Conferences and symposiums Global Health in research: Dealing with crisis

Welcome to a day where we address challenges in Global Health and the role of research in the matter from interdisciplinary perspectives!

Speakers

Keynote speakers

Dr. Firass Abiad - Medical Doctor and Health Minister of Lebanon

For more than a decade Dr. Abiad worked as a gastrointestinal and bariatric surgeon in Beirut while he also obtained an MBA at the American University of Beirut. In 2021, he became the Health Minister of Lebanon while managing the  “Rafik Hariri University Hospital”, the largest in the country. He had the hospital split in two remarkably early during the Covid-19 pandemic to better confront it. Dr. Abiad has delt many crises. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Abiad insightfuly separated out Covid patients at Raffik Hariri hospital to ensure better overall care.

Prof. Johan von Schreeb - Professor in Global Disaster Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

Prof. von Schreeb had founded and currently leads the Center for Research on Healthcare in Disasters and is the director of the Health Crisis center, both at Karolinska Institutet. He has worked with MSF and started the Emergency Medical Teams initiative at the WHO. Prof. von Schreeb and his research group explore how health needs and risks vary depending on disaster type and explore trauma care in scarse ressource settings.

Panel 1

Yap Boum - Professor in Microbiology (Mbarara University) and Public Health and Microbiology (University of Yaoundé I, Douala and Virginia)
Prof. Boum is a co-founder of Kmerpad, a nonprofit that developed washable sanitary pads to empower women. They also aim to have a critical impact on the huge amount of waste generated by the use of nonreusable sanitary pads. Prof. Boum had also co-founded a social innovation platform called IDocta that aims to provide quality healthcare by using technology to connect patients and health professionals.

Märit Halmin - Medical doctor and researcher at Karolinska Institutet
Dr. Märit Halmin is affiliated with the Center for Research on Global Health Care in Disasters since 2020. She teaches several courses at the Center, besides her specialization in anesthesia and intensive care. In the past she has also been working with Médecins sans Frontières in Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Cameroon. Moreover, she recently joined the WHO in Lebanon to conduct research on ICU quality of care.

Samer Yammine -  Entrepreneur, Stockholm School of Economics and Karolinska Institutet
Dr. Yammine is passionate about biodesign, user experience, innovation strategy and business development with extensive experience in problem solving using biotechnological solutions. He shares his expertise as course director for Bioentrepreneurship at KI, bootcamp manager at the Stockholm School of Economics and co-organiser of the Nordic School of Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In addition, he is active as a Co-founder of Karmagenes.co, chairman at 46&Co and at the Mentorzship Consultancy Lab.

Moderator: Giulia Gaudenzi, Postdoctoral researcher from the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet.

Panel 2

Pedro Kremer de Ryvola - Impact evaluation lead at Zipline International, Washington DC-Baltimore Area 
As a physician, public health specialist and epidemiologist, Dr. Kremer has navigated a wide range of local and global health challenges. He leads impact evaluation at Zipline, the world's largest automated delivery system. The company has shown high versatility in delivering medical products to remote locations. Dr. Kremer also holds a PHD in Public Health and epidemiology from UC San Diego.

Abbie Barry - Pharmacology surveillance project manager, Karolinska Institutet 
As an epidemiologist with public health and biostatistical expertise, Ms. Abbie Barry strives to strengthen the national pharmacovigilance infrastructure and post-marketing surveillance systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda through the “Pharmacovigilance infrastructure and post-marketing surveillance system capacity building for regional medicine regulatory harmonization in East Africa” (PROFORMA) consortium. She is also a PHD student at Karolinska Instutet in Public Health and epidemiology.

Collins Santhanasamy - Public Health in Disasters master’s student 
Mr. Collins Santhanasamy is an Erasmus MundusJoint Master Degree in Public Health in Disasters student (Universities of Oviedo (Spain), Nicosia (Cyprus), and Karolinska Institute (Sweden). He is passionate about Community Empowerment and building Community Resilience. Among many projects, Mr. Collins Santhanasamy is the founder of a medical empowerment platform in Bengladesh and holds fellowships from several future equity leaders boards.

Moderator: Giulia Gaudenzi, Postdoctoral researcher from the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet.

Program

13:00 - 13:15 Introduction

13:15 - 14:15 Keynote talk

Dr. Firass Abiad and Prof. Johan von Schreeb will discuss challenges and crisis management in care delivery in different contexts.

- Managing a public health system while facing multiple crises : The challenging management of the Lebanese Health care system in the midst of extreme inflation, high refugee rates, political instability, brain drain, and privatised Health care

 - Performing research to obtain knowledge in challenging crisis settings and improve crisis response: On the one hand, developing Emergency Medical Teams for an improved crisis intervention by local units that are trained in a durable manner and, on the other hand, studying factors that modulate emergency health needs

14:15 - 15:15 First panel discussion:

Roundtable discussion addressing obstacles hindering research's contribution to better Global Health, with academic, global health, and industrial biomedical researchers: Dr. Yap Boum, Professor in Microbiology, Dr. Märit Halmin, Researcher, and Dr. Samer Yammine, Entrepreneur.
Moderator: Giulia Gaudenzi, Postdoctoral researcher.

Topics covered:

1. Entrepreneurship in Biomedicine: Developing and bringing to life ideas for medical products; 
2. Digitizing healthcare tools: The shift in healthcare towards digitized solutions, AI, and blockchain;
3. Non-profit companies in healthcare: Their role and their interactions with for-profit partners;
4. Working in global NGOs: The roles of MSF and the WHO in acute and long-term partnerships   
5. Performing research in low ressource settings: Assessing ICU care quality

15:15 - 16:00 Fika & workshop:

Network with other attendees around some fika and a case study illustrating matters previously discussed

16:00 - 17:00 Second panel discussion:

Roundtable showcasing promising innovations and research contributing to address crisis in Global Health with Dr. Pedro Kremer de Ryvola, Impact evaluation lead at Zipline, Mrs. Abbie Barry, Project manager, Mr. Collins Santhanasamy - Medical Doctor.
Moderator: Giulia Gaudenzi, Postdoctoral researcher.

Topics covered:

1. Developing businesses in scarce resource settings: Zipline as an innovative solution to delivering medical goods;
2. Creating non-governmental health access platforms: The M exchange: a platform to empower and build resilience within vulnerable communities through medical camps, education and emergency aid in the Chittagong and Cox Bazaar regions of Bangladesh;
3. Assisting Medicine Regulatory Authorities by strengthening surveillance and training personel: The “Pharmacovigilance infrastructure and post-marketing surveillance system capacity building for regional medicine regulatory harmonization in East Africa” strenghtens the pharmacovigilance systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda and trains experts that in turn have a lasting impact on public health drug programs.

17:00 Live music and mingle