The Health Systems Global (HSG) Board of Directors – elected by and accountable to HSG members – is responsible for the strategic oversight and implementation of the society’s Strategic Plan.
The Board membership includes the Board Officers and six Board members elected from each of the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions.
Board standing committees and working groups lead and shape different key areas of the society’s work.
Adnan Hyder (he/him)
Chair of the Board
Dr Adnan Hyder serves as Senior Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Global Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University. Previously, he was Professor and Director Health Systems Program, and Associate Chair, at the Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. As director of one of the largest academic health systems programs, he led a team of experts to conduct groundbreaking research on health systems strengthening and capacity building. He has been working on health systems in LMICs for 20 years and is well known for his work on health systems analysis, justice and ethics; and for exploring the research to policy interface in health systems. Adnan is Vice Chair of the Board of Health Systems Global.
Tolib Mirzoev (he/him)
Vice Chair of the Board
Prof Tolib Mirzoev is a health policy and systems researcher and Professor of Global Health Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has over 20 years of experience working with government agencies, NGOs, donors and academia. Following a spell of clinical medical practice in the mid-1990s, he worked in the Tajikistan’s Ministry of Health, an international NGO (Action Against Hunger) and a World Bank’s health reform programme before moving to the University of Leeds in 2004 where he spent 18 years including as a Head of the Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development during 2019-2021. Tolib’s research expertise cover health policy analysis, health systems strengthening and capacity strengthening. His collaborative research is primarily in low and middle-income countries, mainly in South Asia (e.g. Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Nepal) and sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda). Tolib provides advisory and consultancy services to development agencies (e.g. WHO, World Bank) and contributes to funding panels of major research funders (e.g. UK Research Councils, NIHR, EC). He is also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (FHEA) with substantial experience of teaching, guest lecturing, student supervision, external examining and mentoring of earlier-career researchers.
Ana Beatriz Amaya (she/her)
Treasurer of the Board
Dr. Ana B. Amaya is Associate Professor at Pace University with appointments at the United Nations University (UNU-CRIS) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. A specialist in global health policy, her work has focused on global health governance and health systems strengthening at the policy and academic level. Her research examines health policy and multi-level governance for health, with a particular focus on understanding the impact of new global health institutions and issues on the health systems of low- and middle- income countries. Recently, this research has explored regional organizations in the Global South; the politics of global health; and the impact of COVID-19 on health inequities. Ana has worked and consulted for several universities and international organizations, among these the Overseas Development Institute; United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER); World Health Organization; Pan American Health Organization; the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the United Nations; the University of South Florida; among others.
Daniel Maceira (he/him)
Board member representing the Region of the Americas
Daniel Maceira is a Senior Researcher at the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES); an Independent Researcher at the National Council of Scientific Research (CONICET, Argentina); and Senior Professor at the University of Buenos Aires. He is an Argentine citizen, with a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University, with research fields in health economics and applied microeconomics.
Racha Fadlallah (she/her)
Board member representing the Eastern Mediterranean Region
Racha Fadlallah is an Instructor of Public Health Practice at Faculty of Health Sciences, a Senior Researcher at Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center, and a systematic reviewer at the Center for Systematic Review on Health Policy and Systems (SPARK) at American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She is one of the founding members of Primary Health Care Measurement and Implementation Research Consortium (RC). Racha's work focuses on bridging the gap between research, policy and practice by making evidence more accessible to a broader range of stakeholders; building capacity for evidence-informed policymaking, and seizing opportunities to influence policy outcomes. Her research interests are focused on health policy and systems research (HPSR), priority setting, knowledge translation and capacity building methodology.
