Announcing the winner of the Sam Adjei Distinguished Public Service Award 2020
Health Systems Global and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research are pleased to proudly announce Dr Rajani R. Ved as the winner in 2020 of the Sam Adjei Distinguished Public Service Award for leadership in evidence-based policy and health systems strengthening
The Sam Adjei Distinguished Public Service Award is presented to an individual currently or previously in an elected or appointed position in government, an international agency, or other non-profit organization engaged in public service who has demonstrated leadership in evidence-informed health policy formulation for stronger health systems; championed the field of HPSR within his or her particular context; and/or made significant contributions to the enhancement of health systems, nationally and/or internationally.
Dr Rajani R. Ved is a public health specialist and a former Executive Director of India’s National Health Systems Resource Centre, a technical assistance agency that supports health systems strengthening at central and state government levels in India where she played a key role in developing and providing implementation support to the country’s Comprehensive Primary Health Care initiative. Her work focuses on linking community processes with health systems and supporting the implementation of comprehensive primary health care. She has worked for over thirty years as a practitioner researcher with grassroots NGOs, governments, donors and private foundations in programme implementation, evaluation and research and policy formulation in women and children’s health and nutrition and health systems. Her special interest is implementing research on scaling up innovations to large scale health systems. She has a degree in medicine from Madras University and a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard University.
On announcing the award, Professor Asha George, Board Chair of Health Systems Global said:
“On behalf of Health Systems Global and our partners at the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, I am delighted to present this award to Dr Rajani R. Ved. Dr Ved is well known for being a generous mentor and strong advocate for emerging researchers and implementers across India. Many across all levels of India’s health system value Dr Ved’s expertise and advice and they will no doubt share my delight in presenting this award to her.”
Professor David Peters, Board Chair of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research commended the award:
“It is a pleasure to name Dr Rajani R. Ved as the recipient of the Sam Adjei Distinguished Public Service Award for 2020. Dr Ved is widely appreciated for her ability to both engage with and understand the realities of frontline health service delivery and management, whilst working at the national policy level of a vast country. She has a strong track record of designing and applying innovative and cutting-edge approaches to quality assurance, research and policy making. Dr Ved is hugely deserving of this award.”
Responding to news of her award, Dr Rajani R. Ved remarked:
“It is a great honour to accept this award, and although I am named as the recipient, it belongs equally to everyone I’ve ever worked with – grassroots workers, programme managers and teams I have worked with on a day to day basis. My thanks to Health Systems Global and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research for this recognition. The commitment to health systems and policy research and knowledge translation, and consistent goal of ensuring diversity and representation in all their activities make HSG an exceptional organization, and I am proud to be associated with it.”
