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Current STAGE members

DR KOKI AGARWAL

MD, MPH, DrPH, Director, USAID’s MOMENTUM: Global Leadership and Targeted

Technical Assistance

Vice President, DC Operations, Jhpiego

Dr. Koki Agarwal is an internationally recognized expert in safe motherhood,

reproductive health, and family planning policies and programs, as well as

promoting policy dialogue and advocacy for policy reform. She has more than 25

years of service delivery experience in reproductive health, family planning, and

maternal health, and for over two decades has led, managed, and implemented large-

scale USAID-funded global health projects. Dr. Agarwal directs the five-year Global Leadership and Targeted

Technical Assistance award (2020-2025) within USAID’s new MOMENTUM— or Moving Integrated, Quality

Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services to Scale—suite of

projects. She previously directed the predecessor USAID flagship MNCH programs including the Maternal and Child

Survival Program (MCSP; 2014-2019), and the Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP; 2008-2014).

Dr. Agarwal is also the Vice President of DC Operations for Jhpiego. Prior, Dr. Agarwal led the ACCESS Program, a

USAID-funded maternal and newborn health program led by Jhpiego, and was Deputy Director of the USAID-

funded POLICY Project through the Futures Group. She has also served as a Board Member for White Ribbon

Alliance and Co-Chaired Roll Back Malaria’s Malaria in Pregnancy Working Group for four years. She trained as a

physician in India and completed a DrPH and an MPH from Johns Hopkins University.

PROF FADIA ALBUHAIRAN

M.D., M.P.H., Interim Chief Medical Officer, Chair, Department of Pediatrics

& Adolescent Medicine

Professor Fadia AlBuhairan leverages her clinical and population health

expertise in establishing and overseeing the delivery of healthcare at AlDara.

She is the Interim Chief Medical Officer as well as the Chairwoman of the

Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. She is also Adjunct

Professor at AlFaisal University; Vice President of the Saudi Society for

Adolescent Health; and Immediate Past President and founding member of

the Arab Coalition for Adolescent Medicine. Prof. AlBuhairan is the first

specialized Adolescent Medicine physician in the Arab world and founded the first

Adolescent Health Clinic in Saudi Arabia, at the Ministry of National Guard – Health Affairs (MNGHA) in Riyadh. She

launched the Adolescent Health Research Program at the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center

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(KAIMRC) and pioneered the largest epidemiological study on adolescents in the Arab world to date. The study,

called Jeeluna, resulted in identifying the needed changes and development to the country’s adolescent health

policies, services, and programs to address adolescents’ health needs in Saudi Arabia. She also held prior

appointments as Head of Population Health Research at KAIMRC, Head of the Center of Excellence at the National

Family Safety Program in Saudi Arabia, Adjunct Associate Professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns

Hopkins University, in addition to her clinical appointments as Consultant in Adolescent Medicine and Pediatrics at

the MNGHA. Prof. AlBuhairan received her medical degree from King Saud University in Riyadh. After completing

her post-graduate residency training in Pediatrics, she obtained both Saudi Board and Arab Board in Pediatrics. She

then further completed a clinical fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at SickKids Hospital and University of Toronto,

Canada and obtained a Masters of Public Health (MPH), as well as Certificate in Health Finance and Management

from Johns Hopkins University, USA. Prof. AlBuhairan is an active researcher and has published widely in her field.

She has received numerous research grants and awards, has numerous publications in reputable international peer-

reviewed journals, and has published book chapters and a book. Her research interests include adolescent health

risk behaviours, protective factors, health policy, health services, bullying and adolescent nutrition. Prof. AlBuhairan

is often called upon as a subject matter expert in child and adolescent health, as well as population health. She

serves on numerous advisory boards and committees, both national and international, to advise on and advocate

for dedicated adolescent health services, resources, and approaches, as well as the overall cross-sectoral approach

to health.

DR NARENDRA KUMAR ARORA

Executive Director, The INCLEN Trust International, New Delhi, Email:

nkarora@inclentrust.org

Professor Narendra Kumar Arora worked as faculty member at All India Institute of

Medical Sciences, New Delhi between 1983 and 2007. Since 2005, Professor Arora

is the Global Executive Director of the INCLEN Trust International (INCLEN)

(www.inclentrust.org). Since 2018, he is the President, of AIIMS-Patna and AIIMS-

Deoghar.

Research in MNCAH&N & Translation to policy and programs

Professor Arora established Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division at

the AIIMS, New Delhi in early 1980’s and is one of the pioneers in promoting this pediatric super-specialty in the

country. Few notable policy impacts of his research from the various studies include: HBV immunization policy for

LBW infants, introduction of house-to-house immunization during the pulse-polio program since 2000,

introduction of auto-disabled syringes in the public immunization sector, formulation of Rashtriya Baal Swasthya

Karykram (RBSK) with incorporation of NDD screening in the program strategy (INCLEN-Autism diagnostic

instrument essential for certification to get government facilities), adoption of ICMR-INCLEN MNCAH&N research

priorities by ICMR for the next 10 years.

Establishment of three Demographic, Developmental and Environmental Surveillance Sites as research platforms

(Palwal-rural; Bareilly-peri-urban; and Shillong-tribal).

