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David Agus
Founding Director and CEO, The Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine
Dr. David B. Agus is one of the world's leading doctors and pioneering biomedical researchers. He is the founding director and CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine and a professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California. A medical oncologist, Agus leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to the development and use of technologies to guide doctors in making health care decisions tailored to individual needs. An international leader in global health and approaches for personalized health care, Agus serves in leadership roles at the World Economic Forum and is co-chair of the Global Health Security Consortium.
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Hala is the CEO of Unizima, part of Belgian life sciences group Univercells. Unizima is a biomanufacturing services and technology provider, providing the expertise and cutting-edge technology needed to enable sustainable production of biologics such as vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and insulin in emerging markets.
Hala joined Unizima from a career in government and global public health, including heading the pioneering UK review on antimicrobial resistance, chaired by Jim O’Neill. She has also been a senior leader in the UK Treasury Department and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority where her role focused on modernizing delivery of the government’s major projects and portfolio including through modularised construction. Earlier in her career she was an international arbitration lawyer with US law firm Skadden, Arps in New York and London.
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John Bell
Alberta & Magdalen 1975
Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford
Sir John Bell GBE, FRS is Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University. President of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2006 to 2011); Chair, Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research until 2017; Chair, Rhodes Trust; UK Life Sciences Champion since 2011. Appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 2015 for services to medicine, medical research and the life science industry. Co-developed and wrote both 2017 UK Life Sciences Industrial Strategy and 2021 Life Sciences Vision providing recommendations to HM Government on ensuring the long-term success of the life sciences sector.
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Tony Blair
Executive Chairman, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The Rt Hon Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Tony Blair served as Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2007 - the only Labour leader in the party’s 100-year history to win three consecutive elections.
During his time in Downing Street Tony Blair implemented a major domestic reform agenda. Through record investment and reform, the UK’s education and healthcare sectors were transformed. The New Labour Government led by Tony implemented the largest hospital and school building programme since the creation of the UK’s welfare state.
Overall crime was reduced by a third, and the first ever national minimum wage was introduced. There was also transformational progress on human rights and equality and all of this took place during a period of record economic growth and levels of employment.
As Prime Minister, Tony Blair was also a central figure on the global stage. He helped bring peace to Northern Ireland, securing the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998. He was a passionate advocate of an interventionist foreign policy. Tony created the Department for International Development, tripled the UK’s foreign aid to Africa, and introduced landmark legislation to tackle climate change.
Since leaving office Tony Blair has spent most of his time working on three areas: supporting governments to deliver effectively for their people, working for peace in the Middle East, and countering extremism.
He established the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change to work on some of the most difficult challenges in the world today, believing that real leadership has never been more necessary or more difficult.
Currently, teams from Mr. Blair’s Institute are directly supporting leaders across the globe, delivering analysis and advice to help countries harness the power of technology.
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Sergio Carmona
Chief Medical Officer, FIND
Sergio Carmona is a global health leader, an MD PhD specialized in pathology. Following a distinguished clinical and academic career at the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), he joined FIND in 2019. In 2021, he became the Chief Medical Officer. At FIND he covers a wide R&D portfolio for priority diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis, NTDs, AMR, NCDs, including HPV testing for early screening of cervical cancer. He is motivated by improving access to affordable diagnostics in LMICs. On the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, FIND was named co-convener of the Diagnostics Pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, in which Dr Carmona has played an instrumental role.
Prior to joining FIND, Dr Carmona spent over a decade at the National Health Laboratory Services in South Africa, where he focused on molecular diagnostics and treatment monitoring for HIV, EID, HIV drug resistance and associated co-infections. He retains an academic affiliation to his alma mater, the University of the Witwatersrand. His work has supported guidance in HIV diagnostics and management. He has regularly participated in technical committees and initiatives led by the WHO, the USCDC, the ASLM and the SA National Department of Health.
