in global health, health policy and diplomacy.  Currently, Dr Hajjeh is the Acting Director of Programme Management at the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), and is also the Director of the Department of Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control. Dr Hajjeh holds a Medical Doctor (M.D.) degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and has trained in Internal medicine and infectious Diseases at Emory University, Atlanta. Dr. Hajjeh serves as a reviewer for multiple journals, and holds professor positions in medicine and public health at Emory and Johns Hopkins universities.

Dr. Patrick Smeets is an international expert in microbial water quality and health with over 20 years of experience mostly in safe drinking water supply. Water safety planning and microbial risk assessment of drinking water are his main activities in the Netherlands and internationally. He also applies this expertise in other sectors such as water recreation, irrigation and the soft drink industry. He coordinates the Dutch-Flemish joint research program of the drinking water companies on microbial safety and health. At Utrecht University, he teaches the course Drinking water and Sanitation for the Master’s degree in Water Science Management at the Geosciences Faculty.

Ms. Sana de Courcellesis Executive Director of the Sciences Po School of Public Affairs and an affiliated professor in the areas of public innovation and health.Before joining Sciences Po, Sana de Courcelles served at the Assistant Director-General of the WHO Office, in charge of Health and Innovation Systems. A graduate of CELSA, Sana de Courcelles was Parliamentary Counsel for the head of a French Prime Minister Service, the General Commissioner for Investment. She was then a consultant in strategy and organization in the public sector at Capgemini Consulting

Prof. Dr. Dennis A. Ostwald is the founder and CEO of WifOR Institute. He focuses, among other topics, on healthcare and health economics, demographic development, social policy and digitalization. He studied Industrial Engineering and Management at the Technical University of Darmstadt and subsequently received his doctorate from the Chair of Finance and Economic Policy of Prof. Dr. Bert Rürup. Prof. Dr. Ostwald has been appointed as the professor at the Faculty of Leadership & Management at Steinbeis University in Berlin and currently teaches at the Department of Economic Research and Management.

Nicole Nijhuis is a European Registered Toxicologist (ERT) and Research Scientist at KWR Watercycle Research Institute in the Netherlands. She is part of the chemical water quality and health team, researching and advising about potential health effects of chemicals in the water cycle. She has experience in performing risk assessments of chemicals in water, soil and air. Currently her focus is on risk assessment of anthropogenic substances in the water cycle such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides and antibiotics. She was appointed by the European Commission as an expert on ad hoc rapid risk assessment of chemical threats. Currently she is alternately secretary and chair of the Dutch National Crisis Structure for environmental and water incidents.

Professor Gilbert Burnham is a physician trained in Internal Medicine with and MSc and PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has the experience of working in Africa before joining the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a professor of international health and founder of the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health. He has extensive work with the public health needs of populations in Africa and Middle East and has worked with migrants from North Korea.

Meri Koivusalo  has expertise in global and transnational health and social policy, trade and global governance for health. She is "globally" interested in global health issues, but she has a particular interest in the relationship between economic globalization, trade and health, health systems and politics and practice of global health policy-making. Meri has a background in public health medicine with a PhD in environmental health and MSc from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has co-authored and edited academic and textbooks in the area of global health as well as worked with Finnish government, European Commission, WHO-Geneva, UNRISD and a number of international nongovernmental organizations. Meri is currently member of the WHO expert panel on science and technology.

Prof. Peter E. Dieter, PhD is a senior professor ay Faculty of Medicine at TU Dresden (FMTUD) in Germany and the president of AMSE. He has been FMTUD Representative for International Relations, Professor of Biochemistry at FMTUD, Dean of Medical Education and Student Affairs at FMTUD, and fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda in USA

A specialist in pharmacology and molecular medicine, Detlev Ganten is one of the world’s top scientists in the field of hypertension. He is the Founding President of the World Health Summit, a former CEO of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Founding Director and CEO of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine.