Policy making at national and international level:

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National: Chair, co-chair or member of several decision making committees and bodies of NITI Aayog, ICMR, DBT,

MOHFW, WCD department, CSIR since late 1980’s. Chair of National Certification Committee for Polio Eradication

and National Verification Committee for Measles, Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome.

Association with WHO: Served as a member of the WHO-SAGE (Strategic Group of Experts-Immunization) from

2010 to 2016 and as vice-chair from 2012 to 2016. Chaired four SAGE working groups (WG) and member of four

other WGs, Member of regional ITAG (2009-2016), Nominated to Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety

(GACVS) (2019) and M&E Group of Immunization Agenda 2030 (2019) and WHO-STAGE (Strategic Technical &

Advisory Group of Experts) for Maternal, Neonatal, Child, Adolescent Health & Nutrition (2020). Chaired external

evaluation of MRI in SEAR in 2017-18 and undertaking external evaluation of NITAGs in all SEAR countries (2020).

SIR SABARATNAM ARULKUMARAN

Emeritus Professor of Obs & Gyn, St George’s University of London, England

United Kingdom

PhD DSc FRCS FRCOG, Currently, Professor Emeritus of O& G, St George’s,

University of London

Visiting Professor –Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College,

London, Foundation Professor of O&G, University of Nicosia.

Author of over 300 indexed publications; Author or Editor of 38 books & more

than 200 book chapters. Editor in Chief of Best Practise and Research in Clinical

Obstetrics and Gynaecology + Emeritus Editor, Global Library of Women’s

Medicine –www.glowm.com. Former President of the International Federation

of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (FIGO) 2012-2015; the British Medical Association

(BMA) (‘13-‘14) & the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) (‘07-‘10)

Hon Doctorate of Science of several Universities and Hon Fellow of many Post Graduate O&G Colleges and

Societies. Hon Member, National Academy of Sciences, USA. Knight Bachelor in recognition of Services to

Medicine & Health Services by Her Majesty the Queen - Birthday Honours List – June 2009. Actve citizen award

from the President of Cyprus 20armaceuticals 19. Recipient of ‘Sri Lanka Ranjana’ National Honours award from HE

President of Sri Lanka in 2019.Conflicts of interest; Ad hoc medical adviser/consultant to Ferring Pharmaceuticals –

Switzerland. Chair of the board Caretek medical – software developers in London.

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PROF ZULFIQAR BHUTTA

Professor, Departments of Paediatrics, Nutritional Sciences and

Public Health University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta is the Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in

Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Co-

Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health and the

Distinguished University Professor and Founding Director of the

Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health, at the Aga Khan

University, unique joint appointments. He is the Chair of the

Medical & Allied Health Sciences Panel of the Higher Education

Commission of the Government of Pakistan and a member of the Prime Minister’s Health Task Force. Dr Bhutta

was the Founding Chair of the National Research Ethics Committee of the Government of Pakistan from 2003-2014

and a member of the Independent Expert Review Group (iERG) appointed by the UN Secretary General for

monitoring global progress in maternal and child health MDGs (2011-2015). He represented the global academic

and research organizations on the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (Gavi) Board and serves on its

Evaluation Advisory Committee. Dr. Bhutta was the co-Chair of the Global Countdown for 2015 and 2030 Initiatives

from 2006-2017, a Board member of Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and part of the

Independent Expert Group producing the Global Nutrition Reports since its inception in 2014. Dr Bhutta is one of

the most highly cited academics in global health (H index 157, i10 index 757, >160,000 citations) and has been

ranked among the top 1% of Highly Cited Researchers globally by the Web of Science consecutively since 2013. Dr.

Bhutta’s research interests include newborn and child survival, maternal and child undernutrition and

micronutrient deficiencies. He leads large research groups based in Canada and Pakistan with a special interest in

research synthesis, scaling up evidence based interventions in community settings and implementation research in

difficult circumstances and conflict settings.

PROF FRED BINKA

Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Health and Allied

Sciences. Ho, Volta Region. Ghana

Fred Binka is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, School of Public Health,

University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), and the Foundation Vice-

Chancellor of the UHAS, Ho.

Previously he was the Dean of School of Public Health, University of Ghana,

Executive Director, Indepth-Network, Director of the Navrongo Health

Research Centre , where he led his colleagues, to develop community-

based health services referred to in Ghana as the Community Health and

Planning Services (CHPS), currently providing community health services to

about 50% of the rural population.

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Binka was also Coordinator of the WHO Emergency Response to Artemisinin Resistance (ERAR) in the Greater

Mekong sub-region of Asia. Professor Binka has served as a member of the Ghana Health Service Council, Ministry

of Health Ghana and on more than a dozen WHO expert committees and panels, especially the Malaria Policy

Advisory Committee (MPAC) from its inception to 2016. Binka is Currently a member of the WHO Malaria

Elimination Certification Panel.

Binka also served as a member GAVI committees in the past two decade including Chair of the IRC. A Trustee of

the International Centre for Diarrhoea Disease Research icddrb Bangladesh.

DR ARACHU CASTRO

Chair of Public Health in Latin America, Tulane School of Public Health and

Tropical Medicine, Tulane, United States of America

Arachu Castro, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Samuel Z. Stone Chair of Public Health in Latin

America and Director of the Collaborative Group for Health Equity in Latin America

at Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Her major interests are

how social inequalities are embodied as differential risk for pathologies common

among the poor and how health policies may alter the course of epidemic disease

and other pathologies afflicting populations living in poverty.