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Jessica Davis
Associate Research Scientist, Northeastern University
Jessica Davis is an Associate Research Scientist in the Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological and Socio-Technical Systems at Northeastern University. Her research combines network science methods with data-driven epidemic modeling to respond to emerging infectious disease outbreaks. Her work aims to inform public health policies and enhance preparedness for future outbreaks by bridging the gap between theory and practice. She received her PhD in Network Science from Northeastern University, where she investigated the impact of cryptic transmission and travel restrictions during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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George Fu Gao
Professor, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Gao is the former director-general of China CDC (2017-2022) and former vice-president of National Science Foundation of China. He is a member (academician) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), an international member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a foreign member of the U.K. Royal Society (RS), a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He is the director of WHO and a professor of Institute of Microbiology, CAS. Gao has pioneered and made numerous significant original breakthroughs on the pathogenesis mechanisms and pathogen-host interaction of emerging infectious pathogens. His interests also include global public health and health strategy, and is an advocate of international collaboration in global public health. Gao pioneers the COVID-19 research and control with virus discovery, vaccine and therapeutic monoclonal antibody development etc. Gao is a recipient of several international and national awards, including TWAS Medical Prize, Nikkei Asian Prize (Japan), Shulan Medical Sciences Award, the Gamaleya Medal (Russia), HKU Centennial Distinguished Chinese Scholar and the Qiu Shi Outstanding Scientist, Outstanding Scientific Research Team Awards and TWAS Medal Lectures.
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Rasmus Hansen
CEO, Airfinity
Rasmus is a globally recognised expert on scientific information and knowledge dissemination. He spent his earlier career as a Fortune500 strategist. Rasmus is a strong believer in the power of accurate information and new ideas - he founded his first, short lived, newspaper at the age of 13 - a passion that drove him to found Airfinity. As CEO of Airfinity he is often quoted in leading media companies such as Financial times, Bloomberg and CNN. He is a board member of the newspaper group, Information.dk. Rasmus holds a B.Sc. in Political Science, a MPA from Harvard University and is a recipient of the Crown Prince Frederic award for excellent scholarship. He lives in London.
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Sarah Hess
Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organisation
A global public health expert, working for the World Health Organization since 2014, focusing on global health policy, multisectoral partnerships and communication and trust during crises. Her current portfolio includes building multisectoral partnerships for enhanced epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, leading a multidisciplinary initiative to define and measure trust in the context of pandemics, and building an innovative digital solution to increase access to credible health information during high impact public health events.
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Prabhat Jha
Prairies & Magdalen 1987
Professor of Global Health, University of Toronto
Professor Prabhat Jha is a University Professor at the University of Toronto, Endowed Professor in Global Health and Epidemiology and Canada Research Chair at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and the founding Director of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael's Hospital.
Professor Jha is the lead investigator of the Million Death Study in India, which quantifies the causes of premature mortality in over 3 million homes from 1998 to current. His publications on tobacco control have enabled a global treaty now signed by over 180 countries. He founded the Statistical Alliance for Vital Events, which focuses on reliable measurement of premature mortality worldwide.
Earlier, Professor Jha served in senior roles at the World Health Organization and the World Bank. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2012. Professor Jha holds an M.D. from the University of Manitoba and a D.Phil. from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
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Hannah Kettler
Director (Acting) for COVAX Design & Operationalisation, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance
Dr. Hannah Kettler is a global expert in corporate social innovation, currently serving as the acting Director for COVAX Design and Operationalization at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. In this capacity she oversees the policy design and operationalization of the COVAX Facility and the establishment of a dedicated Health Security function to deepen Gavi’s engagement in responding to outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics, building on Gavi’s current role and experience. Previously, Dr. Kettler worked as the Director for Vaccine Financing and Partnerships at PATH and 16 years at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, most recently as the Head of Industry and Leadership Engagement. In this role, she managed the Gates-CEO Roundtable. Dr. Kettler is a recognized authority and published author on policy incentives and partnership models to mobilize corporate investment in global health. She has a PhD in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
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Hannah Kuchler
Global pharmaceutical correspondent, Financial Times
Hannah Kuchler is the global pharmaceuticals correspondent for the Financial Times, leading the business newspaper’s coverage of the life sciences industry. She has reported on the Covid-19 pandemic, receiving an honourable mention at the Society for Advanced Business Editing and Writing awards for a feature she led on the Pfizer vaccine. In the US, Kuchler collaborated with PBS Frontline on a documentary about the opioids crisis, which was nominated for an Emmy and won a Loeb award. Before covering the life sciences industry, she was a technology correspondent in Silicon Valley. She has worked for the FT for thirteen years in London, Hong Kong, New York, and San Francisco.