Dr Assad Hafeez is a leading public health specialist and Paediatrician with extensive clinical and management experience in various capacities, spanning over 30 years. He is currently the Director-General of Health in the Federal Ministry of Health, head of the Health Services Academy and the Dean of Faculty of Medicine in Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He has been member and then chair of EB WHO and is an adjunct professor in global health department at university of Manitoba, Canada. He is a medical graduate with post-graduate studies in paediatrics; He holds a Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, London. He also has obtained a Masters in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. He has held a number of clinical, senior management and academic posts in national and international institutions. He is on various international technical organizational boards and editorial boards of reputed journals, in addition to having had more than 100 publications in peer reviewed journals.  He is an expert researcher and has completed a number of research grants as Principal Investigator. His main areas of interest are MNCH, health systems, determinants of health, social protection programs and evidence-based policy-making.

A physician by training, Amirhossein Takian (MD MPH PhD FHEA) is Chair and Associate Professor at the Department of Global Health & Public Policy, and Vice-Dean for International Affairs at the School of Public Health (SPH)- Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Iran. He is also Advisor for Medical Education Reform and Member of the National Examination Board for Health Policy, Economics and Management, at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME)- Iran. Amir is Chief Research Officer at the Health Equity Research Centre (HERC)- TUMS and TUMS’ focal point at M8 Alliance, serving as a member of WHS Executive Committee since 2017, and Secretary of 7^th World Health Summit Regional Meeting, 2019. Dr. Takian is a member of National Committee for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, MOHME, Iran; member of editorial board at the International Journal of Health Policy and Management; and member of editorial board at the International Journal of Public Health. Amir has published over 75 peer reviewed journal articles, 12 books, 2 book chapters, and 8 commissioned national and international reports.

Professor Mohammad Reza Khami, born in 1978, got his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in 2002, and his PhD in Community Oral Health from University of Helsinki in 2007. He currently works as a full professor in Community Oral Health Department, TUMS School of Dentistry, and the head of Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute of TUMS. He also is the Chief Consultant of Vice-chancellor for Global Strategies and International Affairs, TUMS.

Her research experiences consist of directing several national surveys, qualitative studies, scientometric studies as well as systematic reviews. Dr. Rahimi’s main interests are in the fields of health service research and epidemiology. She has numerous publications in these fields. She has been a member or principal investigator for developing several national or global evidence-based guidelines on mental disorders and substance dependence. She has been a consultant for several programs for MENA region countries and member of several advisory committees for the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and WHO headquarter, such as and Advisory Group on Development of ICD-11.

Dr. Ehsan Shamsi Gooshki graduated as a physician in 2005. Later, following a 3-year period of administrative experience as the director of the international campus of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, he was enrolled in the first Ph.D. program of medical ethics in Iran in 2009. Until his graduation in 2013 he had been working as executive director of  “Iranian Research Center for Ethics and Law in Medicine” and also involving in several research projects, teaching of various topics in medical ethics to undergraduate and graduate students, lecturing in a number of national & international workshops/conferences, participating in UNESCO Ethics Teachers Training Course”, doing internship in the department of ethics at World Health Organization in Geneva, being visiting research fellow at the “Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich” and “Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University”, Washington D.C. simultaneously. In June 2013 he defended his Ph.D. dissertation. Now as the “Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics at Tehran University of Medical Sciences” as the core of his activities, he is trying to apply ethical standards to practice as the “Director of the National Committee for Ethics in Biomedical researches at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education”. Since 2018 the UNESCO Director General has nominated him as the member of UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (IBC).

Dr. Abbas Ostadtaghizadeh is a Medical Doctor, Master of Public Health,and PhD for disaster and emergency health. He is an assistant professor in Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) and the chair of disaster and Emergency health department. In addition, he has cooperated with Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) as the president advisor, Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization (TDMMO) as senior adviser. Abbas worked in Tehran Municipality as the vice president of TDMMO, and director general of health department where he innovated several community- based initiatives specially implementation of health houses in all Tehran’s neighborhoods. He was the Dean of disaster management center in University of Applied Sciences and Technology, as well as the president of Tehran Disaster Resilience Center (TDRC). He has conducted several research or educational projects funded by national and international organizations such as United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC).