Dr. Castro works at the intersection of medical anthropology and epidemiology. She

conducts research throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on health equity and

social inequalities, women’s health and reproduction, and early childhood

development in contexts of poverty. Prior to joining Tulane in 2013, she was Associate Professor of Global Health

and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Among other awards, Dr. Castro is the recipient of the 2005 Rudolf

Virchow Award and the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship.

In 2012 she was named Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology and she is Past President of the Society for

Medical Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association. She is in the Board of Directors of Medical

Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC) and in the Executive Committee of the Health Equity Network of the

Americas.

Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Ford Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies,

the Maternal Health Task Force, UNICEF, the Pan American Health Organization, UNAIDS, Tulane University, and

Harvard University, among others. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology and ethnology from the École des Hautes

Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris (1996), a Ph.D. in social sciences and health from the University of Barcelona

(1997), and a MPH from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston (1998). For more information and links to

publications: https://sph.tulane.edu/gchb/arachu-castro-phd-mph.

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DR MARIAM CLAESON

Mariam Claeson, M.D. M.P.H., is the former Director of the Global

Financing Facility (GFF) for Every Woman Every Child at the World Bank

(2016-2019). Prior to joining the GFF she served as Director for the

Maternal Newborn and Child Health team at the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation, which she joined in July 2012. She was the Program

Coordinator for the multisector response to AIDS in the South Asia

Region of the World Bank (2005- 2012), living three years in India. Before

that, she was the Lead Public Health Specialist in the Health, Nutrition

and Population, Human Development Network of the World Bank (1998-

2004).

Prior to joining the World Bank, Mariam worked for the Global Program for the Control of Diarrheal Diseases,

World Health Organization (1987-1995). She has worked as physician in clinical practice at the rural district level

(Tanzania, Bangladesh and Bhutan); in national immunization and diarrheal disease control for WHO (Ethiopia

1984-1986); and, for the World Bank in health sector development programs with a focus on mothers and

children, including in Egypt, Jordan, Uzbekistan, China and the Philippines. Mariam is an honorary doctor at the

Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

DR BLAMI DAO

MD, FWACS, FRCOG, Technical Director, Western and Central Africa,

Jhpiego, Ouagadougou Burkina Faso

Blami Dao is an obstetrician and gynecologist trained at the University

of Dakar in Senegal with 25 years of field experience. His areas of

expertise include maternal and neonatal health (MNH) and Family

Planning (FP). He has been instrumental in disseminating evidence-

based practice in MNH and FP in Africa, using WHO guidelines. He has

served on a number of WHO technical working groups. He has worked

in Africa (Anglophone and Francophone), Asia and the Caribbean.

Before joining Jhpiego in December 2010, he was professor of obstetrics and

gynecology and vice dean of the school of medicine of the Polytechnic University of Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina

Faso. He was also the head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Souro Sanou University Teaching

Hospital in Burkina Faso for seven years. After seven years at Jhpiego HQ as its director for maternal and newborn

health, he has relocated in Burkina Faso in 2019, where he is holding the position of Jhpiego technical director for

West and Central Africa. For many years, he has been working closely with professional associations including

Société Africaine de Gynécologie Obstétrique (SAGO), African, Arab Federation of Obstetrics, Gynecology (AAFOG),

and FIGO.

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He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers. He is involved in peer-reviewed activities with scientific

journals such as the African Journal of Reproductive Health, Journal of Sexual of Reproductive Health (Elsevier),

PLoS One and BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.

DR GARY DARMSTADT

Associate Dean, Maternal and Child Health, Stanford

University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States of

America

Gary L. Darmstadt, MD, MS, is Associate Dean for

Maternal and Child Health, and Professor of Neonatal and

Developmental Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics

at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a

global health expert who studies the effects of reducing

gender inequality across the life course, ensuring child

survival, and nurturing children’s growth and development

on overall community health in developing countries.

He is also a passionate educator and advocate for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescewnt health

and nutrition. Dr. Darmstadt came to Stanford from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), where he was

Senior Fellow in the Global Development Program and led foundation initiatives to address gender inequalities and

empower women and girls globally. Prior to this role, he served as BMGF Director of Family Health, leading

strategy development and implementation across maternal, newborn and child health, family planning and

nutrition. Darmstadt was formerly Associate Professor and Founding Director of the International Center for

Advancing Neonatal Health in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle.

He was also Senior Research Advisor for the Saving Newborn Lives program of Save the Children-US, where he led

the development and implementation of the global research strategy for newborn health and survival. He has

trained in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, in Dermatology at Stanford University, and in Pediatric Infectious

Disease as a fellow at the University of Washington.

