About Us

Professor Dame Sally Davies is UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance and a member of the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance. She was Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK government from March 2011 to September 2019 and on an interim basis from June 2010.

Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate is the Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health. He is co-Chair of the Initiative on the Future of Health and Economic Resilience in Africa (FHERA). Previously Dr. Pate served as global director, health, nutrition and population (HNP) and director, global financing facility (GFF), with the World Bank Group in Washington, DC.

Dr. Fajer Alsalloom, is the Director of Animal Health Directorate in Animal Wealth Resources in the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning in the Kingdom of Bahrain. She graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medical Sciences in 1994 from Cairo University in Egypt and a Master of Science in Medical Biotechnology in 2004 from Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain. She is President of the Regional Commission of the Middle East for the
OIE.

Sunita Narain is an environmentalist and writer. She serves as the director-general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Editor of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. Narain plays an active role in policy formulation on issues of environment and development in India and globally and serves on various national and international committees on the environment including One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance set up by WHO/OIE/FAO.

Steven is the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology, Director of Global Strategy Lab, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance, and the Vice-President of Data & Surveillance with the Public Health Agency of Canada. His research leverages various methodological approaches to craft global strategies that better address transnational health threats and social inequalities.

Susan leverages her extensive experience in global AMR policy to oversee the development and implementation of the Accelerator’s program of work. She is an epidemiologist with significant experience engaging policymakers and mobilizing interdisciplinary teams to improve policy implementation, evaluation and decision making at national and international levels. Susan also holds leadership positions with the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance and the International Network for AMR Social Science (INAMRSS).

Julia focuses on strategic planning and decision-making, operations, and building meaningful partnerships. Julia has substantial experience in strategic leadership and in setting up and running programs on maternal, child and adolescent health in Sub-saharan Africa. She is passionate about working towards ensuring good health and well-being for all. Julia holds a JD from Queen’s University and an LLM from the University of Cape Town.

Sahar supports strategic planning, decision-making, execution, and partnership cultivation and management for the Accelerator. Sahar has a consulting background, and significant strategy and finance experience in both for-profit and nonprofit settings. Prior to GSL, she was managing strategic initiatives and finance for a social enterprise serving smallholder farmers in Rwanda. Sahar holds an MBA in Financial Management from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Demetria oversees communications leveraging over 20 years of marketing and communications experience across the private, public and non-profit sectors. Her areas of interest include strategic communications, participatory product development and translating research into plain language for a diverse range of audiences. Prior to joining the team Demetria oversaw the communications department of a policy research network focused on women’s economic empowerment.

See full bio

Sam leads policy research team at the Accelerator. His previous policy and research experience focused on antimicrobial resistance containment strategies, access to medicines, and medicines for children. Sam is a trained pharmacist and has worked and studied in Bangladesh, Cyprus, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and Yemen. In addition to a degree in Pharmacy, Sam holds an MBA from Eastern Mediterranean University and a PhD from University College London.

Rob leads the Accelerator’s Rapid Response advisory services and Capacity Building program. His role at the Accelerator builds on previous work providing strategic advice on policy, implementation, and evaluation to governments and civil society organizations across different policy sectors. Rob has 20 years of experience living and working overseas and is a graduate of University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

See full bio

Shajoe is an international health attorney, providing strategic advice on the design of evidence-informed strategies to address transnational health threats. Shajoe has significant experience advising governments and NGOs in the Caribbean and Latin America on non-communicable diseases law and policy, and previously counseled UK, US, and Caribbean insurers on health-related tortious liability cases.

See full bio

Uche provides monitoring and evaluation (M&E) guidance and technical support, ensuring that program results are documented for learning, program improvement and future funding opportunities. Uche brings over 14 years of M&E experience from various health-focused projects in a developing country’s context to firm up the Policy Accelerator’s results management portfolio. Uche holds a Master’s and PhD in Epidemiology and Health Information Sciences.  

Fiona supports the lab’s antimicrobial resistance policy research. Her previous research experience focused on improving One Health approaches to global food security and infectious disease surveillance. She has previously worked with Veterinarians Without Borders in Kenya, WorldFish in Cambodia and livestock and virology research groups in Australia. She still works as a veterinarian in downtown Toronto.

Ranjana supports the lab’s health policy research with her interdisciplinary training. She has previously worked across academic research groups, biopharmaceutical companies, and consulting. Ranjana graduated with an MSc in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Suzanne has worked at the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis and Aarhus University where she studied antimicrobial resistance in low-income individuals undergoing TB treatment in India. Her master’s thesis examined the health and economic insecurities low-income households experience when receiving TB treatment through India’s public and private sectors.

Kay-Ann enjoys coordinating operations of the Policy Accelerator team to ensure excellence. She is an administration professional with fourteen years of work experience. Kay-Ann has a BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Toronto and a certificate in HR Management from Humber College. She is currently pursuing a MEd in Adult Education and Community Development at OISE. 

Cimoan provides key financial support by advising on best practices and emerging issues related to financial management, analyzes financial data for quarterly and annual reporting and prepares financial forms for processing.

Cimoan graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in International Development and African Studies at York University and has field work experience with non-profit organizations and university research groups.

Cordelia is a Bachelor of Science student, double majoring in Biochemistry and Sociology. She is interested in the social implications of Antimicrobial Resistance as a public health problem and its corresponding solutions.

Clare is in the second year of a Master of Science in Public Health at McGill University. She is currently involved in several research and projects at the Accelerator including a policy interventions systematic review. In the future, Clare plans to work in public health policy and health promotion.

Avni is a 3rd-year student at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur pursuing a Bachelor’s in Economics. She is an aspiring entrepreneur who would like to create a significant impact on people’s lives.

Mihir is a 3rd year Economics student at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He is currently working on research and policy priorities at the Accelerator. Mihir’s future plans include advanced studies with the ultimate aim of applying what he has learned to his passion for football.

Mathieu Poirier is the Co-Director of the Global Strategy Lab, York Research Chair (Tier II) in Global Health Equity, and Assistant Professor of Social Epidemiology at the School of Global Health. His research ranges from evaluating international law to developing health equity metrics and generating policy-relevant research on socially and politically determined inequities in health. Mathieu is a member of the WHO Collaborating Centre on the Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance, has worked throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and has previously directed vector-borne disease research for the University of Notre Dame Haiti Program.

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.

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. A key area of his research focus centres on demonstrating how philosophical analysis, legal epidemiology, and regulatory theory should shape how we approach antimicrobial resistance.
He is the co-author of Public Health Law: Ethics, Governance, and Regulation and has co-authored the most cited paper in the world on ethics and AMR.