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.
Barbara McPake
Chair of the Board
Barbara McPake is a health economist by background and believes in interdisciplinary approaches to health systems research.She has been involved in health systems research since the 1980s and has worked across three British universities: University College Swansea, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. Barbara is now the Director of the Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne. She has made significant contributions to training several generations of health system leaders across the world especially in health economics, through post-graduate training and PhD supervision. Barbara has been involved in research that she believes has made recognizable contributions to our discipline such as some of the earliest work on user fees and affordability and the application of new public management ideas in African and Asian contexts. Barbara's current work focuses on the issues for health systems of transition in the Asia-Pacific region. Barbara is Chair of the Board of Health Systems Global.
Adnan Hyder
Vice 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
Treasurer 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.
Daniel Maceira
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.
Lucy Gilson
Board member
Lucy Gilson holds the appointment of professor both at the University of Cape Town and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and is an honorary professor at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Oxon), an MA in Development Economics (East Anglia) and was awarded her PhD by the University of London. Over her career, her research has been driven by concern for equity in health and health care.
Vladimir Gordeev
Board member representing the European Region
Vladimir S Gordeev, PhD is a health economist at the Queen Mary University of London Pragmatic Clinical Trials Unit. Previously, Vladimir was an assistant professor at the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Having a diverse background, as a medical doctor and a health economist, Vladimir's expertise is in health systems financing, financial and social protection, quality of life measures, and economic and policy evaluation. His current work is on maternal and newborn health in Africa and Asia, focusing on indicators for coverage and quality of care and improving measurement of pregnancy outcomes. Prior to that Vladimir was working on health inequalities in disadvantaged areas, economics shocks and health resilience, and social and structural determinants of health. He is also a co-chair of the Emerging Voices for Global Health TWG, representing the European region and committed to raising the profile of young and emerging researchers from the global South.
Devaki Nambiar
Board member representing the South-East Asia Region
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.
Andres Ignacio Vecino-Ortiz
Board member
Andres is a part-time assistant professor at the Institute of Public Health of Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, and Research Associate at the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH). Andres received his PhD in Health Systems from JHSPH, and is also an MD and Master in Economics. He also carried out a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Andres' main field of research is on the economics of prevention activities, allowing him to be involved in a myriad of different health systems topics such as injuries, fiscal policy on health, mental health, chronic diseases, health insurance and other social programs, and child and maternal health. Andres has become particularly interested in the translation of research for policymakers to enable them with tools to prioritize and take decisions in current policy issues.
Katherine Ann Villegas Reyes
Board member representing the Western Pacific Region
Dr Katherine Ann Villegas Reyes is a professor of health policy and administration at the University of the Philippines, Manila. She is a trained physician, health policy analyst, researcher, and educator. She is actively contributing to the development and implementation of health reforms primarily in the Philippines, with beginning contribution to South-East Asian countries. She focuses her policy analysis and research work to enable decision makers and managers, make better decisions toward stronger public health systems with responsive health service delivery, health financing, institutional governance and regulation. Since 2012, she has led or co-led projects on health systems strengthening commissioned by a range of institutions such as the Philippines Department of Health (DOH), the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), PhilHealth, UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, the European Union (EU) and USAID. Her current engagements include work in universal health care, health technology assessment, and hospital regulation. Her practical experience also spans program-specific interventions such as in maternal and child health and health emergency management.
Rima Afifi
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.
Ana Beatriz Amaya
Board member
Dr. Ana B. Amaya is Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy at Pace University and Associate Research Fellow at the United Nations University (UNU-CRIS). She also serves as Module Organizer for the Issues in Global Health Policy MSc. module at LSHTM. She has conducted research on global health governance and health systems strengthening for over 15 years 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. Her recent work has explored regional organizations in the Global South; the impact of COVID-19 on health inequities; and global governance of health.
Racha Fadlallah
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.
Francisco Oviedo-Gomez
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).
Felix Abrahams Obi
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.
Stephanie Topp
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.
