About Us
The AMR Policy Accelerator uses research and evidence to advise the world’s governments, public health institutions and decision makers on policies to ensure sustainable antimicrobial use for all.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats humanity faces today. The impact of AMR is far-reaching with consequences for human health, the global economy, the environment and global health equity–and the magnitude of this problem grows every year. In 2019, AMR was responsible for 1.27 million deaths worldwide. By 2050, it is estimated that AMR will cause 10 million deaths annually and will cumulatively cost the world economy US$100 trillion.
Our Advisory Board provides strategic and technical guidance on the prioritization of the Accelerator’s efforts to address emerging AMR policy needs at the global level. The board is composed of global leaders in the AMR and policy fields and provides representation across One Health sectors – human, animal and environmental health.
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André Luiz de Abreu
Brazil
André Luiz de Abreu is a Social Policy Analyst and Member of the Technical Group on AMR, coordinating the development and implementation of the AMR NAP with the Ministry of Health in Brazil. He is also a member of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Antimicrobial Resistance – STAG AMR 2024-2027 and board member of the Global AMR R&D Hub. Previously, he served as Director of the Department of Surveillance of Communicable Diseases and General Coordinator of Public Health Laboratories with the Ministry. André is a pharmacist by training and has served as a member of the Quadripartite Technical Working Group (TWG) on Economics in AMR.
Amit Khurana
India
Amit Khurana is the Director of the Sustainable Food Systems programme at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and leads the campaign on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), focussing on its animal and environmental dimensions. Amit engages with national, regional and global stakeholders and promotes policies and practices suitable to resource-constrained settings that help support sustainable food systems and equitable development.
Dr. Fajer Al Salloom
Kingdom of Bahrain
Dr. Fajer Al Salloom, is the Director of the Animal Health Directorate under the Animal Wealth Resources at the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs & Agriculture in the Kingdom of Bahrain. She holds a Bachelor of Veterinary Medical Sciences from Cairo University (1994) and a Master of Science in Medical Biotechnology from the Arabian Gulf University (2004). Dr. Al Salloom currently serves as the Vice President of the World Organization for Animal Health Council, where she plays a key leadership role in advancing animal health and veterinary public health initiatives across the region. She is also a member of Bahrain’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Committee, contributing to the development and implementation of strategies to combat AMR at the national level.
Marijn Verhoef
Netherlands
Marijn Verhoef is the Director of Private Sector Engagement at the Access to Medicine Foundation, where he oversees company and investor engagement, as well as the continuous intelligence unit. He has also served as the Director of Operations and Research, fostering partnerships to improve global health. A trained pharmacist, Marijn has held leadership roles across research, company engagement, and fundraising, following earlier experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
Evelyn Wesangula
Tanzania / Kenya
Evelyn Wesangula is a Senior AMR Control Specialist at the East Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) in Arusha, Tanzania. She also serves as Vice Chair of Infection Prevention Network-Kenya, is a member of the African Union AMR Working Group, and Co- Chair of the Technical Advisory Group for the UK-Fleming Fund. Formerly Kenya’s National AMR Focal Point, Evelyn led the development of its first AMR Action Plan and continues to advance efforts to address AMR in resource-limited settings.
Observers
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Rebecca Manaley
United Kingdom
Rebecca Manaley is a Global Health Policy Adviser specializing in infectious diseases and AMR at Wellcome. Prior to this role, Rebecca held various positions in UK Government, including as Policy Adviser for the UK Special Envoy on AMR, and supporting UK Covid response in the Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce and Chief Medical Officer’s office.
Dr. Javier Yugueros-Marcos
France
Dr Javier Yugueros-Marcos is the Head of the AMR & Veterinary Products Department at the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). After years in the field of infectious disease diagnostics development and commercialization, he now leads an international team accountable for the enhanced quality of veterinary medicines and diagnostics. He also coordinates actions supporting the responsible use of antimicrobials, in close collaboration with other Quadripartite partners.