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DR LUZ MARIA DE-REGIL

Founder and Director, Nutrition Developments Ltd, Ottawa, Canada

Luz María De-Regil is an Epidemiologist with Expertise in Global Nutrition and Health. With

20 years of experience in the public, private, non-for-profit and intergovernmental sectors,

Luz Maria is a Senior Advisor to UN organizations and other global public health groups and is

the founder of the consulting firm LMD int. Prior to these roles, Dr. De-Regil was the Vice

President of Global Technical Services & Chief Technical Advisor at Nutrition International,

Canada; an Epidemiologist at the World Health Organization, Switzerland; a Visiting Scientist at the

Children's Hospital Research Institute in Oakland, USA; and a researcher in her native country Mexico. Luz Maria

De-Regil brings to STAGE research, programme, and policy experience in nutrition, reproductive and maternal

health. She is particularly interested in designing and implementing programmes and policies that integrate these

three areas with a people centered approach. Dr De-Regil has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed and policy

publications, including WHO guidelines and global reports. She was also a member of the WHO Guidelines Review

Committee and the WHO Research and Ethics Committee and has served in the boards of local and international

not-for-profit entities. In addition to her Doctorate of Sciences in Public Health, Dr. De-Regil holds a Bachelor’s

degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences, a Masters degree in Sciences and Postgraduate studies in International

Negotiation and Policy Making.

Twitter: @luzmariaderegil, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luzmariaderegil/

DR TREVOR DUKE

Professor, Centre for International Child Health,

University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Trevor Duke is a paediatrician, Professor in the

Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne,

Clinical Director of the General Intensive Care Unit at the

Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, and Adjunct

Professor of Child Health at the School of Medicine and

Health Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

He led the Centre for International Child Health and the

WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in

Child and Neonatal Health at the University of Melbourne

since 2005. He is an author and editor of the WHO Pocketbook

of Hospital Care for Children and other WHO guidelines for paediatric care, he contributed to the Western Pacific

Regional (WPR) Child Survival Strategy and the WPR Newborn Care Strategy.

Trevor is a member of the Child Health Advisory Committee in Papua New Guinea, the Consultative Council of

Paediatric Morbidity and Mortality in Victoria, and has advised governments in Oceania and Asia on child health

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policy and services. He is an active clinician, and global health editor of Archives of Diseases in Childhood. His

interests are in the quality of paediatric care, how to help health systems function well, health worker education

and leadership capacity building, acute respiratory infection and oxygen therapy, chronic childhood conditions

including HIV, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases, paediatric disease surveillance and mortality auditing,

and the influence of social, cultural, economic, and environmental influences on the health of less-advantaged

children and families. He sees the need to focus on how counties in Asia and the Pacific regions can achieve equity

in child and maternal health in the SDG era.

DR FADI EL-JARDALI

Professor of Health Policy and Systems, American University of Beirut, Beirut,

Lebanon

Professor Fadi El-Jardali (PhD, MPH) is a recognized senior expert with extensive

international and regional experience and multidisciplinary background in health

policy, systems and management. He held several senior management and policy

positions in public and private sector. He is also a Professor of Health Systems and

Policy, Chair of the Health Management and Policy Department, Founder &

Director of the Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center; Director of the World Health

Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Evidence-Informed Policy and

Practice; Co-Director of the Center for Systematic Reviews in Health Policy and

Systems Research (SPARK); and co-lead for the Global Evidence Synthesis Initiative

(GESI) Secretariat at the American University of Beirut. He is part time associate professor at Department of Health

Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact at McMaster University in Canada. He is also Co-Editor in Chief for Health

Research, Policy and Systems (HARPS) Journal. He has worked and held senior positions with policy analysis

related organizations such as the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (as Hospital Consultant), Federal

department of health / Health Canada (as Senior Policy Advisor) and the Health Council of Canada (as Health

Economist and Program Manager). He was also a hospital CEO. Dr. El-Jardali is a recipient of the Global Health

Leadership Award and was elected twice to the Board of Health Systems Global Society (HSG). He is a recipient of

the Fellowship on Evidence Informed Policy from the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. He is the

founding member of the MENA Health Policy Forum. He is a member of the Global Steering Committee for the

WHO Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet). He has been appointed twice to the Eastern Mediterranean

Advisory Committee on Health Research (ACHR). Currently he is the co-Chair for the Program Working Group

(PWG) of the Global Health Systems Research Symposium (HSR2020). His research activities, publications and

interest are focused on policymaking, health systems, knowledge translation, governance, performance reporting,

human resources for health, quality of care and safety. He has led and directed several multi-country initiatives

and projects in several countries including in the East Mediterranean, Asia and Africa including for reproductive

and child Health. He has published extensively (more than 100) in international peer review and impact factor

journals in addition to book, book chapters, and knowledge translation products.

He has a master of Public Health and PhD. in Public Policy from Carleton University in Canada.

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PROF MIKE ENGLISH

Theme leader, Health Systems Research, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust,

Nairobi, Kenya

Mike trained as a General Paediatrician in the UK and has been a

faculty member of the University of Oxford since 1998, becoming

a full Professor of International Child Health in 2010. He has

however, lived and worked in Kenya for over 20 years supported

by a series of Wellcome Trust research fellowships. In Kenya he

works as part of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) –

Wellcome Trust Research Programme from a base in Nairobi. He

works in collaboration with Kenya's Ministry of Health, the University of Nairobi and many other Kenyan and

international partners and has supervised 15 African students to the conclusion of their PhDs. He initially

established a Child and Newborn Health research group in Kenya but this evolved to become the Health Services

Unit which tackles both clinical and health systems issues affecting newborns and children. Mike’s work has

involved developing national, evidence-based guidelines for care of children and newborns in Kenya since 2005

(now in a 4th Edition) and the linked ETAT+ skills training course, both now used in many LMIC. His research team

uses a range of methodologies spanning statistical modeling to ethnography aimed primarily at improving rural

hospital care for children and newborns. In 2013 he established the Kenyan Clinical Information Network as a form

of Learning Health System to improve quality of care, foster implementation research and service evaluation at

scale and support large scale intervention studies. This network now includes 20 hospitals as partners. Mike also

leads the Oxford Health Systems Research Collaboration (OHSCAR) that employs organizational research methods

to understand complex systems and explore how digital innovations might be used to transform health service

delivery.

PROF RASHIDA FERRAND

(FRCP, MSc, PhD), Professor of International Health, LSHTM, London, United

Kingdom

I am a clinical epidemiologist and a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Clinical Science

at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). I obtained my

primary medical degree from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. Following

postgraduate training in internal medicine and clinical specialist training in HIV

Medicine and Sexual Health in London, I undertook an MSc and PhD in epidemiology

at LSHTM. I have been based in Zimbabwe for the past 16 years where I direct a

research programme that focuses on adolescent health. My main area of work is on

HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH), particularly on interventions to improve

outcomes across the HIV care cascade and on integrated delivery of HIV and SRH services. Another key area of my

work is the clinical epidemiology of HIV-associated comorbidities in children and adolescents with perinatally-

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acquired HIV. I lead observational studies to investigate the clinical manifestations and pathogenesis of

comorbidities particularly focusing on lung, cardiac and musculoskeletal disease. We also conduct clinical trials of

interventions to address these morbidities. A common theme of all my work is training youth as researchers and in

delivery of health interventions.

In Harare, I am hosted by the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI). I am an Honorary Consultant

Physician in HIV Medicine at Barts Health NHS Trust, London. I am also a visiting professor at the Department of

Paediatrics at the Aga Khan University, Pakistan.

DR ALMA GOLDEN

Executive Director, Global Development Lab, U.S. Agency for

International Development (USAID) Washington, DC, United States of

America

Dr. Alma Golden, a physician from Texas, began her career as a science

teacher, then attended medical school and pediatric training. Due to the

need for accessible, quality health care for indigent children in her state,

she left private practice to develop a network of 16 pediatric clinics that

provided care through the University of Texas Medical Branch Maternal

and Child Health Program.

For a decade, Dr. Golden hired, trained and managed health professionals,

wrote and implemented protocols, and conducted data analysis and

quality improvement. Assuring financial and policy support for the care of

vulnerable families meant engagement in health systems, insurance, funding

programs, and governmental policies in Texas and the USA. Dr. Golden participated in local and national advocacy

efforts on the issues of child abuse, health education, disabilities, adolescent health, access to care, and family

support.

From 2002-2006 Dr. Golden served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, directing the Office of

Population Affairs which oversees US programs for Family Planning, Teen Pregnancy Prevention and other

reproductive and adolescent issues, including the sexual exploitation of youth. Dr. Golden collaborated on the

2004 launch of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and served on the

committee for Preventing Maternal to Child Transmission (PMTCT).

From 2006-2017 Dr. Golden returned to academic medicine in the Texas A&M University Health System, and

established services for children with disabilities and vulnerable communities, while teaching public health, ethics,

and adolescent interventions, and serving on the medical school’s curriculum committee.

Since 2017 Dr. Golden has focused on international development, currently serving as the Executive Director of the

Global Development Lab in the United States Agency for International Development.

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PROF MICHAEL GOLDEN

Emeritus Professor in Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland

Professor Michael Golden started as a clinical gastroenterologist before turning to

nutrition. He has studied all aspects of nutrition in children and adults for over 50

years. He worked in Jamaica for 17 years, returned to Aberdeen in 1991 and retired

from the University in 2000.

Since then he has worked extensively with NGOs and UNICEF. He invented F75,

F100 and ReSoMal and wrote the WHO (1999) guidelines for the management of

SAM. He has repeatedly updated his guidelines. He is now writing version 7 of the

IMAM protocol and a monograph on malnutrition. The modern treatment has

incrementally brought the mortality rate down to less than 5% for complicated

inpatients and far less for outpatients. These guidelines have formed the basis for

National Protocols in more than 40 countries. His research has always been primarily

directed at elucidating the fundamental pathophysiology of malnutrition and translating this into practical

evaluation, preventive and management procedures. Initially he developed a new theory of the pathogenesis of

marasmus, went on to generate a new hypotheses for kwashiorkor and latterly worked on the mechanisms of

stunting and problems faced by refugees and impoverished populations. He designed and initiated the SMART

methods and software to improve and standardise nutritional survey methods.

DR CAROLINE HOMER

AO RM MN (UTS) MScMed(Clin Epi) (USyd) PhD (UTS)

Co-Program Director MCH and Principal Research Fellow, Burnet

Institute, Melbourne, Australia

Caroline is Co-Program Director of Women and Children’s Health and

Co-Head for the Women’s and Newborn’s Health Working Group at the

Burnet Institute in Melbourne. She is also the Visiting Distinguished

Professor of Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney,

Australia. Caroline has an international reputation as a scholar and

leader in maternal and newborn health. She has led research and

development projects especially in reproductive, maternal and newborn

care, human resources for health workforce development and midwifery

education. She has more than 25 years of experience as a clinician, educator, researcher and leader. She has more

than 240 peer reviewed publications and has contributed to more than 10 books, Caroline has been involved in the

development and evaluation of midwifery and maternal and newborn health services in Australia and the Asia

Pacific region. She has worked on education, research and innovation across Australia and also in countries such as

Papua New Guinea, Cambodia and with UNFPA across the small island nations of the South Pacific. She has been a

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lead writer in a number of the State of the World’s Midwifery Reports. Caroline is a member of the Human

Reproductive Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (WHO). She is a Ministerial appointee to the

Council of Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), a member of NHMRC Women in

Health Science Committee and a Ministerial appointee to the Victorian Consultative Committee on Maternal and

Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality. She is the Co-Chair of the National Expert Advisory Executive for the Pregnancy

Care Guidelines (Australian Department of Health). In 2017, she was awarded an Order of Australia (AO) for

distinguished service to medicine in the field of midwifery as a clinician, researcher, author and educator, through

the development of worldwide education standards, and to professional organisations.

DR CAROLINE KABIRU

Associate & Senior Technical; Adviser, Population Council, Nairobi, Kenya

Caroline Kabiru leads the Population Dynamics and Reproductive Health Unit at the

African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Kenya. Prior to her current

position, she worked as an Associate with the Population Council, Kenya.

Caroline has over ten years’ experience designing, conducting and managing research

projects in sub-Saharan Africa focusing on adolescent health, female genital mutilation

(FGM), and gender. In her most recent role as the senior technical advisor on the UK

Department for International Development (DFID)-funded Evidence to End FGM research

program, which is led by the Population Council, she guided the design, implementation, and analysis of a variety

of studies implemented in seven countries in Africa.

The studies sought to: build the evidence base of where, when, and why FGM is practiced; assess a range of FGM

abandonment interventions; understand the wider impacts of FGM on the lives of girls, women, and their families;

and improve the measurement of FGM and related factors. Previously, among other studies, Caroline led the

Kenya arm of the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS), a multi-country study led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg

School of Public Health and the World Health Organization that is investigating how gender norms evolve and

influence health outcomes in early adolescence.

Caroline, who obtained her PhD degree in Health Promotion and Behavior from the University of Georgia (US), has

contributed to nearly 100 publications on adolescent health and wellbeing, sexual and reproductive health, and

FGM, among other issues. She has also served on local and international technical advisory groups to inform the

strategic direction of research programs and initiatives focused on adolescent health.

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PROF BETTY KIRKWOOD

Professor of Epidemiology & International Health, LSHTM, London,

United Kingdom

Betty Kirkwood is an epidemiologist with a statistical background. She is

Professor of Epidemiology & International Health at the London School of

Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her research is driven by a desire to

improve the health of mothers and young children in low and middle-

income countries, and to increase access to known effective

interventions.

It is focussed on informing priority policy issues through tackling gaps in

evidence to enable effective decision making for policies and

programmes. She has made major contributions in the following areas: (i)

Cluster randomized controlled trials evaluating the delivery through

community-based workers of key known effective interventions for (a)

newborn and child survival, and (b) early child development and growth; (ii)

Definitive trials evaluating vitamin A supplementation strategies; (iii) Evaluating key maternal, newborn and child

health interventions (including breastfeeding, access to facility births, water supply and sanitation) (iv) Increasing

access to treatments for common mental disorders; (v) Understanding the epidemiology of childhood diarrhoea

and pneumonia.

Her substantive research has been accompanied by a commitment to translating research findings into health

policy and programme action, to teaching, to research capacity strengthening, and to making complex

epidemiological and statistical methods accessible to public health researchers and policy makers. The latter is

exemplified by the success of her “Essential Medical Statistics” textbook, first published in 1988. Betty has an

extensive network of overseas collaborators and close links with the World Health Organization. She is a fellow of

the Academy of Medical Sciences and a fellow (by distinction) of the UK Faculty of Public Health.

In 2017, she received the George Macdonald medal in recognition of outstanding research leading to

improvement of health in the tropics.

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PROF JOY LAWN

Professor of Maternal Reproductive and Child Health Epidemiology,

Director of MARCH Centre, London School Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Joy is an African-born, British-trained paediatrician and perinatal

epidemiologist with 30 years’ experience including: clinical care,

epidemiological burden estimates, design and evaluation of maternal,

newborn and child care services at scale, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Her paediatric training was in the UK, followed by teaching,

implementation and research, mainly living in Africa, including a decade

with Save the Children. Her MPH was from Emory, Atlanta, USA, whilst at

CDC, and her PhD at Institute of Child Health, London. She directs the

MARCH Centre (Maternal Adolescent Reproductive & Child Health) at

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, including more than 600

academics. Her main contribution to global health has been developing the evidence-base to measure and reduce

the global burden of 2.5 million neonatal deaths, 2.6 million stillbirths, and 15million preterm births, including

informing the relevant Sustainable Development Goal target. She has published >260 peer-reviewed papers

including leading several influential Lancet series. She and her research team work on large, multi-country studies

on newborn health, stillbirths and child development worldwide. She is a champion for women’s research

leadership, and is one of the few women nominated to membership of both UK Academy of Medical Sciences and

USA National Academy of Medicine.