Mehrnaz Kheirandish (MD, PhD) is the Director General for Assessment and Control of Prescribing and Use of Medicines and Health-Related Products, in Iran Food and Drug Administration (Iran FDA). In her current responsibility, she leads the following programs in Iran FDA: Health Technology Assessment (HTA); Rational Use of Medicines (RUM); Hospital pharmacies; Pharmacovigilance center (including ADR); and the pharmaceutical care standards. She was previously the Secretary of the Biosafety Committee of Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

I received medical general practitioner in 1986 and specialty in psychiatry in 1992 and fellowship in geriatric psychiatry and neuropsychiatry form University of Illinois at Chicago in 2000. I received certificate of Master of Business Administration in 2014 from Shahed University.
My main interests are 1. geriatric psychiatry. We have founded the first psychogeriatric unit in teaching general hospital of Rasoul Akram in 2018. Currently, one fellow is being training at Iran University of Medical Sciences.  
The second one is suicide prevention. We have founded Iranian Scientific Society for Suicide prevention in 2015 (Irssp.iums.ac.ir). currently, we are conducting national suicide prevention programs.

A full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra since 2004, he runs the Genetics Service there, teaches Genetics in the Integrated Masters and is a member of the Scientific Council. He is the titular academic of the XL chair, of the Portuguese Academy of Medicine.

With more than 25 years of experience in public health at national and international levels, Dr Asadi-Lari has served his country, the region and beyond in combating communicable diseases, public health emergencies, non-communicable diseases and health diplomacy in different capacities. As a professor of epidemiology, he has trained and supervised more than 100 postgraduate students, led several national studies such as Urban HEART, and contributed in many national and international research projects. In his position as the DG for International Affairs, he has built up a strong collaboration with the health sectors of more than 90 countries, while playing an important role in International Organizations such as WHO, at regional and global levels, and as a Board Member of the Global Fund, he is responsible for coordinating regional and international activities to fight the three diseases.

Hamid Bohloli [MD MPH MRes PhD(Manchester)] is an international advisor, analyser, thinker, strategist and theory builder on public policy and health politics, author of many scientific papers and books. Dr Hamid Bohloli is the author of the book entitled "The Public Policy Process in the Revolutionary Context, with special focus on impact of idea transmision and social evolution on health reform, towards building the theory of Societal Energy. He is also a specialist in governance and health system analysis of developing countries focusing on irregular states. Apart from his scientific field of action he is involved in social networking, lecturing and writing in public media and formal newspapers with thousands of followers to guide public participation in the development path and socialisation of health. Dr Bohloli is best known for his work on reengineering of Ministry of MoHME (1998-2001) and leading the health institutional reform in Iran as a pioneer. He has participated in the Health Reform Flagship Course of the World Bank, Washington Dc.,USA,1998, and designed and conducted many national reform programs and establishing a steering committee of health reform in MoHME. He currently serves as the Chair of International Health and Sustainable Development Department, Secretariat for Supreme Council of Health and Food Security, MoHMe, Iran. He is also a member of Medical Academy and many of national policy advisory boards in the country. Dr Bohloli has the experiences of many years of teaching in social policy and social research methods at the Manchester University and currently is a visiting assistant professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Tehran University. He is a member of editorial board at the World Healthcare Journal in the UK, and has been acting as an author and editorial board member of the Public Policy Reference Media in Iran.

After graduating from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in 1992, he was appointed as faculty member in the General Surgery department in 1999. His focus of research are Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation. He was executive advisor for the Chancellor of TUMS from 2005-2008, Dean of the Medical School from 2008-2009, Vice Chancellor from 2009-2011, and appointed as Chancellor in 2013.