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Tariro Makadzange
Zimbabwe & Balliol 1999
Founder and CEO, CRMG & Mutala Trust
Tariro Makadzange is a medical social-entrepreneur, infectious disease physician and viral immunologist. Her career has spanned academia and industry in Africa and the United States. She is founder and CEO of CRMG and Mutala Trust in Zimbabwe. CRMG is a research organization focused on diversifying research by including Africa and Africans in clinical trials and understanding immunogenetics in African populations including antibody discovery research for infectious diseases. Mutala Trust is a non-profit research organization that conducts public health and implementation science research in communicable and non-communicable diseases. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Clinical Medicine at Stanford University and Faculty Fellow at the Stanford Centre for Innovation in Global Health.
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Mia Malan
Editor, Bhekisisa Centre for Journalism
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work. A former Knight International Journalism Fellow and a Reuters Institute Journalism Fellow, Mia speaks internationally about health issues in Africa and media sustainability in the Global South. Mia has published widely in books and academic journals, including the Brown Journal of World Affairs and the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. She was a TEDx speaker on how Covid changed news reporting and regularly moderates panels for high-level events.
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Trevor Mundel
South Africa-at-Large & Balliol 1984
President of Global Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Trevor Mundel leads the foundation’s efforts to develop high-impact interventions to drive down the global burden of infectious diseases. He manages the foundation’s disease-specific R&D investments in malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, pneumococcal disease, enteric and diarrheal diseases, and neglected tropical diseases. He also manages cross-cutting product development programs, including Discovery & Translational Sciences, diagnostic tools, Integrated Development, the Institute for Disease Modeling, and vaccine development. This work relies on close collaboration with a global network of grantees and partners. In 2018, Trevor spearheaded the creation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute to address a critical gap facing the development of novel biomedical interventions for diseases that disproportionately impact those with the greatest need. Trevor was also responsible for leading the foundation’s early efforts to support the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Ahmed Ouma
Director AI., Africa CDC
Dr Ahmed Ogwell OUMA is currently the Acting Director of Africa CDC. He is also the founding Deputy Director, and, in these roles, he has led the strategic work and oversight of Africa CDC. He works closely with African Union Member States and partners to deliver on the mandate of Africa CDC of preventing and controlling diseases in Africa. Ahmed has led the operations of Africa CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic, coordinating the planning, acquisition, and delivery of life-saving health products to African countries including test kits, personal protective materials, therapeutics, and vaccines. Formerly, he worked with the WHO at both the HQs and Regional Office for Africa, in combating NCDs & tobacco control. Prior to that, Dr. Ahmed worked at country level in the Ministry of Health, Kenya, as Director for NCDs and then Head of the Office for International Health Relations. He has been at the forefront of advocacy and action to reform the health system in Africa including the need to establish an efficient & effective response mechanism for disease threats and health emergencies. He has over 25 years’ experience in public health and is an alumnus of the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the University of Bergen in Norway.
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Andrew Pollard
Director, Oxford Vaccine Group
Sir Andrew is the Ashall Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity based within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford. He is the Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and an honorary consultant Paediatrician at Oxford Children’s Hospital. He received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2021 for services to Public Health, especially in the pandemic, and the James Spence Medal in 2022. He along with the Oxford Vaccine Team were awarded the Copley Medal in 2023.
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Tanvi Rai
Senior Researcher, University of Oxford
Tanvi Rai is a Senior Researcher in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the social determinants of health and health inequalities, and explores how historically-informed and reflexive approaches that account for the structural and material realities of different populations, as well as the positionality of researchers in the generation of new knowledge, can lead to more robust and relevant health research.
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Amadou Sall
CEO, Institut Pasteur, Senegal
Dr Amadou A Sall is the CEO of Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal and director of the WHO collaborating center for Arboviruses and viral hemorrhagic fever. He has been chairman of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and a member of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI) Scientific Advisory Board. Dr Sall is a virologist with a PhD in Public health. He is an expert in epidemics response and control more specifically for arboviruses and viral hemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, Zika, Yellow fever…) and high consequence pathogens. Dr Sall is a member of several expert committees for WHO (GOARN, TDR, SAGE, STAG-IH…) and OIE. Dr Sall is the co-chair of the COVID 19 laboratory technical working group of Africa Center for Disease Control and member of the Africa Union AFTCOR steering Committee as well as the Senegalese Committee for COVID 19. He is the chairman of the Pasteur Network.