Felix Abrahams Obi (he/him)
Board member representing the African Region
Felix Obi is a health policy and systems researcher and practitioner and an advocate for universal health coverage. He is currently a Senior Program Officer cum Healthcare Financing Engagement Officer with Results for Development. Felix is a key team member of the Healthcare Financing Technical Assistance to the Government of Nigeria, providing technical support to federal and sub-national policy makers to design and implement reforms towards achieving universal health coverage in Nigeria. Felix has, over the last two decades, provided technical support to Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health, and international development organizations to design, implement and evaluate public health interventions. As the Communications/Research Uptake Manager of University of Nigeria’s Health Policy Research Group, Felix leads efforts to translate research evidence to inform health policies and programs. He also serves as Communications/Media Relations Officer for African Health Economics and Policy Association.
Pragati Hebbar (she/her)
Board member representing the South-East Asia Region
Pragati Hebbar is a Faculty member and public health researcher at the Institute of Public Health Bengaluru. She co-leads the research cluster on Chronic conditions and Public policies at the institute. She has completed two terms as the Assistant Director Administration overseeing the operations of the institute and mentoring colleagues within the support team. Over the years she has contributed as the President of the Gender Issues and (Prevention of) Sexual Harassment Committee, Member secretary of the Institutional Ethics Committee and Chair of the Purchase committee. She has a decade of experience working on various national policies related to tobacco control, road safety, ultra-processed food in the domain of NCDs. Her initial few years in public health were focused on liaising with a variety of stakeholders to improve policy implementation. Recent years have been more focused on applying methods and approaches to evaluate and study the implementation diversity across LMIC settings through a DBT/ Wellcome Trust India Alliance fellowship. She has a good teaching experience and has contributed to short courses and health leadership programmes, such as the Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH) programme. She has contributed in co-facilitating in the Good Health Research Practices course, conducted three editions of the realist evaluation workshop, taught electives at prestigious national institutes and is currently leading the development of an online Implementation Research course. Pragatis research interest lies in evaluating and supporting implementation of public health policies. She strongly believes in mentoring and building capacity to strengthen health systems.
Goran Zangana (he/him)
Board member representing the European region
Goran Zangana is originally from the Kurdistan region of Iraq. He is a medical doctor doing his initial training and practice in Iraq. He was a Fulbright fellow in the US doing a master's in health policy at the Emory University and did his PhD in international public health policy at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to joining the HSG board Goran was a member of the governing board of emerging voices for global health and an advisor to the Fragile and Conflict-Affected States Thematic Working Groups. He is an acting consultant in acute medicine in NHS Scotland, NHS Lothian lead for International Medical Graduates and is NHS Scotland Global Citizenship champion.
Rima Afifi (she/her)
Board member
Rima Afifi is professor and Interim Head in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa; and adjunct professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut. Her research and practice fall into four categories: youth wellbeing, protective factors, tobacco control, and intervention evaluation. She advocates for a focus on the social/ structural/commercial determinants of well-being to promote inclusion, equity, and justice. Rima applies community-engaged research and cultural humility to equalize power, voice, and self-determination of marginalized communities; engages multiple disciplines to widen the perspectives on any issue, and emphasizes knowledge transfer of research to practice and policy. She has authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications; and has engaged in extensive professional practice in the Arab region.
Devaki Nambiar (she/her)
Board member
Devaki Nambiar is Program Head – Health Systems and Equity as well as Regional Coordinator, Healthier Societies Strategy at the George Institute for Global Health India with appointments at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, the University of New South Wales, Australia, and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, USA. She is a Health Policy and Systems Researcher (HPSRer) with close to two decades of experience working across more than ten Indian states and as many Low- and Middle-Income Countries on decision-maker demand-driven research, postgraduate teaching in HPSR, as well as technical assistance with an emphasis on social exclusion, health equity and health for all. A former Fulbright, Fogarty, and NIH scholar, she currently has an Intermediate Fellowship in Public Health from the Wellcome Trust/Department of Biotechnology India Alliance. An External Member of the World Health Organisation [WHO] Guidelines Review Committee, she advises the WHO on health inequality monitoring, national programme re-orientation, and guideline development to leave no one behind. She serves on the Lancet Commission on Women and Cancer as well as the Lancet-Chatham House Commission on Improving Population Health post COVID-19. Dr. Nambiar received her doctorate in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2009 and was the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Leader Award from the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene.