The AMR Policy Accelerator Team consists of an interdisciplinary group of researchers and policy analysts with professional backgrounds in epidemiology, international law and veterinary science. Our team includes representation from all One Health sectors and is trained in providing consulting services that include an equity perspective.
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Geneviève Boily-Larouche
Managing Director
Geneviève Boily-Larouche is the Managing Director of the AMR Policy Accelerator. In her role, she draws upon her significant expertise in global health research and policy to provide strategic leadership to the team, while overseeing critical policy advisory projects and day-to-day activities of the Accelerator.
Mathieu Poirier
Scientific Director
Mathieu Poirier is the Director of the Global Strategy Lab, Scientific Director of the AMR Policy Accelerator, York Research Chair (Tier II) in Global Health Equity, and Associate Professor of Social Epidemiology at the School of Global Health.
Kay-Ann Aarons
Administrative Coordinator
Kay-Ann is an administration professional with fourteen years of work experience in healthcare and non-profits. Kay-Ann enjoys coordinating the operations of the AMR Policy Accelerator team to ensure excellence. She supports coordination activities for travel, workshops, and conferences. Kay-Ann is currently pursuing a MEd in Adult Education and Community Development.
Medha Bhushan
Research Assistant
Medha brings experience in government relations, advocacy, and healthcare policy, and is eager to further develop her research and analytical skills at the Global Strategy Lab’s AMR Policy Accelerator.
Julia Bishop
Director of Global Engagement
Julia Bishop is the Director of Global Engagement for the Policy Team, where she focuses on strategic planning and decision-making, operations, and building meaningful partnerships. Julia’s background is in international and human rights law; she holds a JD from Queen’s University and an LLM from the University of Cape Town.
Chloe Clifford Astbury
Research Associate
Chloe Clifford Astbury is a Research Associate in the AMR Policy Accelerator, with interests in One Health approaches to AMR governance and policy. Prior to joining GSL, Chloe’s research focused on the application of systems thinking to food system policy for the prevention of both communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Nicole Chung
Research Assistant
Nicole Chung is a Master of Global Affairs candidate at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. She graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor’s in Global Health and Development.
Denitsa Dryanovska
Research Assistant
Deni facilitates the dissemination and accessibility of research completed at the AMR Policy Accelerator. Denitsa is a Primary Care Paramedic with Toronto Paramedic Services and a student in the Bachelor of Health Studies program.
Fiona Emdin
Veterinary Research Fellow
Fiona is a veterinary-research fellow at the Global Strategy Lab who supports the lab’s antimicrobial resistance policy research. Her previous policy and research experience focused on improving One Health approaches to global food security through climate-smart agricultural technologies, and infectious disease surveillance.
Taylor Hecker
Research Assistant
Taylor is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at the University of Ottawa, specializing in Global Health. She holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) from the University of Calgary, where she cultivated a strong passion for research and the social determinants of health.
Alison Humphrey
Post Doctoral Fellow
Alison plays with story across drama, digital media, and education. The research-creation dissertation for her PhD in Cinema and Media Arts, centred on a mixed-reality storyworld co-created with young people on three continents, imagining immunization through a superhero metaphor. Her ongoing research interests include applying this “citizen science fiction” methodology to the social challenges of vaccination, antimicrobial resistance, and climate change.
Vesela Ivanova
Policy Advisor
As policy advisor, Vesela Ivanova contributes to the planning of policy products, including the Smart Choice Process (SCP), a process for prioritizing AMR interventions for stronger AMR national action plan (NAP) implementation. Building on her experiences from multiple sectors (non-profit, research, clinical, global health and government), Vesela brings a unique understanding of public health systems and strategic policy development to address complex public health challenges such as AMR.
Heather Kinsey
Research Assistant
Heather is a Master of Public Health candidate in Public Health Policy at the University of Ottawa and a Registered Nurse with over six years of experience in clinical care, municipal public health, and federal policy. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from McMaster University.
Clare McGall
Policy Advisor
Clare McGall is a Policy Advisor at the AMR Policy Accelerator. In this role, she collaborates with national governments, civil society organizations, and academic researchers to provide evidence-informed AMR policy guidance.
