Societal awards

Dr Rajani R. Ved

Sam Adjei Distinguished Public Service Award

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.

@rajani-ved-58763360/

Watch Rajani's video interview

Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien

Sam Adjei Distinguished Public Service Award

Presented to Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien for his engagement in both health systems development and research; for playing a leading role in creating the infrastructure and relationships that ensures the research influences policy; and his seminal influence on the health trajectory of Thailand. Dr. Viroj is currently Secretary General of the International Health Policy Program Foundation in Thailand and has contributed to strengthening health systems in Thailand since the 1980s, starting first as a medical doctor in small rural hospitals in Eastern Thailand, for which he was recognized as the "Best Rural Doctor of the Year" by The Thai Medical Association. He subsequently continued to serve the Ministry of Health in several senior positions guiding health policy and planning, and since the 1990s has championed health policy and systems research as a key foundation for supporting and sustaining progressive Universal Health Coverage in Thailand.

Watch Viroj's acceptance speech

Professor Lucy Gilson

Award for Lifetime Service to the field of HPSR

Awarded to Professor Lucy Gilson, who is one of the leading scholars of health policy analysis in low- and middle-income countries. In her roles as Professor and Head of the Health Policy and Systems Division, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town and as Professor in Health Policy and Systems, in the Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, she has led the way in promoting the use of health policy analysis research, and in educating and mentoring junior scholars in this field.

Watch Lucy's acceptance speech

Dr Irene Agyepong

Sam Adjei Distinguished Public Service Award

Presented to Dr Irene Agyepong (in absentia) for her academic and policy reform contributions to advancing the field. Dr Agyepong received this Award for her role as Technical Advisor for the development and implementation of Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme, thus enabling more people to access affordable healthcare. She is currently working in the Research and Development directorate of the Ghana Health service after serving for three years as full-time seconded faculty from the Ghana Health Service, in the Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management at the University of Ghana's School of Public Health, where she has taught part-time for over a decade. Internationally, Dr Agyepong is on multiple advisory committees and also was a founding Board member of HSG and served as the First Chair of the Society up until 2014. Furthermore, she has been a member and Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the AHPSR. Dr Agyepong has an MBChB from the University of Ghana Medical School, a Master of Public Health from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and a doctorate in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.

Professor Dame Anne Mills

Award for Lifetime Service to the field of HPSR

Conferred to Professor Dame Anne Mills who is an outstanding researcher and academic leader in health economics and health systems research. During her 40-year career, Professor Mills has greatly contributed to the development of health economics research and capacity in low and middle-income countries. Professor Mills is currently the Deputy Director and Provost of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and also Professor of Health Economics and Policy in the School's Department of Global Health and Development. In December 2014, Professor Mills became a Dame in the Queen's New Year Honours list in recognition of her longstanding services to international health. Previous prestigious awards presented to Professor Mills include the Prince Mahidol Award in 2010. In 2009, she was elected Fellow of the United Kingdom Academy of Medical Sciences, and in 2013 Fellow of the Royal Society. She was the founding Chair of the AHPSR Board, overseeing its first 10 years' development.

Professor Michael R. Reich

Award for Lifetime Service to the field of HPSR

Awarded to Professor Michael R. Reich, who has made distinguished contributions to research and education of health systems for more than four decades. In his writing and teaching, Professor Reich has emphasized the importance of political analysis in the assessment of health policy and health systems. He is the Taro Takemi Professor of International Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and received his PhD in political science from Yale University. Among his many publications is the landmark book on health system reform, coauthored with colleagues at Harvard: Getting Health Reform Right: A Guide to Improving Performance and Equity. Professor Reich is founding co-Editor-in-Chief of the new journal, Health Systems & Reform, which focuses on health policy and systems research. He helped establish the Takemi Programme in International Health at Harvard in 1983, and has served as its director for many years. To date, this programme has hosted more than 250 mid-career Takemi Fellows from over 50 countries. In April 2015, the government of Japan awarded Professor Reich the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, for his outstanding contributions to the promotion of Japan’s policy for global public health as well as for advancing public health in Japan.