From Resistance to Resilience

Alternate Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu has a degree in International Relations from the Ibero-American University and a master’s degree in Political Economy from the London School of Economics. She has been a member of the Mexican Foreign Service since 1990 and rose to the rank of Ambassador in 2012.

In the Foreign Ministry she has served in the General Directorate for Europe; the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs; the General Directorate for Africa and the Middle East and the General Directorate for the United Nations. She has worked in the Mexican embassies in the United Kingdom, the United States and Spain.

Ambassador Buenrostro Massieu has been Consul General of Mexico in Hong Kong and Ambassador of Mexico in Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia and Permanent Representative to International Organizations based in Vienna.

Commissioned by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, she was appointed General Director of International Media of the Presidency of the Republic, and in the Tourism Promotion Council of Mexico in Canada, she currently serves as Alternate Permanent Representative in the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN in New York.

James leads IFPMA’s work spanning global health, including the innovative pharmaceutical industry’s policy on pandemic preparedness, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and global access to medicines and vaccines.

In his previous role as Head of Corporate Government Affairs at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), James was responsible for GSK’s strategic engagement with the UK Government. He also held positions in Government Affairs and Commercial at European and global levels and led their strategy and engagement on AMR.

He was in the founding team of the AMR Action Fund and led the development of the 2016 Davos Declaration on AMR and the subsequent United Nations General Assembly Industry AMR Roadmap. He has advised on AMR policy development at the WHO, UN, EU Commission, and with national governments.

James is Chair of the AMR Industry Alliance Board and Chair of the INTREPID Alliance Board. He has also served as the Vice-Chair of Health at Business at the OECD, and as a member of the UK Life Science Strategy Board.

He has an MBA in Business from Harvard Business School as well as a Masters in Natural Sciences-Molecular and Genetic Pathology from Cambridge University.

Allison Carlson is the Executive Vice President of FP Analytics & Events at Foreign Policy. She oversees FPA’s cross-cutting research at the intersection of policy, technology, and global markets as well as Foreign Policy’s global dialogues and convenings. Prior to these roles, Carlson led FP Analytics’ energy and technology team for more than a decade, evaluating evolving policies, regulations, and market factors to identify opportunities for project development and advanced technology deployment internationally. Before joining FP, she led the Latin America program for a boutique consulting firm assisting European companies on investing in emerging markets’ energy and financial sectors. Carlson has presented her work at a variety of international conferences and before the U.S. Senate. She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where she received a master’s degree in international relations and international economics.

Damiano de Felice, PhD, is a non-profit executive with experience leading teams across multiple functions, including business development and fundraising, policy and external relations, strategy and impact, operations and finance. He joined CARB-X from the Access toMedicine Foundation, where he served as Director of Strategy and a member of the management team. With expertise in the areas of global health, human rights and sustainable investing, Damiano has published his research and interviews in international news, magazines and academic journals, including the Financial Times, The Guardian, Harvard Business Review and Human Rights Quarterly. He has served on multiple expert and advisory groups, including the World Economic Forum Global Future Council onAntimicrobial Resistance, World EconomicForum Global Future Council on Human Rights, SASB Advisory Group for the pharmaceutical sector, Global AMR R&D Hub Stakeholder Group, and Expert Committee for the UNSustainable Procurement Index for Health. Throughout his career, Damiano has advised international organizations, companies, governments and NGOs, including the UN WorkingGroup on Business and Human Rights and the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. Damiano holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics andPolitical Science.

Niall Fry is the Head of Global Health Security at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), based in London. His responsibilities, alongside AMR, include, amongst other things, UK policy on One Health, the Pandemic Fund, financing for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, and the Pandemic Accord negotiations.

Previously, Niall led the FCDO team responsible for the UK’s investments in the major global health initiatives such as the Global Fund and Gavi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Niall was responsible for designing the UK’s “core voluntary contribution” program for WHO, which established the UK as the largest provider of flexible funding to WHO.

Other career highlights include a secondment to the Global Polio Eradication Programme, where Niall worked for the program’s Independent Monitoring Board, understanding the blocks to eradication. Niall started his career in the office of the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, leading on the UK response to the H1N1 pandemic.

