Global Health Thought Leadership Dialogue

Emeritus Director-General, World Health Organization

Vanke Chair Professor, Tsinghua University, China

Founding Dean of Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, China

Dr Margaret Chan, from the People’s Republic of China, obtained her medical degree from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. She joined the Hong Kong Department of Health in 1978, where her career in public health began.

In 1994, Dr Chan was appointed Director of Health of Hong Kong, the first woman to hold that position. In her nine-year tenure as Director, she launched new services to prevent the spread of disease and promote better health. She also introduced new initiatives to improve communicable disease surveillance and response, enhance training for public health professionals, and establish better local and international collaboration. She effectively managed outbreaks of avian influenza and of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

In 2003, Dr Chan joined WHO as Director of the Department for Protection of the Human Environment. In June 2005, she was appointed Director, Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Response as well as Representative of the Director-General for Pandemic Influenza. In September 2005, she was named Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases. Dr Chan was elected to the post of Director-General on 9 November 2006. The Assembly appointed Dr Chan for a second five-year term at its sixty-fifth session in May 2012. Dr Chan’s last term began on 1 July 2012 and ended on 30 June 2017.

On 2 April 2020, Dr Chan was appointed as inaugural Dean of Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, China.

Co-chair, Council of the World Health Summit

Global Health Advisor to German Chancellor and to European Union President

Senior Advisor to United Nations on Global Health

Professor Kickbusch is a leading global health expert. She has contributed to many innovations, policies and educational initiatives during her distinguished career. She has received many prizes, honorary degrees and recognitions. She was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz) and the WHO Medal for contributions to global health. She is honorary professor at the Charité, Berlin.

She continues to advise the WHO and is a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. She served as a member of the path-breaking WHO Council on the Economic of Health for All. She was key instigator of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, WHOs Healthy Cities Network, WHO’s Health Behavior and School Children Survey, health literacy and Health in All Policies. She has always been committed to women’s health and rights and initiated the @wgh300 list of women leaders in global health.

She is the founder and Chair of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and was the director of the Global Health Division at Yale University School of Public Health. She has pioneered new approaches to leadership training in global health: she initiated the first executive training in Global Health Diplomacy and is program chair of the leaders in health network SCIANA at Salzburg Global. She publishes widely in distinguished journals.

She was co-chair of the Lancet FT Commission on “Governing health futures 2030: growing up in a digital world” and is now working on following through on its recommendations, especially addressing the digital determinants of health.

She chaired the international advisory board for the development of the German global health strategy, advised on the establishment of the WHO Hub on Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin and has been involved in German G7 and G20 activities relating to global health as well as the global health initiatives of the German EU presidency in 2020. She works on a continuous basis with EU presidencies on global health and was advisor to the development of a revised EU Global Health Strategy. She is vice-president of the European Health Forum Gastein.

She is a political scientist with a PhD degree from the University of Konstanz.

Chairperson, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation

Former Chief Scientist, World Health Organization

Soumya Swaminathan was most recently WHO’s Chief Scientist and before that, Deputy Director-General for Programmes. Returning to India, she took over as Chairperson of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in February 2023.

A paediatrician from India and a globally recognised researcher on tuberculosis and HIV, she brings with her 40 years of experience in clinical care and research and has worked throughout her career to translate research into impactful programmes. Dr Swaminathan was Secretary to the Government of India for Health Research and Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research from 2015 to 2017. In that position, she focused on bringing science and evidence into health policy-making, building research capacity in Indian medical schools, and forging south-south partnerships in health sciences. From 2009 to 2011, she also served as Coordinator of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases in Geneva.

She received her academic training in India, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and has published more than 480 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. She is a Fellow of the US National Academy of Medicine, the Academy of Medical Sciences of the UK and a Fellow of all the science academies in India. She has received several honorary doctorates, including from Karolinska institute, EPFL, Lausanne and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She serves on several national and global advisory bodies and committees. She is an adjunct Professor at Karolinska university in Sweden and Tufts university in Boston, USA.

She is a Board Member of the Alliance Bioversity, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), FIND, Population Foundation of India and others. She is also a Governing Council Member of the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission and Chair of ICMR’s Scientific Advisory Board.

As WHO’s inaugural Chief Scientist, Dr Swaminathan built the Science division with a focus on research, quality assurance of norms and standards and digital health. She played a key role during the pandemic in coordinating scientific efforts at the WHO, as well as in setting up Covax, with a focus on equitable vaccine distribution to Low and Middle Income Countries.

Global Health Advisor to Thai Minister of Public Health

Senior Global Health Leader to ASEAN

Dr. Suwit Wibulpolprasert, a public health specialist and policy advocate at national and global levels, has over three decades of experience spanning from grassroots to high-level policy work. He has served in various roles including as an advisor to the Ministry of Public Health in Global Health and as a Board Member of organizations such as the National Health Security Office (NHSO), the National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC), the Chair of the Committee for Yothi Health Innovation District Development, the Board Member of National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), and Chair of the Subcommittee for Development of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM Subcommittee).

Dr Suwit is also the Vice Chair of the International Health Policy Program Foundation (IHPF) and the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Foundation (HITAF).

Dr Suwit always reiterates the importance of the real actions “no research without action, no action without research and believes that the R&D would help our society to be more equitable, inclusive and fair.

Vice President (Global Health), Office of the President, NUS

Dean, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, NUS

Professor Teo Yik Ying is Dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Prior to his Deanship, he was the Founding Director of the School’s Centre for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) and also served as the Director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research (CIDER) from 2015 to 2017. He is presently a member on the Council of Scientists for the International Human Frontier Science Program, as well as a governing board member of the Regional Centre for Tropical Medicine and Public Health Network for Southeast Asia.

For his contributions to academia and public health, Prof Teo has received numerous awards, including the Young Scientist Award by the Singapore National Academy of Science (2010), the Singapore Youth Award (2011), the NUHS‑Mochtar Riady Pinnacle Young Achiever Award (2015), and the Outstanding Young Persons of the World award in the category of Academic Leadership and Achievements (2015).