Speaker bios
Speakers in the Future of Health event.
University hosts
Professor Lesley McAra is the Director of the Edinburgh Futures Institute and Assistant Principal Community Relations at the University of Edinburgh. An alumna of the University of Edinburgh and the Open University, Lesley is a leading international scholar in youth crime and juvenile justice and an active campaigner for penal reform.
She is a former President of the European Society of Criminology and continues to plays a major role in the Society as part of its Executive Board. In her capacity as Assistant Principal, she is academic lead for the ‘local impact’ component of University of Edinburgh strategy, driving a new vision of the Civic University, one which places its research and teaching in the service of the community.
In 2013, Lesley was recipient of the Howard League Research Medal which celebrates high quality research from ‘new thinking researchers’ who have changed penal policy and practice. This was followed in 2016 with the award of the Chancellor’s medal for research impact and in 2019 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council’s prize for ‘Outstanding Public Policy Impact’. In 2018, she was awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to Criminology.
Professor Liz Grant is Director of the Global Health Academy and Assistant Principal Global Health at the University of Edinburgh. She is responsible for developing and supporting global health partnerships with colleagues in low and middle-income country (LMIC) communities, and for local and global advocacy translating global health research into action.
She is a co-director of the University of Edinburgh’s Global Compassion Initiative, developing work on the value base of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the science of compassion, and the contribution that faith communities make to the SDGs. Her own research interests span planetary health and palliative care in contexts of poverty and conflict – new beginnings and better endings. She also sits on the Scottish Government NHS Global Citizenship Board.
Liz was on the Board of Directors for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, (CUGH), an association of over 170 Academic institutions training in Global Health, and currently chairs the CUGH Research Committee. Previously Liz was the Senior Health Advisor to the Scottish Government’s International Development Team working primarily in Malawi. She has worked for NHS Lothian’s Public Health Directorate leading an NHS HIV partnership between the NHS and Zambia. She has been an advisor to a number of global health
Our conversationalists
Co-Chair of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition and Co-Chair of the Nursing Now Global Campaign. From 2010 to 2017 she was Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa. She is also former Member of Parliament and Minister of Health of the Republic of Botswana.
Known for his pivotal role in the 2003 outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, his current role involves leading the Chinese National Health Commission's expert panel investigating the COVID-19 outbreak. He was a visiting student at the University of Edinburgh between 1979 and 1981, and was also awarded with an Honorary Doctorate of Medicine in 2007.
Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) at the University of Edinburgh, where she is also appointed in Philosophy.
Professor at the University of Edinburgh where she holds a Personal Chair in Global Public Health. She is Founding Director of the Global Health Governance Programme and holds a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award.
Vice chair of the Clinton Foundation working to help create economic opportunity, improve public health, and inspire civic engagement and service across the United States and around the world. She also teaches at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and has written several books for young readers.
Co-Director of the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact and Professor in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. He served as the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2013-2017) and the US Global Coordinator and Ambassador leading the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
An advocate for global education and health issues, her work brings together business, philanthropy, social media and charity campaigning. She is Chair and founder of the charity, Theirworld, which is focused on ending the global education crisis for over 260 million children. She is also Executive Chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education.
Dr. Frenk became the sixth president of the University of Miami in August of 2015. He also holds academic appointments as Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Professor of Health Sector Management and Policy at the Miami Herbert Business School, and Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Prior to joining the University of Miami, he served for nearly seven years as dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development, a joint appointment with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Julio Frenk was the Minister of Health of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, was the founding director-general of the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, served as executive director in charge of Evidence and Information for Policy at the World Health Organization and as senior fellow in the global health programme of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. He is a virologist who has made significant contributions to public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic Nkengasong was appointed the WHO Special Envoy for Africa.
At the University of Miami, Professor Knaul is the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and Professor at the Miller School of Medicine. In Mexico, Knaul is Senior Economist at the Mexican Health Foundation and Founding President of Tómatelo a Pecho, A.C., a Mexican non-profit agency. She currently serves as Chair of the Lancet Commission on Gender-based Violence and Maltreatment of Young People.
Prof.K. Srinath Reddy is the President, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and formerly headed the Department of Cardiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Under his leadership, PHFI has established five Indian Institutes of Public Health (IIPHs) to advance multi-disciplinary public health education, research, health technologies and implementation support for strengthening health systems.
He is the first Indian to be elected to the National Academy of Medicine, USA and was awarded several prestigious international and national doctorates and fellowships. He was President of the World Heart Federation (2013-15). He was awarded the high civilian honour Padma Bhushan by President of India in 2005. He is also an Advisor to the Governments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on Health.