Suzanne Naro
Policy Advisor II
Suzanne Naro transforms research into actional policy guidance, and practical policy tools that advance equity in AMR response. She brings a unique perspective to AMR policy by combining human security theory, equity-focused research, global health fieldwork, and applied consulting—enabling her to design policies that are evidence-based, pragmatic, and grounded in the lived realities of low-resource settings.
Kadia Petricca
Senior Policy Lead
Kadia draws on her expertise in global health policy and implementation science to lead the Smart Choice process in advancing national AMR action planning with partner countries. Kadia is deeply committed to strengthening the translation of evidence into real-world impact.
Heba Qazilbash
Policy Advisor
Heba is a public health professional committed to advancing social justice, health equity and improving health outcomes for marginalized communities. She has served as a Policy Analyst in the Office of International Affairs at the Public Health Agency of Canada, contributing to Canada’s international health engagement, and has conducted extensive research on access to medicines, human rights, and the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers.
Arne Ruckert
Director of Research
Arne Ruckert is the Director of Research at the Global Strategy Lab’s AMR Policy Accelerator, overseeing all research activities and contributing to the development of policy products. His previous academic work revolved around understanding how social determinants of health are driving global health inequities, using political economy and social sciences approaches. More recently, he has researched the governance and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) drawing on the One Health approach, as well as the role of equity considerations in the Canadian policy response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Sahran Shafaque
Research Assistant
Sahran Shafaque is currently completing her Master of Global Affairs at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. She previously earned her Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto, majoring in Health Studies and Psychology.
Kayla Strong
Research Lead
Kayla Strong is an Epidemiologist at the Global Strategy Lab, where she synthesizes and translates evidence specific to antimicrobial resistance and supports study design development. She completed her Ph.D. in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary, specializing in antimicrobial resistance transmission modelling within beef supply chain operations, aiming to influence both policy and practice in the Canadian beef industry.
Ramdhanie Sukhai
Finance Officer
Ramdhanie holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Social Science Degree in Economics from the University of Guyana. He is also a certified Project Manager (PMP) and is trained in financial management, results-based budgeting and monitoring & evaluation.
Demetria Tsoutouras
Director of Communications
Demetria oversees communications at the Global Strategy Lab leveraging over 20 years of marketing and communications experience across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Her areas of interest include strategic communications, knowledge mobilization, and participatory product development.
Lauren J. Wallace
Research Associate
Dr. Lauren J. Wallace is a medical anthropologist at the Global Strategy Lab, where she synthesizes research on the complex social components of AMR. Prior to joining GSL, Lauren worked in Ghana for nearly a decade, where she led research focused on health security, gender-transformative health systems and policies, and multisectoral collaboration.
Isaac Weldon
Investigator
Isaac Weldon holds a PhD in Political Science. Before coming to York, Isaac completed a Master of Science in International Health Policy (with Distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in History, Political Studies, and Economics from the University of Manitoba.
Hannah Wilcox
Research Assistant
Hannah is a law student at Osgoode Hall at York University and holds a Master’s in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor’s in Biomedical Science from the University of Guelph.
Her academic background sparked a strong interest in the intersection of science, law, and policy in shaping health outcomes. She is driven by a commitment to advancing equitable, evidence-informed healthcare.
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Patrick Fafard
Policy Advisor
Patrick Fafard is a Senior Investigator with the Global Strategy Lab and Full Professor cross-appointed to the Faculties of Social Science and Medicine, University of Ottawa. Earlier in his career he served as a senior executive with the governments of Canada and Saskatchewan. His current research focuses on public health policy and governance and the role of scientific evidence in the making of public policy.
A.M. Viens
Ethics Advisor
Dr. A.M. Viens is York Research Chair in Population Health Ethics and Law and Inaugural Director of the School of Global Health at York University. He is also a member of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance. He has degrees in philosophy and law from the Universities of Toronto, Oxford, and London.