Dr Malin Grape is Swedish Ambassador on Antimicrobial Resistance since March 2022. In her previous position as Deputy Head of Department for Communicable Disease Control and Health Protection and Head of Unit for Antibiotics and Infection Control at the Public Health Agency of Sweden she was responsible for national coordination and international cooperation on antimicrobial resistance and healthcare associated infections. Dr Grape is a licensed pharmacist and holds a PhD in medical science from the Karolinska Institute. Her research and previous professional experience span a broad field from clinical microbiology to global health. Dr Malin Grape has been the chair of the national sector-wide coordinating mechanism on antibiotic resistance including 22 governmental agencies as well as director of a WHO Collaboration Centre for antimicrobial resistance containment. She was a member of the programme committee of the national research programme on antibiotic resistance and council member of the National Council for Patient Safety.

François Jackman is the Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations. 

Before his latest appointment, Mr. Jackman served as his country’s Ambassador to China, beginning in 2018.  He was previously Co-Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, from 2016 to 2018.

Mr. Jackman has held senior positions related to trade and foreign affairs since entering Government service in 1995.  He served as Chef de Cabinet in the Office of the Prime Minister in 2015; Counsellor at his country’s Embassy in Beijing, China, between 2009 and 2014; and Head of both the Maritime Boundaries Unit and the Caribbean Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2004 to 2009.

Among other positions, he was also Chef de Cabinet in the Office of the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States in Brussels, Belgium (2000-2003); First Secretary at the Barbados Embassy in Brussels (1998-2000); and Associate Economic Affairs Officer with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in 1997.

Mr. Jackman holds a master’s degree in international boundary studies from Durham University and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, logic and scientific method from the London School of Economics, both in the United Kingdom.

Amanda Jezek is currently the Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Government Relations at the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), which represents over 12,000 ID physicians and scientists. Amanda oversees IDSA’s public policy and government relations department, with responsibility for policy development and advocacy on IDSA priority issues, including antimicrobial resistance, the infectious diseases workforce, pandemic preparedness and response, immunizations, federal funding, and other issues relating to public health and biomedical research. Amanda has been with IDSA since 2011, previously serving as IDSA’s Government Relations Director. Prior to joining IDSA, Amanda was the Deputy Director for Federal Affairs at the March of Dimes Foundation. In this capacity, Amanda led the March of Dimes’ policy development and lobbying efforts on all issues related to access to healthcare for women of childbearing age, infants, and children, including the Foundation’s work on the Affordable Care Act. Amanda also lobbied for Mental Health America, and worked as a legislative assistant and press secretary for U.S. Representative Grace Napolitano (D-CA). Amanda holds a B.A. in Political Science from Dartmouth College.

Dr. Kosaraju is the CEO and President of Phare Bio, a social venture using AI and deep learning to develop novel classes of antibiotics in partnership with Jim Collins’ lab at MIT. Phare is a recipient of TED’s Audacious Project to develop big and potentially powerful solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. 

Dr. Kosaraju has spent her career building companies and driving innovation in infectious disease and computational biology. She was founding CEO of Variant Bio, a venture-backed company specializing in genomics and therapeutic development, and an executive with SIGA Technologies, an antiviral drug developer that successfully advanced antiviral drug candidates to market. During her tenure, SIGA achieved FDA approval for a novel smallpox antiviral and worked in partnership with the CDC, BARDA and DoD to deliver 2 million courses to the US Strategic National Stockpile. Dr. Kosaraju was a White House appointee in the Pentagon, serving as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. In this capacity, she provided executive leadership in the management of a $50 billion Military Health System that included healthcare for military service members, biodefense, and international humanitarian assistance. 

She received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the highest non-career civilian honor given within the Department of Defense. She is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, formerly on the Materials Technical Advisory Committee for the Department of Commerce, co-founded the Alliance to End Biological Threats, and is a Lecturer at Stanford’s Center for Biosecurity and Pandemic Resilience. She received her M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and her B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University.

Dr. Jenelle Krishnamoorthy is the Vice President and Head of Global Public Policy at Merck with deep expertise in domestic and global health policy. Jenelle leads human and animal health teams globally and is responsible for the policy development and execution for all the medicines and vaccines that are produced by Merck. Prior to joining Merck in 2015, Jenelle was the Health Policy Staff Director in the U.S. Senate for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee which has jurisdiction over the FDA, CDC, NIH and other agencies within HHS. Dr. Krishnamoorthy first joined the U.S. Senate as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Fellow. Prior to her role on HELP Committee, Jenelle worked at the State Department on developing and advancing the U.S. policy in the areas of health, science, technology, and the environment with countries/organizations across the globe. Jenelle completed her pediatric clinical psychology residency/post-doctoral fellowship at Brown Medical School where she conducted research supported by the NIH in the areas of childhood obesity and tobacco policy. Dr. Krishnamoorthy received her B.S. from Randolph-Macon College, M.S. from the University of Tennessee, and Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University. Jenelle is licensed to practice in Virginia.