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Melanie Saville
Executive Director, Research & Development - CEPI
Melanie Saville is the Executive Director of Vaccine Research and Development at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). She leads the technical teams supporting the vaccine development and enabling science projects funded by CEPI and is the R&D workstream leader for COVAX. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI).
Melanie is a physician specialized in virology with 20 years of experience in the development and licensure of vaccines for the developed and developing world. Over the years, she has contributed to the development and licensure of several vaccines for seasonal and pandemic influenza, pediatric combinations, Rabies, Japanese Encephalitis and Dengue vaccine in Europe, US and the international area.
Melanie obtained her medical degree from University College, London in 1993. She also obtained a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from University College, London and a master’s in medical Virology from Imperial College, London.
In the vaccine industry, Melanie has held positions of increasing responsibility in research and development working for Wyeth, Sanofi Pasteur and Janssen vaccines and prevention.
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Lynda Stuart
Vice President of Infectious Disease, BioNTech
Lynda Stuart, M.D., Ph.D. Lynda Stuart is a scientist, doctor, and passionate advocate for healthcare as a human right. She is the Vice President of Infectious Disease at BioNTech. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh and an M.D. from the University of Cambridge and the University of London. Dr. Stuart has served on the Massachusetts General Hospital Executive Committee for Research and as an affiliate of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. As the Deputy Director for Vaccines & Human Immunology at the Gates Foundation, she led a team that aims to source novel approaches and accelerate the discovery, development, and translation of new passive and active immunization strategies for foundation priority diseases. During the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Stuart also led the Foundation’s COVID19 discovery and translational vaccine response efforts. She was responsible for a large portfolio of COVID19 and pan-coronavirus vaccine candidates, transitioned multiple candidates through preclinical development and into the clinic.
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Eloise Todd
Executive Director & Co Founder, Pandemic Action Network
Eloise Todd is a co-founder of Pandemic Action Network and an advocacy, policy, campaigns, and strategy specialist. She has over 20 years' experience working to change legislation and budgets to improve lives. Primarily, she has worked in international development and global health, including as a political adviser within the EU institutions and as Global Policy Director of the ONE Campaign. Eloise campaigned against the UK's Brexit deal, founding and building a pro-European organization, Best for Britain, into a national campaign force. Eloise Co-founded Pandemic Action Network with 3 colleagues in April 2020, and took on the Executive Director role in August 2022. The Network fights to prevent future outbreaks becoming pandemics, and to work for equity in all areas of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
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Ngaire Woods
New Zealand & Balliol 1987
Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Professor Ngaire Woods is the founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government and Professor of Global Economic Governance at Oxford University. Her research focuses on how to enhance the governance of organisations, the challenges of globalisation, global development, and the role of international institutions and global economic governance.
She founded the Global Economic Governance Programme at Oxford University, and co-founded (with Robert O. Keohane) the Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellowship programme. She led the creation of the Blavatnik School of Government.
Ngaire Woods serves as a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s International Advisory Panel and as a Non-Executive Director at Rio Tinto. She is a trustee of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Education Foundation, and the Van Leer Foundation. She is a member of the Conseil d'administration of the Institut National Du Service Public. She sits on the advisory boards of the Centre for Global Development, the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business & Society, the African Leadership Institute, the School of Management and Public Policy at Tsinghua University, the Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy at Cape Town University, and the International Business and Diplomatic Exchange (IBDE). She is Vice-Chair of the Alfred Landecker Foundation’s Governing Council and a member of the UK Department for International Trade’s Trade and Economy Panel. She is also an honorary governor of the Ditchley Foundation and is co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Frontier Risks.
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Zhi Yang
Founder & Managing Partner, BVCF
Dr. Yang founded BVCF in 2005. He has over 20 years of China and U.S. life sciences investment experience as a private equity investor, senior executive, entrepreneur, and scientific inventor. As private equity investor, he has built portfolios of over 30 companies, with 8 exits (4 IPO and 4 acquisitions). As entrepreneur, he co-founded 7 companies, 6 of which continue to conduct business and grow. As scientist, he was the principal inventor of more than 10 U.S. and international patents, which have been documented to have earned MNCs over $250 million. He was a senior fellow and faculty member at Rockefeller University and is now an advisor to the China Health and Medical Development Foundation, under China Ministry of Health. Dr. Yang earned his PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Harvard University as a fellow of CUSBEA first class, the first group of mainland Chinese biology scholars selected to be brought to the U.S. after China opened its doors in 1979.
