Global Advisory Council

Aula is a consultant in Infectious Diseases/ General Medicine at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust and an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College, London. She also works part-time as an Infectious Diseases/ Malaria specialist for MSF OCA. She has experience in a range of refugee and humanitarian settings which includes clinical work, teaching and capacity building of infection and microbiology services in areas affected by the Syrian conflict including refugee hosting countries and in the ebola response. Current research includes a collaboration on AMR in conflict, communicable diseases during conflict, use of tele-microbiology in conflict, attacks on healthcare in Syria and health systems governance in conflict. She teaches and supports content development for the MPH and Global Health Bsc at Imperial College, London. She chairs the Syria Public Health Network, Health Professionals for Global Health and is on the UK committee of Women for Global Health UK.

Renzo Guinto (MD DrPH) is the Chief Planetary Health Scientist and Co-Founder of the newly established Sunway Centre for Planetary Health in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Concurrently, he is the Associate Professor of the Practice of Global Public Health and Inaugural Director of the Planetary and Global Health Program of the St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine in the Philippines. He is also a member of the National Panel of Technical Experts of the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines, and convener of Planetary Health Philippines – a community of Filipino planetary health advocates, scholars, and practitioners for exchanging ideas, forging collaborations, and advancing the new discipline of planetary health.

An Obama Foundation Asia-Pacific Leader and Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, Renzo is a member of several international groups including: Lancet–Chatham House Commission on Improving Population Health post COVID-19 (University of Cambridge); Lancet One Health Commission (University of Oslo); Advisory Council of Global Health 50/50 (University College London); Advisory Board of Climate Cares (Imperial College London); and Climate Resilient and Sustainable Health Systems Thematic Working Group of Health Systems Global. Renzo has served as consultant for various organizations including: World Health Organization; WHO Foundation; World Bank; USAID; GIZ; ASEAN; International Organization for Migration; Health Care Without Harm; and Philippine Department of Health. He also sits in the editorial boards of The Lancet Planetary Health; PLOS Global Public Health; Journal of Climate Change and Health; and Journal of Migration and Health. Renzo obtained his Doctor of Public Health from Harvard University and Doctor of Medicine from the University of the Philippines Manila. In 2020, Renzo was included by Tatler Magazine in its Gen.T List of 400 leaders of tomorrow who are shaping Asia’s future.

Judy is a Registered Nurse/Midwife in Africa She is currently the Chair for the Center for Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda where she is working to transform nursing and midwifery education for the continent and ensure the role played by nurses and midwives is included in health decision – making. Judy is the Secretary of AFREhealth, the convening body for health professions education and research in Africa, a board member of AfriPEN, the interprofessional collaborative in Africa. She was the Nursing Now Africa Representative, the global campaign to raise the status and profile of nurses. Judy is also an Academc Editor on the PLOS One Global Health Editorial Board. Judy’s clinical nursing specialties are renal, critical care, HIV and palliative care. Judy is the 2019 recipient of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) Global HIV Award.

A Social Investor, Shiv has 30 years of experience in solving complex social problems, in India and internationally. A post-graduate in Management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), he is the co-founder of the Catalyst Group of institutions, consisting of six organisations that further the health and wealth of the marginalised communities.  He has incubated and supported over 200+ community organisations and social enterprises as well as failed. He travels extensively in India and 30 other countries for work.  He plays roles as required – Advisor, technical support provider, institution builder, mentor, team leader, facilitator and coach. He is passionate about communities, collaboratives, institutions, human behaviour, partnerships, technology, governance; in addition to being a foodie, techi and cyclist. More on him in linked in.

Catherine Kyobutungi is the Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center based in Nairobi, Kenya. She previously served as the Center’s Director of Research and Head of the research Unit on Health and Systems for Health. Catherine has a medical background and is a trained epidemiologist with research interests in the interface between Non-Communicable Diseases and Health Systems Strengthening. She has led research projects on the epidemiology of NCD risk factors in Kenya, and designed and tested service delivery models for resource-constrained settings such as slum settings. She has also conducted research on the policy context for NCD prevention in several African countries. Catherine is a strong advocate for the societal benefit of research beyond traditional research outputs. At APHRC, she has strengthened the Center’s approaches to policy engagement and advocacy and supported the development of policy and advocacy models to ensure timely and effective uptake of evidence in decision making.  She has published more than 140 peer-reviewed papers, sits on multiple national and global expert advisory panels.

Catherine is also the co-Director of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) – Phd and Post-doctoral fellowship Program to strengthen the capacity of eight public Universities in Africa to produce the next generation of African research leaders.

Catherine is a Joep Lange Chair at the University of Amsterdam and is working on Chronic Disease Management as an entry point to make healthcare systems more responsive to NCDs in Africa. She is also a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.

Ana is Associate Professor of Cardiology at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique and Head of NCD Research at National Institute of Health, Mozambique. She is also currently Co-Chair of the Lancet Commission for NCDs & Injury of Poverty. From 1992-1997 Ana worked as a GP in rural areas of Mozambique and then pursued a specialisation in Cardiology at the Heart Institute, Maputo Mozambique. Ana since received a PhD in Neglected Diseases at the Imperial College, London, and a Post doc fellow in Epidemiology on NCDs from the University of California.

Dr Shams Syed is the Unit Head, Quality of Care, within the Department of Integrated Health Services in the UHC & Life Course Division at WHO Headquarters in Geneva. He currently directly oversees the WHO national quality policy and strategy initiative and WHO’s technical work on quality in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings. He also oversees a range of work streams within the unit including WHO work on twinning partnerships for improvement and has led WHO work in this arena since 2009. He has recently shaped the WHO COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub. His WHO career has provided an opportunity to work directly with over 30 countries across the world. He has an academic interest in reverse innovation in global health systems. He maintains teaching roles in his spare time, including at Johns Hopkins.

Dr Syed received his medical degree from St. George’s, University of London, and practiced as a General Practitioner in the UK. He received postgraduate public health training at the University of Cambridge. Subsequently, he trained in Preventive Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, is US Board Certified in Public Health & Preventive Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine. His previous experiences include: involvement in a multi-country health systems research consortium; working at the Pan American Health Organization with seven Caribbean countries on strengthening health systems and specifically surveillance systems; and working as the Advisor on Family and Community Health at WHO Trinidad and Tobago.