Ramanan Laxminarayan is the founder and president of the One Health Trust, founded as the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP). He is a senior research scholar at Princeton University. He is an affiliate professor at the University of Washington, senior associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. Dr. Laxminarayan chairs the board of GARD-P, a global product development partnership created by the World Health Organization, that aims to develop and deliver new treatments for bacterial infections. He is founder and board chair at HealthCubed, which works to improve access to healthcare and diagnostics worldwide.

Since 1995, Dr. Laxminarayan has worked to improve the understanding of antibiotic resistance as a problem of managing a shared global resource. His work encompasses extensive peer-reviewed research, public outreach, and direct engagement across Asia and Africa through the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership. Through his prolific research, active public outreach (including a TED talk that has been viewed over a million times), and sustained policy engagement, he has played a central role in bringing the issue of drug resistance to the attention of leaders and policymakers worldwide and to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2016.

During the Obama Administration, Dr. Laxminarayan served on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology’s antimicrobial resistance working group and was appointed a voting member of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance. He is a series editor of the Disease Control Priorities for Developing Countries, 3rd edition.

In 2003-04, he served on the National Academy of Science/Institute of Medicine Committee on the Economics of Antimalarial Drugs and subsequently helped create the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria, a $450 million novel financing mechanism for antimalarials that reduced the cost of antimalarials worldwide. In 2012, Dr. Laxminarayan created the Immunization Technical Support Unit that supports the immunization program of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India, which is credited with helping introduce four new vaccines and extending vaccination coverage to 3 million infants. As Vice President, Research and Policy at the Public Health Foundation of India between 2011 and 2015, he led the growth of a research division to over 700 technical and research staff.

Dr. Laxminarayan currently leads the largest Covid-19 epidemiology study in the world based on extensive contact tracing in India. The flagship paper from this study was published in Science in 2020.

Dr. Laxminarayan is a fellow of the American Academy for Advancement of Science and of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was named a distinguished alumnus by the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 2019, and by the University of Washington Department of Economics in 2020. He is a winner of the Ella Pringle medal by the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh (Pringle was the first-ever woman elected to the RCPE) and the BP Koirala medal in honor of Nepal’s first democratically elected Prime Minister. Dr. Laxminarayan’s work has been widely covered in major media outlets including the the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, BBC, Financial Times, CNN, the Economist, LA Times, NBC, NPR, Reuters, Science, Wall Street Journal, and the National Journal. His research includes over 300 books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed papers in leading journals in science, medicine, and economics.

Stewart Simonson, from United States of America, is the World Health Organization  (WHO) Representative at the United Nations. Prior to this post, he was Assistant  Director-General for General Management at WHO Headquarters in Geneva. He has  more than 20 years of experience in governance, international affairs and public health  that spans government, nongovernmental and private sectors. Prior to joining WHO in  2017, Simonson was General Counsel to Futures Group Global LLC, and later Legal  Counsel to the CRUDEM Foundation and Resident Advisor at its hospital, Hôpital Sacré  Coeur, in Milot, Haiti. 

Earlier in his career, Simonson served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human  Services (HHS) in different capacities, including as Assistant Secretary for Public Health  Emergency Preparedness. In this role, he was the Secretary’s principal advisor on  public health emergencies and coordinated the development of the government’s  position on the revision of WHO’s International Health Regulations (2005). Prior to HHS,  Simonson was Legal Counsel to the Governor of Wisconsin. He has degrees in law and  political science. Simonson is licensed to practice law in Wisconsin and the District of  Columbia. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Andrew Sollinger is the publisher and CEO of Foreign Policy, which he joined in 2018. Previously, he was executive vice president at Business Insider, executive director of Capital New York (now Politico NY) and managing director of the Financial Times Americas. Sollinger was part of the executive team that built Money-Media, a digital news startup focused on the fund management industry, and sold it to the FT. A former reporter and editor for Institutional Investor magazine’s newsletter division, Andrew has lived in London, Hong Kong and New York. He is a graduate of Clark University, where he was executive editor of The Scarlet.