2024 was busy. Here is a selection of the highlights of the second half of the year (in reverse order):

December: European Global Health Research Institutes Network (EGHRIN): I was asked to be Oxford’s representative on EGHRIN, a new network of leading research institutions in Europe promoting and advocating for Global Health research and innovation. On December 5^th, I attended my first activity: “Unpacking the Global Health side effects of the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation reform”. I am hoping that in 2025 we find some fruitful ways for Oxford colleagues to engage with and support EGHRIN.

November: Food systems and AMR: With the support of the Ineos Oxford institute for Antimicrobial Resistance I launched a fully-funded DPhil in “Food Systems and AMR” to build off the activity during 2025. A description of the areas potentially covered, and the global partners in this new initiative, can be found here.

November: WHO R&D Blueprint. I participated in the WHO R&D Blueprint virtual consultation Preparing for containment and mitigation of pandemic H5N1 influenza, Uses of statistical and mathematical modeling organised by R&D Blueprint for epidemics, Health Emergencies Preparedness & Response, World Health Organization. Pandemic influenza was the topic of the Vaccinology PBL that I ran in 2024 (see my teaching page for further details).

November: digital health and care interventions: I attended an excellent lecture at Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education by Prof Kathrin Cresswell on “Why digital health and care interventions fail and what we can do about it”, followed by great discussion exploring how to maximize the chances of successful implementation, adoption, and scaling of digital health interventions, focusing on involving end users and understanding local context.

November: Longevity: I took part in the Longevity Forum 2025 Science Summit in Oxford on “Prevention: The path to healthier, longer lives”.

October: Global health at the British Embassy Berlin: On October 30^th, I chaired an informal brainstorm session at the British Embassy, Berlin with a mix of UK and German colleagues to discuss the global health component of the new UK-Germany Agreement to Strengthen R&D Collaboration.

On October 28^th the British Embassy Berlin very kindly organised a global health reception and networking event in support of the GLOHRA workshop on AMR and equity.

October: Equity dimensions in AMR: On October 28^th – 29^th, colleagues from the Universität Bielefeld Germany organised a workshop, “Strengthening evidence, research and action to address equity dimensions of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)”, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Supported by a grant from the British Council, I organised a small group of Oxford and UK participants. The German Alliance for Global Health Research posted the agenda here. 

October: Medicine Quality: On October 24^th, the Medicine Quality group at Oxford ran a meeting at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford. I gave a short presentation on “Exploring ways to apply AI and opportunities for research collaborations”(pdf here) A short report about the meeting can be found at: CTMGH, CGHR or IDDO – with posts on X and LinkedIn. My presentation can be found here.

October: Launch of the Oxford AMR network website: In October we launched a the Oxford AMR network to link up more than 200 researchers working to tackle AMR across Oxford and to support new research and collaborations to tackle this urgent global health threat.

October: Power and governance in global health politics: On October 14^th I joined a day of discussions in Berlin on the theme of “Who’s got the power? Who should have the power? Power and Governance in global health politics”, Deutsche Plattform für Globale Gesundheit.

October: Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS): On October 13^th I was invited to join the CHAMPS (Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance)  side-event of the World Health Summit, hosted by the Hasso Plattner Institute, and in follow-on, to explore ways to collaborate with Oxford.

October: AI and Digital Inclusion in Global Health: On October 13^th I was on a speaker panel, hosted by the Hasso Plattner Institute, at the World Health Summit on “AI and Digital Inclusion in Global Health”. You can view our talks and discussions here.

October: Shingles/varicella: On October 2^nd I was part of our regular JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation), meetings of shingles/varicella sub-committee (of which I have been a member for about 15 years). I always enjoy these meetings because they are an incredible lesson in thoroughness. All past publicly-available minutes to be found here.

September: Best practices in clinical trials: On September 25^th I joined the launch webinar for the WHO guidance for best practices for clinical trials (insights from which were useful for my October 13^th Berlin presentation). 11,000 people joined live online and you can watch the recording here. 

September: US drug prices: On September 19^th I was interviewed live for the Al Jazeera live business and economics show “Counting the Cost”, exploring US drug prices and recent legislation to lower the prices on the 10 costliest Medicare prescription drugs.

September: Equitable Access to Healthcare: On September 11^th I joined the “Improving Equitable Access to Healthcare” symposium, Somerville College, Oxford. Details of “Improving Equitable Access to Healthcare ” Pump Priming Scheme, and 2024 funded projects can be found here: I am part of the review committee for the scheme and look forward to another great batch of projects being funded in 2025.