Francisco Oviedo-Gomez (he/him)
Board member
Francisco Oviedo-Gomez is a Doctor in Medicine and a Master in Public Health by the University of Costa Rica. He is an alumnus of the Program of Leaders in International Health of the Pan-American Health Organization. Francisco has served on the Ministry of Health of Costa Rica since 2004 in different positions (Project Coordinator, Local Health Department Director, Senior Advisor to the Minister’s Office) and carried out important projects such as the Evaluation of the Performance of the National Primary Health Care System. Additionally, he worked for several universities teaching public health, epidemiology and health services management. Francisco has collaborated with international organizations such as the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) (as a Board Member), the WHO (as a consultant), HSG (as a TWG leader) and the Program Emerging Voices for Global Health (as a participant and later as a facilitator).
Stephanie Topp (she/her)
Board member
Stephanie Topp is an Associate Professor in Global Health and Development at James Cook University, and previously lived and worked in Zambia for eight years. Steph is a social scientist with a background in history, politics and public health. She is the current co-chair of HSG’s social-science thematic working group SHAPES, an alumni of Emerging Voices for Global Health (2013), an Associate Editor for BMJ Global Health, and served as a mentor in the 2019 HSG Women Mentorship and 2018 Alliance Publication Mentorship programs. Steph’s research and programmatic interests lie at the intersection of health systems policy and governance, with a focus on power, trust and accountability. She believes strongly in promoting equity through governance reform in both high- and low- and middle-income settings.
Edwine Barasa (he/him)
Board member
Edwine Barasa is the deputy executive director of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, and the director of its Nairobi Programme. He also heads the Programme’s Health Economics Unit (HERU). Edwine is a visiting professor of Health Economics at the University of Oxford. He has a PhD in health economics (University of Cape Town), a master’s degree in health economics (University of Cape Town), a master degree in major programme management (University of Oxford) and a bachelors degree in Pharmacy (University of Nairobi). Edwine’s interests include health financing; equity and efficiency analysis in healthcare; economic evaluation of healthcare interventions; measuring health systems' performance; and health system governance. Edwine has several years of experience of practice, advisory, and conducting health economics and financing research in Kenya and in the broader Sub-Saharan African region. He has provided health financing and broader health systems advisory to governments and several international development organizations, including the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), focusing on the broader Sub-Saharan African region. His latest regional roles include as the chair of the advisory board of the Africa CDC’s Health Economic Programme, and the chair of the Africa Universal Health Coverage (UHC) commission.
Shazra Abbas (she/her)
Board member
Shazra is a medical doctor with two postgraduate degrees in obstetrics and gynaecology from Pakistan. She has worked with the National AIDS Control Program and later with UNICEF Pakistan before doing her MPH and PhD from the University of Melbourne, Australia on AusAID and Endeavour scholarships. Shazra also has experience working with the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia as a public health specialist and is now working at the University of Melbourne, Australia as a technical advisor.
Taufique Joarder (he/him)
Board member representing the Western Pacific Region
Taufique Joarder is a Visiting Associate Professor of Global Health Evaluation at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute, Singapore, and has worked in Bangladesh for about 14 years. He served different institutions in different capacities, such as BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, Family Health International (FHI 360), and North South University. At various universities in Bangladesh and Singapore, he taught global health, health policy and systems, qualitative research, and implementation science. He also served as a long-term consultant for the Health Workforce Department of the World Health Organization, PATH, and Johns Hopkins University in Bangladesh. He is also the Vice-Chairperson of the Public Health Foundation of Bangladesh, Associate Editor of BMC Globalization and Health journal, and member of the Thematic Working Groups on Teaching and Learning Health Policy and Systems Research (Regional Champion for the South East Asia Region), and Emerging Voices for Global Health (The first cohort from 2010). A Doctorate in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Taufique’s areas of interest include health policy, health systems, human resources for health, global health, nutrition policy, medical anthropology, mixed methods research, implementation science, and psychometrics.
