2025 has been a breakpoint for global health. Aid donors have slashed billions in funding, triggering catastrophic impacts. Amid these cuts, the global health system faces cascading shocks including geopolitical fragmentation, a retreat from multilateralism, climate-driven crises, massive human displacement from conflicts, and debt crises in many low- and middle-income countries that limit domestic health investments. There’s no going back to the ‘old’ global health. But what should come next? This webinar, jointly sponsored by the Duke Center for Policy Impact in Global Health, Itad and PLOS Medicine, dives into the evidence: What parts of the current system are delivering real impact—and what’s failing miserably? What should we preserve, overhaul, or abandon altogether? Join us for a timely, evidence-driven discussion on how to rebuild global health for a more resilient, equitable and sustainable future.
This event is jointly sponsored by the Duke Center for Policy Impact in Global Health, Itad and PLOS Medicine. Join us! Register via the link above. Please note that the time of this webinar is 3pm GMT / 10am ET.
About the speakers
John-Arne Røttingen, MD, MSc, PhD, MPA, has held many international roles in health and research, including most recently as Ambassador for Global Health at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norway. Prior to this, he was founding CEO of CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), which Wellcome helped to launch, and has been the Chief Executive of the Research Council of Norway. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the US National Academy of Medicine. He has led the steering groups for the Ebola vaccine trial in Guinea and the Covid-19 WHO Solidarity Trial, and the Lancet Series on access and sustainable effectiveness of antimicrobials. He has held many national and international board and advisory board roles, including board member of Science Europe and chair of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, and was a board member of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, PATH, Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) and Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).
Gavin Yamey MD, MPH (moderator) is the Director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health based in DGHI. The Center is an innovative policy lab that addresses critical challenges in financing and delivering global health. He leads the global health track in the Duke Global Policy (DGP) Program in Geneva. He is on the advisory board of the World Food Policy Center at Duke. He was Deputy Editor of the Western Journal of Medicine, Assistant Editor at the BMJ, a founding Senior Editor of PLOS Medicine, and the Principal Investigator on a $1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the launch of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. In 2009, he was awarded a Kaiser Family Mini-Media Fellowship in Global Health Reporting to examine the barriers to scaling up low cost, low tech health tools in Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.
Sam McPherson MA, is a Partner at Itad and co-leads our work on health and education. Sam also manages our relationships with external partners and our business development team. Sam has over 25 years’ experience in international development. He has extensive programmatic expertise in HIV/AIDS issues, vaccines, health systems, community engagement, global health security, education and climate change. He is a specialist in organisational, impact, portfolio and fund-level evaluations, theories of change, strategic planning, monitoring and reporting systems, value for money assessments, adaptive management and training and capacity building. Prior to joining Itad, he was Associate Director: Field Programmes at the HIV/ AIDS Alliance, where he led the work of the Planning Analysis and Learning Unit across 42 countries. He also previously worked at PLAN International and the European Commission.
Osondu Ogbuoji MBBS, MPH, ScD, is a health systems researcher with a background in medicine, public health, and health economics. His primary research interest is in making health systems work better for all, especially people living in poverty. His work includes the application of quantitative models to explore complex health system challenges such as persistent health inequities, child mortality, and inefficient/inequitable health financing in low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Ogbuoji serves as a commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, the Lancet Commission on Preventing Viral Spillovers, and the Lancet Commission on Global Hearing Loss.
Ebere Okereke FFPHM, MSc, MBBS, is a dedicated public health physician, recognised for her extensive expertise in shaping public health policy, designing strategic frameworks, and executing complex health programs. Her work focuses on global health security, health system strengthening, and the cultivation of effective leadership in the field. She has garnered prestigious accolades for her advocacy for women and underrepresented groups in public health leadership. Currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Public Health Foundation, she has held pivotal roles including Lead Consultant in Public Health England’s International Health Regulations Strengthening Programme, Senior Adviser at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and Honorary Senior Adviser to the inaugural Director of the Africa CDC. She sits on the governing board of the Albert Luthuli Institute of Leadership at Pretoria University and is a founding member of the Africa CDC Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme.
Nina Schwalbe MPH, PhD, founded Spark Street in 2016. Her leadership positions include Managing Director for Policy and Performance at Gavi, the vaccine alliance, where she led Gavi’s work in strategic planning, policy development, market-shaping, performance management, and monitoring and evaluation; Principal Advisor and Acting Chief of Health at Unicef, overseeing their health programs in over 150 countries; and Director of Global Public Health for the Open Society Institute. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she established USAID’s COVID-19 Vaccine Access and Delivery Initiative and serving as its first director. Nina holds a BA from Harvard, an MPH from Columbia and PhD from Witwatersrand University. A lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Senior Scholar at Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, a Principal Visiting Fellow at the United Nations International Institute for Global Health, and a Lancet Commissioner for gender and health.
