Susan Nakhumicha Wafula is a Kenyan politician and supply chain expert who was appointed as the Cabinet Minister for Health in 2022. Prior to her appointment, she oversaw supplies for the Global Program for Research and Training at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She also worked at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital as the manager of procurement and logistics.

Appointed by the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance on 11 January 2024, Dr Sania Nishtar is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Dr Nishtar, most recently a Senator in her home country of Pakistan, joined Gavi as its CEO on 18 March 2024.

A trained medical doctor, Dr Nishtar has built an outstanding career over 30 years as a national and global leader. In Pakistan’s national government, she served between 2018 and 2022 as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, a role with the status of a Federal Minister. During this time, she founded a social protection programme and chaired the Council on Poverty Alleviation and the Benazir Income Support Program. In 2013, during Pakistan’s Caretaker Government, she served as a Federal Minister with responsibility for re-establishing the country’s Ministry of Health among other roles, winning acclaim for transparency and accountability during her time in office.

During her career, Dr Nishtar has fulfilled several leadership positions in civil society and international organisations. She founded the non-profit NGO think tank Heartfile, which campaigns for health reform in Pakistan. She was the inaugural Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Accountability Panel (IAP) for women’s and children’s health; and, among other roles, served as Co-Chair of the WHO Independent High-level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare and US National Academy of Sciences’ global study on health care quality in low- and middle-income countries. Dr Nishtar served as Chair of Gavi’s Evaluation Advisory Committee from 2011 to 2014, and in 2016 served as an independent member of Gavi’s Board. A prolific thought leader, she has co-authored dozens of academic papers and books, including Pakistan’s first compendium of health statistics; and she has been published in many leading national and international newspapers.

Dr Nishtar graduated from Khyber Medical College as the best graduate in 1986 and joined the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences as a cardiologist in 1994. She worked at Guy’s Hospital and studied Medicine, graduating in 1996 from King’s College London – which awarded her a PhD in 2002 and an honorary Doctorate in Science, Honoris Causa, in 2019. She is listed among the notable alumni of King’s College and in 2020 was among the BBC’s 100 Women, a list of inspiring and influential women from around the world. Dr Nishtar has received many international awards for her work, including the European Association for Population Studies Award, Pakistan’s prestigious Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) and The Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Innovation Award.

Dr. Susana Almeida was nominated Secretary General of the International Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association (IGBA) in January 2024.

With over 20 years of substantial contribution to the role of the European and international generic and biosimilar medicines industry’s trade bodies and companies, Susana also brings significant experience in the process of international harmonisation of standards through the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH).

Before joining the IGBA, Susana was Clinical Development and Safety Director at Medicines for Europe. She has also worked in clinical trials and pharmacovigilance in Europe and in North America, and her experience includes the pharmaceutical industry and clinical research organizations.

Susana is a firm believer that the generic and biosimilar medicines industries play a vital role in fostering worldwide patient access to quality-assured medicines and that a strong off patent sector is essential to a healthy medicines ecosystem.

She holds a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology from the Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain (2011) and has authored several scientific papers and patents.

Irene holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Makerere University. She has 17 years of experience in Health programing in HIV and AIDS Care and Treatment, Maternal Neonatal and Child Health, Human Resources for Health and Health Systems Strengthening. She is passionate about building strong Health systems strengthening in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) and a strong advocate for underserved populations and communities. She is the Country Director for Seed Global Health in Uganda where she has worked for the past four years. She leads and provides oversight to the Country’s portfolio ensuring program, administrative and operational integrity. She is also responsible for ensuring representation of Seed Global Health with key stakeholders in the Country.

Darren Back is responsible for leading Pfizer’s efforts to support health system strengthening and improve access to quality healthcare for underserved patients worldwide. He collaborates with various organizations and partners to design and implement global and U.S. public health initiatives and deploys Pfizer resources to address complex health challenges. Darren also oversees The Pfizer Foundation’s health strategy, including strategic health partnerships, colleague community engagement, and disaster and humanitarian response efforts.

