EVENTS

Anne Kavanagh, MD, PhD, is a social epidemiologist who is an international leader in health inequalities research. She is the inaugural Chair of Disability and Health and Head of the Disability and Health Unit in the Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Anne's research focusses on identifying policy solutions to enable people with disability to live flourishing lives. She works closely with advocates, governments, people with disability, and allies so that her research is translatable to policy, practice and advocacy. She leads a team that analyses population-based data to understand how social determinants of health, such as employment or discrimination, shape the health of people with disability and model alternate policy solutions that promote health and wellbeing. Professor Kavanagh is Director and Lead Investigator on the Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health. She is also lead Investigator on the NHMRC Synergy grant 'Interventions for better life-time mental health outcomes for young people with disability'. She is Director of the National Disability Research Partnership funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services which seeks to facilitate collaborative and inclusive disability research program that builds the evidence for successful innovation in policy and practice. Professor Kavanagh is a member of many international and national committees including the WHO Technical Advisory Group for the WHO Global Report on Disability and Health, the Commonwealth Department of Health COVID-19 Advisory Committee for People with Disability and the Commonwealth Disability and Health Sector Consultative Committee. She is past member of the NDIA Independent Advisory Committee and the Victorian Disability Advisory Committee and was Academic Director of the Melbourne Disability Institute between 2018-2021.

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Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD, received his medical degree and Ph.D. (in epidemiology) from the University of Otago, New Zealand.  He has taught at the Harvard School of Public Health since 1992.  Kawachi was the co-editor (with Lisa Berkman) of the textbook Social Epidemiology, published by Oxford University Press in 2000 (new & revised edition with Maria Glymour and Lisa Berkman published in 2014). His other books include Behavioral Economics and Public Health (with Christina Roberto, Oxford University Press, 2015), Neighborhoods and Health (2nd edition, Oxford University Press, with Dustin Duncan 2018), The Social Epidemiology of Sleep (Oxford University Press, with Dustin Duncan and Susan Redline, 2019) and The Social Epidemiology of the COVID-19 Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2024, with Dustin  Duncan and Stephen Morse). Kawachi was Editor in Chief of Social Science & Medicine from 2012-2022. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine, and an elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He received an honorary Doctor of Science from the Australian National University in 2019.

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Archana Singh-Manoux, PhD, heads an Inserm research team (EpiAgeing) and she is one of the PIs of the Whitehall II study, based at University College London. She is an epidemiologist, and her research is primarily on ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. This research is undertaken using a life course approach with the aim of identifying prevention targets, and social, behavioural, and biological risk factors that shape health at older ages. She is recipient of several awards, including Chaire d’Excellence, ERC starting grant, Inserm Research Prize, and Prix Coup d’élan pour la recherche française, etc. She is an elected member of the Academy of Europe and is a “Highly Cited” researcher.​

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Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, MD, DM, MSc, a cardiologist and epidemiologist by training, is the founder past President of the Public Health Foundation of India (2006-2022), presently serving as an Honorary Distinguished Professor of PHFI. He was earlier Head of Cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Prof. Reddy was the first Bernard Lown Visiting Professor of Global Cardiovascular Health at Harvard (2009-13) and is presently an Adjunct Professor at Harvard, Emory, Sydney and Pennsylvania universities. He serves on the Advisory Boards of the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University and the Centre for Global Health Equity, University of Michigan. He also serves as the Honorary President of the Population Foundation of India. In 2024 he was elected as President of the Council for Social Development in India. He is a first Indian to be elected as International Member of the US National Academy of Medicine. He was President of the World Heart Federation (2013-14) and is co-chair of the Health Thematic Group of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He served on a several WHO expert panels and Technical Advisory Groups. He chaired the High-Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage constituted by the Planning Commission of India (2010-11). He is a member of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition. He previously served as Advisor on Health to the state governments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, with a cabinet rank. Prof. Reddy has 593 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals. He has published two books: “Make Health in India - Reaching a Billion Plus” and “Pulse to Planet: Long Lifeline of Human Health”. Among his several honours received by him are WHO Director General’s Award and Luther Terry Medal of the American Cancer Association for ‘outstanding contributions to global tobacco control, the Queen Elizabeth Medal for Health Promotion and Padma Bhushan, the prestigious civilian award conferred by the President of India. He is a recipient of several honorary doctorates, including from Universities of London, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Lausanne.

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