Dr Carey Lunan is a GP partner in Craigmillar Medical Group, one of Scotland’s Deep End practices, serving the 100 most socio-economically deprived populations across the country. She is the current Chair of the Scottish Deep End Group, and the immediate past-Chair of RCGP Scotland. She is a passionate advocate of the role of general practice in addressing health inequalities. In 2020, she was awarded an MBE for services to healthcare during the Covid19 pandemic.
Dr Carey Lunan MBE, Chair of the Scottish Deep End Group, and immediate past-Chair of the Royal College of General Practice Scotland.
Vibhu Sharma, is a passionate disability advocate, working as a disability and inclusion research consultant with Theirworld, co-chairing the Global Partnership for Children with Disabilities – Youth Council, and serving as a Global Board Member of Generation Unlimited.
She is a mentor for youth with and without disabilities at national and global levels, and has been recognized a Legends Honoree by Partners for Youth with Disabilities, USA for her mentoring initiatives. Visually impaired herself, Vibhu is a strong advocate of persons with disabilities and believes that everyone should have an equal right to access educational and employment opportunities.
Lord Nigel Crisp is an independent crossbench member of the House of Lords where he co chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health. He was Chief Executive of the English National Health Service and Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health from 2000 to 2006. He has worked in several African and South East Asian countries in recent years and co-founded and co-chairs Nursing Now. He has pubished extensively. His most recent book is Health is Made at Home, Hospitals are for Repairs.
Elizabeth H. Bradley, PhD has served as President of Vassar College since July 2017. In that time, she has led the College to establish new programs and partnerships in India, Rwanda, and China to bring the model of liberal arts higher education to these settings. In addition, Vassar has collaborated with Columbia University to create a 5-year BA-MPH program for Vassar students.
Prior to becoming the President of Vassar, Bradley was on the faculty at Yale for more than twenty years, and was most recently the Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy and Faculty Director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute. Bradley has published more nearly 300 peer-reviewed papers and has co-authored three books including The American Healthcare Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017 and is a member of the Council of Foreign Affairs.
Philip Cotton is Head of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program—an initiative dedicated to developing Africa’s next generation of transformation leaders and the largest of its kind. The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program enables talented but economically disadvantaged young people to complete their education, while investing in their leadership potential.
Philip, who is a citizen of both the UK and of Rwanda, previously provided leadership at the University of Rwanda, first as Principal of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences and then as Vice Chancellor. Prior to this, Philip practiced in family medicine and was professor of teaching and learning with a responsibility for student welfare at Glasgow University.
A graduate of St Andrews and Glasgow universities, Philip holds several honorary professorships and is chair of the Board of the Rwanda Biomedical Centre. He is a Methodist preacher, founded a fair trade organisation in Scotland and is a trustee and advisor to several small charities working in development. He is convinced of the power of compassion in the transformation of young people throughout the education system
The Hon. Kirsty Duncan is the Deputy House Leader of the Government of Canada. Dr. Duncan served as Minister of Science in the 42nd Parliament, and her scientific research focused on pandemic preparedness and climate change.
Dr Peter Singer is Special Advisor to the Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Assistant Director General of the World Health Organization. In this role he supports the Director General to transform WHO into an Organization sharply focused on impact at the country level.
Dr Singer co-chaired the transition team; was the architect of WHO’s strategy and its “triple billion” target; works with colleagues to guide consistent strategy implementation of WHO’s programme budget, results framework and first investment case; and provides leadership to the secretariat of the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Wellbeing to strengthen collaboration among 12 multilateral agencies to accelerate the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Shams Syed is the Unit Head, Quality of Care, at WHO Headquarters in Geneva. He currently directly oversees the WHO national quality policy and strategy initiative as well as WHO technical work on quality in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings. He also oversees the WHO Global Learning Laboratory for Quality UHC that has been actively exploring the role of compassion in quality of care. His WHO career has provided an opportunity to work directly with over 30 countries across the world. He has an academic interest in reverse innovation in global health systems and maintains teaching roles in his spare time, including at Johns Hopkins. In addition, he is coordinating design efforts related to the WHO COVID:19 Health Services Learning Hub.
Dr Mark Hyman, MD, is a thirteen-time #1 New York Times bestselling author on health and well-being and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in his field. He is Head of Strategy and Innovation at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, the founder and director of The UltraWellness Center, Board President of Clinical Affairs at the The Institute for Functional Medicine, and a medical editor for The Huffington Post. He is the host of one of the leading health podcasts, The Doctor’s Farmacy. Dr. Hyman is a regular medical contributor on several television shows and networks in the United States, including CBS This Morning, Today, Good Morning America, The View, and CNN. He is also an advisor and guest co-host on The Dr. Oz Show.