In addition, Darren played a key role in developing and launching Pfizer’s access initiative, An Accord for a Healthier World, which aims to provide innovative medicines and vaccines to 45 lower-income countries. He is a trusted advisor to CEOs and business leaders and is actively involved in the global health community, speaking at major events, and holding board positions with organizations such as the World Health Summit and Bay Area Global Health Alliance.

Darren has more than twenty-five years of purpose-driven experience. Before joining Pfizer, Darren held leadership positions in health agencies, providing communications solutions for biopharmaceutical companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, and Pfizer. He holds a master’s degree in public health and environmental health from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as a BSc in pharmacology from Kings College, London.

Anurag Hans is the Head of Mission at EssilorLuxottica, the global leader in the vision care and eyewear  space. He is in-charge of embedding EssilorLuxottica’s powerful Mission, to help everyone, everywhere  in the word ‘See more and Be more’, in the company’s day-to-day operations. In addition to driving  actions that unite all EssilorLuxottica employees and external stakeholders around the company’s  Mission, Anurag also leads the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, the largest foundation in the  vision care space that is working to realize the company’s ambition to Eliminate Poor Vision in a  generation and bring vision care to the 2.7 Bn people who currently suffer from uncorrected poor  vision due to a lack of awareness and access. Under his leadership, the group has created sustainable  access to vision care for over 600 Million people in underserved regions and provided glasses to more  than 58 Million people. 

Before his current role, Anurag has led the market development, advocacy, strategy, innovation,  product management, marketing and supply chain functions for all of EssilorLuxottica’s actions aimed  at Eliminating Poor Vision. Anurag has also managed EssilorLuxottica’s €49 Million social impact fund,  Vision for Life, which has funded interventions and programs that bring vision care to the underserved. 

Anurag has close to two decades of diversified experience across healthcare devices, consumer  products, strategy consulting and policy advisory. Before joining EssilorLuxottica, Anurag was a senior  member of a high-level policy think tank in Malaysia, exclusively advising the Prime Minister and the  cabinet of Malaysia on national strategy, focusing on sustainable community development and building the national social innovation & entrepreneurship ecosystem. 

Before his Malaysia stint, Anurag has worked with companies such as PepsiCo, Ernst & Young and ITC  Limited across a range of business management and strategy roles. 

Anurag holds an MBA from INSEAD France, a Masters degree in Marketing from the Indian Institute of  Management (IIM), Bangalore and an Engineering degree in Instrumentation & Control Systems from  Delhi Institute of Technology. He has worked and lived in 5 countries.  

Outside of work, Anurag is passionate about music and sports. He is a PTR-certified tennis instructor  and an NRTP 5.0 tennis player. He currently lives in Singapore with his wife and two sons, who dream all day about becoming professional soccer players and/or professional musicians.

Alef is an entrepreneur, innovator, and visionary, co-founding various successful purpose-driven, non-profit, and for-profit organizations for nearly 15 years.

Solving complex challenges in relation to the most pressing, systemic challenges through innovative, marketing-creating solutions fuels Alef. Starting his first venture at age 21 and running successful organizations since, Alef has invaluable experience, particularly in Africa. 

Alef’s professional background includes business administration, venture capital, education, social entrepreneurship, non-profit management, purpose-driven leadership, philosophy and theology. Alef is also the author of “the Overcomers” – a book profiling 10 South African SMMEs that were looted during the July 2021 riots.

Dr. Naveen Rao is the Senior Vice President of the Health Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation where he leads the Foundation’s efforts to shape the field of Climate and Health, transforming the world’s health systems to be more equitable, inclusive and resilient to climate change and improving the ability to predict, detect, and respond to climate-sensitive disease threats.

Dr. Rao previously led the Foundation’s Covid-19 pandemic efforts, including the Global Vaccination Initiative, which increased vaccination uptake in low and middle-income countries, as well as the Foundation’s Pandemic Prevention Initiative, which strengthened global pathogen surveillance and response around the world.

Dr. Rao joined The Rockefeller Foundation after a 25-year career with Merck & Co., Inc., where he most recently led Merck for Mothers, the company’s 10-year, $500 million initiative to reduce maternal mortality around the world. Prior to Merck, he was the Associate Director of the Department of Medicine at Beekman-Downtown Hospital and practiced Internal Medicine in New York City for 10 years.

Dr. Rao is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.