Health Systems Global Speaks reporters announced
We are pleased to announce the final cohort of reporters, HSG Speaks, for the Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Vancouver in November.
HSG Speaks will play a key role in creating a buzz ahead of the symposium. During the event, the cohort of reporters will provide a live coverage of the activities taking place during the Symposium by capturing and highlighting the key messages and offering on-the-spot perspective of the Symposium using blogs, interviews, film and social media.
The HSG Speaks reporters are:
Ermel Johnson, West African Health Organisation, Burkina Faso
Ermel Johnson is a Professional Officer in charge of Implementation of ‘’Moving Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Evidence into Policy in West Africa’’ (MEP) at West African Health Organisation (WAHO). In this role, he accompanies the research teams involved in the project to establish a dialogue with policy makers to ensure the use of their results from their research. He also supports policymakers in the use of evidence in policy formulation and decision-making in health. Originally a medical doctor, Ermel has worked as a clinician and ensure the strengthening of the paramedical staff capacity in Burkina Faso. Currently at WAHO, he aims through the MEP project to make the research and research outcomes become a decision-making tools for strengthening health systems in the ECOWAS region.
Meghan Bruce Kumar, REACHOUT, UK
Meghan Kumar is a citizen of the world passionate about science, people and diversity! She brings these together as the research manager for a six-country quality improvement project, REACHOUT, with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Spanning four continents, her decade of work in public health has involved focus on community health and task-shifting, malaria drug markets, and the role of the private sector. She is pursuing a PhD in international public health, and holds an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a BA from Princeton University.
Sarah Marks, Malaria Consortium, UK
Sarah Marks is a Research Officer at Malaria Consortium’s headquarters in London, supporting research into community health delivery and pneumonia. She has a masters in Public Health from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Honours degree in Infectious Diseases from the University of Edinburgh.
Emmanuel Ochola, St Mary’s Hospital, Uganda
Emmanuel Ochola is a medical doctor, with MSc degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He has eleven years in care for patients, and currently heads the department of HIV, research and documentation, cares for 15,000 HIV clients and also chairs the hospital quality team. He has research interests in hepatology, infectious diseases, and improvement of health care delivery. Currently he is working with colleagues on a project in Uganda and South Sudan, to improve maternal and child health in the two post conflict settings by using a community centered approach.
Manoj Kumar Pati, Institute of Public Health, India
Manoj Kumar Pati is a public health researcher at the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru. He has a masters in public health (MPH) in health system management. His research interests are implementation research, equity research, epidemiology and non-communicable diseases. He was part of a recently concluded study on understanding factors that improve access to medicines among people with non-communicable diseases in rural India.
Meaghan Thumath, STOP HIV BC Centre for Disease Control, Canada
Meaghan is a Trudeau Scholar at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence Based Intervention. Her research interests include substance misuse, gender and health equity. As a clinical nurse specialist Meaghan has provided technical assistance to international organizations such as UNAIDS, the World Bank, and UNDP supporting health systems strengthening in Central Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, West Africa, Eastern Europe and North Africa. In Canada she led the implementation of the STOP HIV program for both Vancouver Coastal Health and BCCDC as Senior Practice Leader responsible for setting provincial HIV policy and programming. Meaghan completed a bachelor of science in nursing at the University of British Columbia and a masters of science in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Mae Velasco, Department of Health, Philippines
Mae Velasco is medical doctor by profession with training in clinical epidemiology. For the past 4 years, she has been working within the public health sector both in the areas of research and policy work. Prior to that, she worked as a research associate with academe on different types of health systems research. Currently, she oversees the management of the Department of Health’s Health Systems Research Management, which among things, includes a portfolio of health systems research that is currently being implemented through the assistance of an institutional partner.
Many congratulations to the HSG Speaks reporters, we look forward to hearing from them during the Symposium. We will also be publishing the blog posts that they submitted as their application to join the cohort over the coming weeks, so you can see why they think communications is necessary for health systems research.
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We are also accepting additional applications from French and Spanish speakers (one of our reporters Dr Ermel Johnson will be covering the Symposium in French). If you are interested in joining the HSG Speaks cohort, please submit an application by 8 September in your preferred language (application details on HSG Speaks webpage). Please note that we can only accept applications from those who are already registered for the Symposium or have plans and funding to do so.
