Kumanan Rasanathan is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. He is a public health physician with extensive experience working at different levels of the WHO and within the wider UN system. During his almost 25 years working in health systems, career highlights have included serving as Incident Manager for WHO for the COVID-19 response in Cambodia, helping to drive the development of the Sustainable Development Goal health agenda while at UNICEF and contributing to the work of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health.

Zubin Shroff is a technical officer at the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, WHO. He has nearly fifteen years of experience in health systems with a particular focus on health financing and governance. He has previously worked at the Public Health Foundation of India and the World Bank. He holds Doctoral and Masters degrees in Global Health from the Harvard School of Public Health and a medical degree from the University of Delhi.   

Susan Sparkes is health economist on the health financing team at WHO in Geneva. Her work focuses on the implications of fiscal policy, political economy, and health systems reform for universal health coverage, with experience across a range of organizations, including the World Bank, Global Fund, and USAID.

Kara Hanson is Professor of Health System Economics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She has spent the last 30 years researching the economics of health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Her major contributions are in the areas of health financing and the private health sector. She chaired the recent Lancet Global Health Commission on Financing Primary Health Care and frequently advises national governments and international organisations on health system and financing issues. She is President of the International Health Economics Association, and Director of the NIHR Global Health Research Programme. 

Kelechi Ohiri is Director-General and CEO of the National Health Insurance Agency of Nigeria. Prior to this, he was Managing Director and Chief Strategy,Policy and Innovation Officer for GAVI. He has previously served as a senior adviser to the Ministers of Health and Finance in Nigeria.  In addition he has worked at the World Bank and for HSDF, an Africa-based non profit. As a medical doctor, he also has worked as a primary care physician in various healthcare settings. His extensive experience in the healthcare sector spans clinical medicine, consultancy, and advisory roles in both the public and private sectors.

Walaiporn Patcharanarumol is the Director of Global Health Division of the Ministry of Public Health Thailand. She is a senior Researcher on Health Financing and UHC of International Health Policy Program (IHPP), Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. Pharmacist by training, she has a master degree in Social Protection Financing at Maastricht University, Netherlands and a PhD in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Mercy Mwangangi is a Health Economist and Policy Analyst with a background in medicine. She has knowledge and experience in performing high quality Strategic Health Program Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation activities focusing on Universal Health Coverage and Primary Health Care with considerable experience in carrying out in depth Health Situation Analysis and producing of workable recommendations and guidelines on future program directions, incorporating international policies and standards, tailored to local needs.

Ingvar Theo Olsen is currently Policy Director for Health in the Global Health Section in Norad, after several years as an Economist in the Global Health Section. He has been involved in a number of areas within health economics and health financing, as well as health systems issues more broadly. He works on health economics and financing, as well as broader health systems issues. He is currently the centre-point in Norway’s work on Global Financing Facility for Every Woman Every Child (GFF) and health issues related to World Bank. He also serves on different boards and steering committees, such as for the Alliance of Health Policy and Systems Research, the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at University of Oslo, etc.

Matthew Jowett is a Health Financing Specialist, currently head a.i. Health Financing Unit at WHO, Geneva. He has supported the development of health financing strategies in support of universal health coverage numerous countries in most regions of the world, and was involved in advising Ministries of Health in the European Region on responses to the 2008 financial crisis. Before joining WHO, Matthew spent seven years in Asia working as a health financing policy specialist in India and the Philippines, and prior to that worked extensively in Africa before taking up a researcher position at the Centre for Health Economics, University of York, UK.