Bridging research and policy to achieve progress on NCDs, gender equity, and UHC
Progress by Design: Roundtable on Implementing Team-Based Primary Care
Professor David Peiris
Professor Peiris plays a lead role in developing and implementing the institute’s research strategy. He is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, and is a locum GP with Miwatj Health visiting Galiwin’ku, Elcho Island.
David is passionate about strengthening primary health care worldwide. He is focussed on overcoming the challenges of delivering affordable, high-quality health services and programs to communities across the globe. His research is underpinned by health systems science, a dynamic and emerging discipline that includes health services research, health policy and systems research, and implementation science.
David has published extensively and leads several grants testing innovative strategies to improve access to high-quality primary health care. He is a former Australian Harkness Fellow in Healthcare Policy, based at the Harvard School of Public Health, and was the elected co-chair of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases Committee for Hypertension Control from 2012 to 2015. He sits on several government, non-government and research advisory committees. He is a Lancet commissioner focussed on evidence-based implementation in global health and pandemic preparedness.
Emma Feeny
Emma Feeny is Director of Impact & Engagement at The George Institute, where she leads a global programme of activities including advocacy, policy engagement, community engagement and thought leadership, to mobilise knowledge and help increase the impact of the institute’s health and medical research.
Emma has over 20 years’ experience of driving impact in the research, international development and humanitarian sectors, and of building partnerships with government, multilateral, civil society, private sector and academic stakeholders globally. Before joining The George Institute, she worked as a global policy and advocacy advisor at Oxfam, and previously held policy and communications roles with organisations including the UN World Food Programme and the University of Oxford.
A former journalist with organisations including Reuters and the Financial Times, Emma holds a Masters degree in the Social Anthropology of Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
Dr Devaki Nambiar
Devaki Nambiar is Program Director, Healthier Societies Strategy at the George Institute for Global Health India with appointments at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, the University of New South Wales, Australia, and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, USA.
She is a Health Policy and Systems Researcher (HPSRer) with over two decades of experience working in India and other Low- and Middle-Income Countries on decision-maker demand-driven research, postgraduate teaching in HPSR, as well as technical assistance with an emphasis on community action for health, social exclusion, health equity and health for all. She is a former Fulbright, Fogarty, and NIH scholar, and Fellow of the Wellcome Trust/Department of Biotechnology India Alliance. She advises the WHO on health inequality monitoring, national programme re-orientation, and guideline development to leave no one behind.
She serves on the Lancet-Chatham House Commission on Improving Population Health post COVID-19, the Lancet Commission on Sustainable Healthcare, and advises Lancet Commissions on Women and Cancer as well as on Reimagining India's Health System. She is a member of the People's Health Movement and the Medico Friends Circle. She also serves on the Board of Health Systems Global and the Research Advisory Board of the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India. Dr. Nambiar received her doctorate in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2009 and is a recipient of an Emerging Leader Award from the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine & Hygiene.
Professor Vivekanand Jha
Professor Jha is Executive Director at The George Institute for Global Health, India, Chair of Global Kidney Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, and the past President of the International Society of Nephrology.
He has wide-ranging research interests, including understanding the health and societal impact of kidney diseases around the world and the development of affordable, scalable and sustainable primary and secondary prevention tools.
He has worked with many organisations including the WHO to develop clinical practice guidelines and advocacy papers, has lectured extensively around the world, and is a prolific writer and editor.