September: Telengana Global AI Summit 2024, Hyderabad, India: On September 5^th to 6^th, I joined a panel at the Telengana Global AI Summit 2024, Hyderabad, India.  on “Accelerating AI in Public Health: Fostering South-South Collaborations”, sponsored by the new PATH  initiative Public Health Impact through Artificial Intelligence. 

August: mpox research and innovation: On August 29-30th I took part in a Scientific research response conference – hybrid meeting, on “Mpox Research and Innovation – Aligning Research Response with Outbreak Goals” organised by the R&D Blueprint team for Epidemics, WHO.

August: Equitable research opinion pieces  I was co-author on a short Lancet Correspondence on Equitable research. Reza HM, Rono S, Chemoiwa E, Ayua E, Chebichii S, Mkrtchyan H, Eltholth M, Zemanay W, Farlow A, Cole J. Establishing equitable partnerships between the Global North and Global South. Lancet. 2024 Aug. Read it here.

August: Biodiversity, medicine and health: On August 20^th I participated in the ‘Global Health, Biodiversity, and Therapeutics’, hybrid seminar run by Harvard University Herbaria and the University of Costa Rica. This overlaps strongly with my work on biodiversity, medicine, and health and with groups including Kew and FIOCRUZ. Agenda and report can be found here and here.

August: Global Health; Planetary Health; AI and the Future of Health, Oxford summer school: Between August 19^th and September 6^th I ran an Oxford Certificate Programmes Summer School at Worcester College, University of Oxford, on “Global Health; Planetary Health; AI and the Future of Health”. In 2024 I added a pilot week on ‘AI for Health’ with intent to extend in future years as part of a global effort to strengthen training of young people in AI for health. I also gave a week on “Economic Crises”. Participants graded my courses as excellent (5 out of 5). All syllabi can be found on my teaching and communications page.

August: AI and the future of health for China: On August 4^th I gave a lecture on “The Future of Artificial Intelligence for Health: How do we maximise and share the global benefits of AI while we diminish and control the risks?” as part of the  ‘China-EU Economic Cooperation amid the Wave of Technological Innovation’, School of Economics Peking University, School of Applied Economics Renmin University of China, Worcester College, University of Oxford. You can read about it here.

June: Food systems and AMR, at the Max Liebermann House, Berlin: Over June 27^th to 28^th I organised and chaired a two-day workshop on Food Systems and AMR, at Max Liebermann House, Berlin, very kindly supported by the Berliner Sparkasse, The British Council, and the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research. Agenda here. The meeting agenda is here. The IOI news story is here. 

June: Biovigilance UK-South Africa partnership: On June 20^th I joined colleagues for a meeting on “UK-South Africa partnership on Biovigilance utilising next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology across the One Heath continuum”, organised by colleagues at University of West London (Microbes, environment and health research group ) with whom I have developed strong links in recent years. This is part of a growing network of UK-Africa scholars working to strengthen LMIC-led science capacity strengthening, and is funded by Academy of Medical Sciences Networking Grant Scheme to create an International Network of researchers to enhance capacity for Next Generation Sequencing technologies in South Africa and other LMICs.

June: Oxford AMR Network launch: On June 13^th we held the first meeting of the new Oxford AMR network. I represent my colleagues in economics and social sciences in the Network working group organising the network. Presentations for the first meeting were by Craig MacLean, Christiane Dolecek, and myself (a pdf of my slides can be found here).

June: Food systems and AMR, Cambridge: On June 11^th I presented at the Ineos Oxbridge doctoral initiative spring cohort meeting, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. My PI/Supervisor Presentation was on “Food Systems and Antimicrobial Resistance: Making food system more robust to reduce AMR risk globally”. My presentation is here.

May: Diabetes and weight loss drugs: On May 7^th I was live interviewed for the Al Jazerra business and economics programme “Counting the Cost”  on “diabetes and weight loss drugs,”. You can find some notes I prepared on the issues here.

May: Global Solutions Summit: On May 6^th to 7^th I was part of the Global Solutions Summit, Berlin (agenda here). Particularly useful for my work were sessions on ‘Using Data-Driven Action in Urban Health Governance’, “Decarbonising Industry to Accelerate Energy Transition”, “Bridging Business and Biodiversity: global Commitments and Challenges Ahead”.