Professor Jonathan Haskel | Some economic aspects of pandemic preparedness
Jonathan Haskel CBE is Professor of Economics at Imperial College Business School and an External Member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.
His research is on productivity and intangible investment and is the co-author of the book, ‘Capitalism without Capital: the Rise of the Intangible Economy’. He has been a non-executive director of the UK Statistics Authority and panel member of the Competition and Markets Authority.
Professor John Edmunds | The need for integrated macro-economic and epidemiological models
John Edmunds is Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Professor Edmunds’ research focuses on modelling the spread of infectious diseases and the design of efficient control programmes. He has published over 350 peer-review articles on topics ranging from chlamydia screening to the economic impact of pandemics.
He has sat as an adviser on several national and international committees, including SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies); the UK’s pandemic modelling committee SPI-M; various JCVI subgroups; CEPI’s Scientific Advisory Committee and WHO’s Polio Research Committee. He became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2018 and was knighted in the 2024 News Years honours list.
Professor Susan Michie | Applying behavioural science to managing Covid19
Susan Michie, FMedSci, FAcSS, FBA is Professor of Health Psychology, Director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London, UK and co-Director of Behavioural Research-UK.
Professor Michie’s research focuses on human behaviour change in relation to health and the environment: how to understand it theoretically and apply theory and evidence to intervention and policy development, evaluation and implementation. Her research, collaborating with disciplines such as information science, environmental science, computer science and medicine, covers population, organisational and individual level interventions. Examples include the Human Behaviour-Change Project and Complex Systems for Sustainability and Health.
She has published >600 journal articles and several books, including the Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions. She is chair of WHO’s Behavioural Insights and Sciences Technical Advisory Group, and a member of its Working Group on Research Methodology for Public Health and Social Measures and its Guideline Development Group on Hand Hygiene in Community Settings. She co-leads BR-UK, a leadership hub to advance behavioural research across the UK and is part of the Behavioural Science Policy Research Unit advising the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care.
Dr Ifedayo Morayo O. Adetifa | Economics of pandemic preparedness: perspectives from a resource-constrained viewpoint
Dr Adetifa is an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, public health leader, and immediate past Director-General/CEO of Nigeria’s national public health agency, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control & Prevention. His expertise covers infectious diseases epidemiology, vaccine epidemiology and paediatrics.
Dr. Adetifa's research interests are broad, with a historical focus on the epidemiology of infectious diseases and vaccine policy, and more recently health security. His numerous publications reflect his commitment to advancing public health knowledge and population impact. He has made significant contributions to public health and research in his career through roles in Nigeria, The Gambia, United Kingdom, and Kenya.
He also actively engages in advisory roles at national, continental, and international levels, contributing his expertise to WHO panels and global health initiatives. He is currently a Commissioner for the Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Threats to Health and was a Commissioner for the Lancet Nigeria Commission.
Dr Els Torreele | Developing countermeasures for equitable access requires new economic thinking
Dr Els Torreele is an international health and innovation expert, working to transform medical R&D to prioritize people’s health needs and ensure equitable access to knowledge and technologies where and when needed. A Bio-Engineer and PhD from Brussels University (VUB), for over 20 years she has combined scientific research, pharmaceutical R&D, policy analysis and research, and advocacy at Brussels University, Médecins Sans Frontières, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, and Open Society Foundations.
Since 2020, she’s independent researcher and advisor including working with Rt. Hon. Helen Clark and other former members of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response and with the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All, chaired by Mariana Mazzucato. She is a Visiting Policy Fellow at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London, and a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Vaccine Market Information for Access. A recent Rockefeller Bellagio Centre resident, she’s also an Honorary Science Fellow at the VUB, and author on over 50 international journal publications including in the Lancet, BMJ, Nature, and Vaccines, and a regular contributor to the societal debate around medical innovation and access through media and social media.