DR SONG LI

Deputy Director-General, National Health Commission, Beijing, China

Dr. Song Li is the Deputy Director General (DDG) in the Department of

Women & Children health, National Health Commission (NHC) of

China. Since 2002, She started from a senior program officer to the

current position as a DDG of NHC. Dr. Song Li’s main responsibilities

are to design, implement and regulate the national health policies,

mainly on maternal, newborn child and adolescent health; to

strengthen the MCH network service system; to design and

implement the national and international programs, such as

screening for cervical cancer and breast cancer, promoting hospital-

based delivery for rural pregnant women, and prevention of mother-

to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, syphilis, hepatitis B, etc.

During her career, she always endeavors to tackle difficulties and challenges through coordination & partner

cooperation, policy making, program implementation, and innovation techniques.

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Dr. Song Li has a very strong academic background. From June to December 2010, Dr. Song Li involved in global

health research at Harvard University as a senior scholar. From 2006 to 2010, Dr. Song did the Health Policy and

Management Ph.D. studies in Peking University Health Science Center. Except for Ph.D. in Health Management,

she has a Master's Degree of Clinical Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Song is good at initiating ideas for

operational researches and generating results from available data.

Dr. Song Li has always great enthusiasm and commitment to achieving better results for the health and welfare of

vulnerable population. In recent years, Dr. Song Li endeavors to promote health equity for women and children

and make contributions to the realization of UN MDGs, SDGs and Healthy China. She has a strong willingness to

contribute more to international cooperation and development, so to realize her dream of reducing health

inequity and improving the health status of vulnerable groups all over the world.

DR MICHAEL MERSON

Michael H. Merson is the Wolfgang Joklik Professor of Global Health at Duke University and the founding director of SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute. He is also visiting professor and the Dean’s Special Advisor on global health at NYU School of Public Health. He was previously the founding director of the Duke Global Health Institute, Vice President and Vice Provost for Global Affairs at Duke University, and Vice Chancellor for Duke-National University of Singapore Affairs.

Dr. Merson served as director for the World Health Organization (WHO) programs on Diarrheal Diseases and

Acute Respiratory Infections, and subsequently the WHO Global Program on AIDS. After WHO, he joined Yale University School of Medicine as its first Dean of Public Health and as Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and the Anna M. R. Lauder Professor of Public Health. He also served as Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University.

Dr. Merson has authored over 180 articles, is the senior editor of the leading global health textbook “Global Health: Disease, Programs, Systems, and Policies” and co-author of The AIDS Pandemic: Searching for a Global Response on the history of the global response to AIDS. He has served in advisory capacities for UNAIDS, WHO, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, World Bank, World Economic Forum, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has two honorary degrees, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

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GEORGE PATTON

Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Centre for

Adolescent Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, Victoria, Australia

George Patton is a Professorial Fellow in Adolescent Health

Research at the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s

Research Institute. He is a Senior Principal Research Fellow with

Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

He has a clinical background in child and adolescent psychiatry and

research background in developmental epidemiology. George has

had extensive engagement globally around child and adolescent

health, growth and development. He chaired the 2016 Lancet

Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, has led two

special Series in adolescent health for the Journal as well as

publishing sentinel papers on adolescent mortality, burden of

disease, the adolescent investment case and intergenerational risks. He

has had earlier consultancy and advisory roles with the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, USAID and the World Bank as well

as scientific advisory roles with international groups including Peking University, Tokyo University and the

University of Washington’s Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation. George has also led long term Australian

longitudinal studies on the health, growth and development of children and adolescents, including a prospective

intergenerational cohort. His research extends to large scale early intervention, prevention and health promotion

trials from primary-care, community and school platforms in both high resource and low resource settings. He

currently leads an NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence into neglected aspects of adolescent health with a focus

on achieving better delineation of need and further articulation of the investment case.

DR MARIE RUEL

Director, Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, Intl Food Policy Research

Institute, Washington DC, United States of America

She has worked for close to 30 years on policies and programs to alleviate

poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition in low- and middle-income

countries. She has published extensively on topics related to maternal and

child nutrition, infant and young child feeding practices and related

indicators, urban food security and nutrition, and on the linkages between

agriculture, nutrition, and health. Her recent research focuses on the

evaluation and strengthening of a wide range of integrated, multi-sectoral

development programs in the areas of agriculture, social protection,

education, and health, and at building the evidence on their role in fostering

improvements in maternal and child nutrition globally.

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She also led the development and management of the CGIAR research program on Agriculture for Nutrition and

Health (A4NH). More recently, she led the development of a global policy research program on Urban Food

Systems for Better Diets, Nutrition, and Health focused on reshaping food systems and food environments to

support the urban poor in achieving healthy diets and optimal nutrition and health. Dr. Ruel has served on various

international expert committees, including the National Academy of Sciences, the International Zinc in Nutrition

Consultative Group, the Micronutrient Forum, the Society for Implementation Science in Nutrition, the

Independent Advisory Panel for the Access to Nutrition Index, the Leverhulme Center for Integrated Agriculture

and Health, and the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions.

Dr. Ruel has lived and worked in Haiti, Lesotho, and Guatemala; and has worked in a number of countries of Latin

America, Africa, and South Asia. She obtained her PhD in International Nutrition and Epidemiology from Cornell

University. She received the American Society for Nutrition Kellogg Prize for lifetime achievement in nutrition in

2019.

PROF JANE SANDALL

Professor of Social Science and Women's Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College, London, United Kingdom

Jane Sandall is a Professor of Social Science and Women's Health, in

the Department of Women and Children’s Health, School of Life

Course Sciences, King’s College London and an adjunct professor at

University of Technology Sydney. She is an NIHR Senior Investigator

and has a clinical background in nursing, health visiting and midwifery

and an academic background in social science. Her research has been

funded by NIHR, ESRC, MRC, Wellcome, NIHR, Gates, and a range of

charitable sources. For example: the organisation and outcome of birth

in different settings, efficient use of the maternity workforce and the

implications for safety & quality in maternity care, role of rapid

response systems in the management of escalation of care in acute

medical and maternity settings. Current research on complex interventions

includes: CRADLE, a cluster trial of a vital sign device used by frontline health workers to detect shock and

hypertension in low income countries, engagement by patients and families in their own safety, and the

implementation of open disclosure in perinatal care. She is leading research looking at mechanisms and impact of

models of midwife continuity of care for women at higher risk of pre-term birth and reduce inequalities in care and

outcomes for women and babies. Her research findings have informed the UK government commission on Nursing

and Midwifery, House of Commons Health Committee on Inequalities, English, Scottish, US, Brazilian, Irish and

Australian reviews of maternity services and WHO.

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/research/divisions/wh/groups/maternalhealth/index.aspx

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PROF MARK TOMLINSON

Professor, Institute of Life Course Stellenbosch University, Cape

Town, South Africa

Professor Mark Tomlinson is the Director of the Institute for Life

Course Health Research in the Department of Global Health at

Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa. He is also

Professor of Maternal and Child Health in the School of Nursing

and Midwifery, Queens University, Belfast, UK. His scholarly work

has involved a diverse range of topics that have in common an

interest in factors that contribute to compromised maternal

health, to understanding child and adolescent development in contexts of high adversity, to understand the impact

of maternal depression on child health and development, and how to develop community based interventions to

improve health and development across the life course. He has received research grants from the Conrad N Hilton

Foundation; World Health Organization; Grand Challenges Canada, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and

Alcoholism (NIAAA); National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA); National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH); the

Department for International Development (DfID -UK); Innovation Edge; Ilifa Labantwana, DG Murray Trust, UBS

Optimus, and UNICEF. He has been a consultant for the World Health Organization, USAID, World Bank, and

Conrad N Hilton Foundation. He was one of the co-ordinating writers of the World Health Organization document

– “Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development”. He was elected as a member of the Academy of Science in

South Africa in 2017. He received the Chancellors Award for Research at Stellenbosch University in 2015. He has

published over 250 papers in peer-reviewed journals, edited two books and published numerous chapters. He is on

the Editorial Board of PLoS Medicine; is an Associate Editor of Infant Mental Health Journal, is also on the Editorial

Board of Psychology, Health and Medicine; as well as the Editorial Board of Adversity and Resilience Science:

Journal of Research and Practice.

DR PETER WAISWA

Associate Professor.Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala,

Uganda

Dr. Waiswa is an Associate Professor of Health Policy Planning and Management

of the School of Public Health at Makerere University College of Health Sciences.

He has training in medicine (Mbarara University, Uganda) and in Public Health

(Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel) and a PhD and Postdoc (both joint

Makerere University and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden). He has been part of

many strategic policies and initiatives especially in the areas of maternal,

newborn and child health. He is a leading African academic with over one

hundred publications including books and book (see this link ). He is also part of advocacy efforts especially to

advance maternal, newborn and child health in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) era. These efforts have

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contributed to the UN’s Ending Preventable Maternal Death and Disability strategy and the Every Newborn Action

Plan (ENAP) which are driving global policies with impact at scale up. Dr Waiswa is co-lead of the EN-INDEPTH five

countries study that is further validating how to measure these indicators in health systems in low and middle

income countries. He was the Principle Investigator (PI) for the Saving Mothers Giving Life (SMGL) project in

Uganda that achieved a 40% reduction in maternal deaths.

These experiences in a pilot were adapted into the Uganda National Plan for maternal, newborn and child health

reduction, and the same strategy is being used in Nigeria and other countries, at scale. He is also co-PI of the

Uganda Full Country Evaluation (FCE). He is also a member of Uganda’s National Immunisation Technical Advisory

Group (NITAG) whose findings have informed Uganda’s Financing Plan for Immunisation, the Uganda Immunisation

Act, and the Uganda New Vaccines introduction Plan, with the associated scale up strategies. Dr Waiswa is a

founder and leader of initiatives that build capacity and generate evidence for maternal, newborn and child health

in low and middle income countries. He started the Makerere University Maternal Newborn and Child Health

Centre of Excellence and the INDEPTH Network Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Research Group.

The former advances MNCH issues mainly in Uganda whereas the later does so around the world. INDEPTH is a

network of over 54 Health Demographic Surveillance Sites (HDSS) in over 25 countries in Africa and Asia. Dr

Waiswa provides agile leadership and empowerment in the difficult situations of low and middle income countries

to motivate and lead teams so that they deliver superior performance while encouraging collaboration internally

and externally.

Globally, Dr. Waiswa is/has participated regularly in an adversary role to WHO, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation, International Pediatric Association, East African Community, African Academy of Sciences, and more.