John Walley, Clinical Professor of International Public Health, University of Leeds, LIHS, Nuffield, Centre for International Health, Leeds, UK, John Wright, Director, Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford, UK, Ian Smith, Former Executive Director; Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Medicine; Honorary Assistant Professor, Office of the Director General, World Health Organization, Geneva; Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, UK; School of Public Health, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong John Walley lived and worked in Africa and Asia, with international agencies and ministries of health: in Vietnam with Swedish aid; in Switzerland, Malawi and Uganda with the World Health Organisation; in Ethiopia at a regional health office, and in Zimbabwe as a provincial medical officer of health. I've been responsible for maternal and child health, TB and HIV and non-communicable diseases, while strengthening systems and service delivery. Since 1993, I've been a Clinical Professor in International Public Health at the Nuffield Centre for Health, LIHS, Medical School, Leeds, UK, including leading the £20 million COMDIS health service delivery research programme in 7 African and Asian countries over 12 years - leading to policy change and national scale improvement in the quality of health services. John Wright is a doctor and epidemiologist with a background in hospital medicine and public health in the UK and in southern Africa. He established and leads the Bradford Institute for Health Research https: //www.bradfordresearch.nhs.uk and Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research, working to speed-up the translation of medical research into practice and policy. He is Visiting Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at the Universities of York, Leeds and Bradford and has authored of over 500 papers and three textbooks and been awarded over £150 million in research award funding, £50 million as chief investigator.
Ian Smith was senior advisor to the World Health Organization Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, having served as Executive Director and Advisor to the two previous Director-Generals, Dr Margaret Chan and Dr Lee Jong-wook. Prior to joining WHO, Ian and his wife worked in Nepal for 16 years as medical missionaries, in a remote rural hospital, community health project, district TB control project, and the National Tuberculosis Programme. Ian qualified from Leeds Medical School, holds a Masters of Public Health (with distinction), was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, and is an honorary assistant professor at the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong.