Participants

• Australia
• Belgium
• Benin
• Brazil
• Canada
• Egypt
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Haiti
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Pakistan
• Peru
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Thailand
• Uganda
• UK
• Ukraine
• USA

• World – World Health Organization
• World – WONCA
• Americas – Pan American Health Organization

Abbas Ghavam‐Rassoul is a family physician at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health. His diverse clinical practice includes the care of patients with mental illness and HIV. He has served as the Program Director for the Academic Fellowship and Graduate Studies Program in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto. He teaches at the undergraduate, postgraduate and graduate levels. Past leadership roles have included residency program director at the DFCM at St. Michael’s Hospital, and co-lead for the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration in Family Medicine.

Adefolake Sanyaolu is a graduating medical resident from the University of Toronto and an incoming Fellow in Global Health. She is deeply committed to advancing health equity and has been awarded a fellowship focused on serving underserved communities. Adefolake is passionate about health policy and is driven to contribute to initiatives that shape equitable and evidence-based healthcare systems. She hopes to integrate clinical care with policy work in her future practice to improve population health outcomes both locally and globally.

Dr Alan Katz is a family physician and health services researcher. He is a Senior Scientist at the Manitoba Center for Health Policy and professor in the Departments of Community Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Manitoba. He is the President Elect of NAPCRG the  North American Primary Care Research Group and past president of the Canadian Association Of Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR). 

Andrew has served as the Senior Vice President of Research and Policy for the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), and co-director of the Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care in Washington, DC., since 2019. Prior to that, he was the Director of the AAFP’s Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies, where he directed policy research with special interests in access to primary care, underserved populations, health workforce and training, and spatial analysis. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications. He also led the Graham Center’s emphasis on developing geospatial data tools intended to empower primary care providers, leaders, and policymakers and inform policy, such as Health Landscape and the UDS Mapper, which currently helps to guides funding for all the nation’s Federally Qualified Health Centers. Dr. Bazemore sees patients and teaches at the VCU-Fairfax Medicine residency program, is an elected member of the National Academies of Medicine and serves on the faculties of the Departments of Family Medicine at Georgetown University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Toronto. He received his BA from Davidson College, MD from the University of North Carolina, and MPH from Harvard University.

Andrew is a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner who holds a Doctorate in Nursing, an MScN in Primary Health Care (PHC), and an International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance. He serves as a consultant for the WHO Special Program for PHC in the unit for Evidence and Innovation. Andrew has taught at several universities in sub-Saharan Africa and Canada and has contributed to curriculum development for educational programs focused on PHC, nursing, global health equity and leadership.

Dr. Kazi is a public health specialist with over 15 years of international experience, in Primary Health Care (PHC) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) across sub-national, national, regional, and global levels within public, development, and UN systems. He has served as a Technical Officer and Consultant with the World Health Organization, where he co-authored the Western Pacific Regional Framework on PHC, supported PHC reforms and investment planning in multiple countries, and led the documentation of PHC systems innovations. Dr. Kazi’s interests span PHC system assessment, policy design, multisectoral collaboration, and the development of people-centered, resilient health systems. He holds an MD and an MPH from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health and an International Practitioner of the UK Faculty of Public Health, with a track record of advancing integrated, equitable PHC in diverse contexts.

Dr. Archna Gupta is a practicing family physician at St. Michael's Hospital and a Scientist at Upstream Lab. She is a researcher passionate about health equity and global health. Her research focuses on the intersection between public health and primary care, how to best serve vulnerable patients or those who face structural marginalization and how to equitably serve growing populations with expanding health needs locally and globally. She is also an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Gupta holds a PhD in Health Services Research, an MPH, and an MD. 

Dr. Baraa Alghalyini, MD, CCFP, MHSc, FCFP, is the Vice Dean of the College of Medicine and the Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Alfaisal University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She is also a consultant family physician at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center and an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Toronto. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Alghalyini has established herself as an academic and clinical medicine leader. Dr. Alghalyini has been awarded the College of Family Physicians of Canada fellowship designation, earned a Master of Health Science (MHSc) from the University of Toronto, and completed her residency training in Family Medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto. 

Among her key achievements, Dr. Alghalyini founded the Centre for Innovation Partnership & Community Engagement (CIPC) and contributed to the Ministry of Health VRO 2030 “Model of Care” initiative. She has been recognized with the Faculty Awards for Research Excellence in 2024 and the Helen Batty Award for Excellence in Program Development and Design in the same year. Her research interests include social determinants of health, global health, and equitable access to precision medicine, wellbeing and longevity. She has published extensively on topics such as chronic disease management, the impacts of COVID-19, and health promotion. Dr. Alghalyini is affiliated with the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. 

Dr. Alghalyini can be reached at baraa.alghalyini@utoronto.ca or balghalyini@alfaisal.edu.

Carrie Bernard received her medical degree from McMaster University in 1997 and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Toronto. She has practised comprehensive family medicine since 1999 with the Queen Square FHT in Brampton. Passionate about community and global health, Dr. Bernard received her MPH in 2012. She worked with Médecins Sans Frontières in northern Uganda in 2005, and Public Health Ontario from 2012 to 2019. Her research interests focus on ethics in medical practice, and she is a member of the Humanitarian Health Ethics Research Group, a multidisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners in Canada who explore ethical issues related to humanitarian health care work. She served as a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Bioethics Table, providing expert advice on bioethical issues to the Ontario Ministry of Health. She has held various leadership roles at McMaster and U of T, with her driving passion being empowering community-based family physicians to expand their scopes in both clinical and academic setting. She is the CPD and Partnerships Lead for the Division of Mental Health and Addictions at the DFCM and she is currently serving as president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Dr. Danielle Martin is Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), University of Toronto. DFCM is the largest academic department of family medicine in the world and home to the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care. Dr. Martin is grounded in her clinical primary care expertise. She is an active family physician whose clinical work has ranged from comprehensive family medicine in rural and remote communities to maternity care. She is a dedicated educator, mentor and role model to learners aspiring to enter medicine and health care leadership. Dr. Martin is a respected leader in Canadian medicine and well-recognized media spokesperson, regularly named on lists such as Medical Post’s Power List. Her 2014 presentation to a United States Senate Subcommittee about the Canadian health care system has been viewed by over 30 million people across the globe. Dr. Martin spent eight years as a senior hospital executive, most recently as Executive Vice President and Lead Medical Executive at Women’s College Hospital (WCH), where she was also medical lead of the hospital’s COVID-19 pandemic response. At WCH, she led the establishment of Women’s Virtual, Canada’s first virtual hospital. The recipient of many awards and accolades, in 2019 Dr. Martin became the youngest physician ever to receive the F.N.G. Starr Award, the highest honour available to Canadian Medical Association members.

Dr. David Ponka is Assistant Dean Global Health and Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa, where he strives to combine clinical, educational and research impacts in global health. He has directed the Besrour Centre for Global family Medicine at the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and has helped launch the discipline of family medicine in contexts such as Guyana, Indonesia and Madagascar. Most recently, he has assumed the role of Associate Editor of Canadian Family Physician. 

Although he pursues various scholarly interests and policy initiatives, the common thread is work with vulnerable populations, capacity building of primary care systems in low-middle income countries, and research on integrating mental health for underserved populations, including the homeless. Increasingly, he is applying lessons around efficiency and integration from overseas to the Canadian context. 

Dr. Ponka participated in the TUTOR PHC interdisciplinary research training program and the Harvard Innovations in Team Work for Healthcare program. He is raising his 3 young girls in Ottawa as global citizens. 

Associate Professor, Addis Ababa University, Consultant Psychiatrist, Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Associate professor, Addis Ababa University, Co-chair and Director, Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration-TAAAC, National Lead, African Health Observatory Platform- Ethiopia National Centre

Dr. Wondimagegn is the former Chief Executive Director of the College of Health Sciences (CHS), Vice President of Addis Ababa University (AAU), Chair of AAU’s, Department of Psychiatry and Director of Graduate Programs for AAU, CHS in Ethiopia. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at AAU, a Consultant Psychiatrist, Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Co-chair and Director, Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration-TAAAC and the National Lead, African Health Observatory Platform- Ethiopia National Centre.

Through his numerous activities as a clinical and health systems leader, global mental health expert, IPT expert, and researcher, he is helping to decrease stigma and improve access to mental healthcare. An Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at AAU, he co-leads with Marci Rose the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration to develop post-graduate subspecialty training programs in numerous areas of medicine, primary care and nursing in Ethiopia.

He has published in the areas of global mental health, family medicine, medical ethics, psychotherapy knowledge translation, and post-partum depression. He was a primary investigator of two Grand Challenges Canada funded projects – The Biaber Project, to scale up screening and mental health care in Ethiopian primary care settings; and to engage with Ethiopian traditional healers, using a collaborative care model to increase the identification and treatment of psychiatric disorders. He has culturally adapted IPT for Ethiopia (IPT-E) and led IPT workshops for psychiatry residents at AAU and University of Toronto. The Biaber Project enabled the training of >500 Ethiopian primary care nurses in IPT-E.

Dr. Kopansky-Giles, BPHE, DC, FCCS, FICC, MSc, is a Professor at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, Department of Research and an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Kopansky-Giles is actively engaged in collaborative, primary care health service delivery research (locally and internationally) with a focused area related to integrative models of health care, competency-based education, and interprofessional education of health professional trainees. Deborah is the Chair of the St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team Interprofessional Education Committee and on the Unity Health Collaborative Learning Working Group. Dr. Kopansky-Giles is an Executive Committee member of the Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health International Coordinating Council (of the UN Bone and Joint Decade), sits on the WHO Health Workforce Education Hub and is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care at the University of Toronto. She has been actively involved in WHO work on Integrated, People-Centred Care, Healthy Ageing and Global Health Workforce programs over the past decade. Dr. Kopansky-Giles co-chaired the College of Family Physicians of Canada Collaborator Working Group, was a member of the University of Toronto DFCM Faculty Development Committee and currently sits on the WHO World Rehabilitation Alliance Primary Care Workstream advisory committee. Dr. Kopansky-Giles recently led a Team Primary Care Canada study integrating musculoskeletal providers onto funded primary care teams in Canada.

Dr. Donatus Mutasingwa, MD, MPhil, PhD, is the Academic Chief at the Markham Family Medicine Teaching Unit (MFMTU) and the Department of Family Medicine at Oak Valley Health. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. In this role, he teaches and supervises medical students and family medicine residents, while actively contributing to clinical care and departmental leadership. 

Originally from Tanzania, Dr. Mutasingwa earned his medical degree from the University of Dar es Salaam (formerly Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences, now MUHAS), a Master’s degree in Health Promotion from the University of Bergen in Norway, and a PhD from the University of Calgary. He completed his Family Medicine residency at the University of Toronto. 

Dr. Mutasingwa’s academic interests focus on global health and primary care research. He has been actively involved in efforts to strengthen primary care in Tanzania through the development of Family Medicine curriculum, in collaboration with Aga Khan University, MUHAS, and other local and international stakeholders. In recognition of this work, he was recently awarded the prestigious Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship to support the co-development of a Family Medicine curriculum at MUHAS. 

Dr. Elnathan Kebebew Bekele is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Addis Ababa University and one of the first graduates of Family Medicine training in Ethiopia. She has expertise in patient-centered care, medical education, palliative medicine, public health research and health system development. Dr. Elnathan holds an MD from Jimma University, a Family Medicine specialty from Addis Ababa University, and an MPH from Addis Continental Institute of Public Health. She is currently pursuing a Fellowship in Palliative Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Elnathan has led pioneering initiatives in palliative care at her institution, contributed to national healthcare guidelines, and actively engages in research on Family Medicine education and palliative care in Ethiopia. She is a founding member of the Society of Family Medicine of Ethiopia and an active member of several professional organizations, including the Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine.

Dr. Di Ruggiero is Associate Professor of Global Health, Division of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences and Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto. She is the Director of the DLSPH’s Centre for Global Health and Co-director, of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Promotion. She was recently appointed as DLSPH's  Associate Dean of Research and Innovation. Her research focuses on evaluating the role of different governance approaches and models in public health systems. She studies the impacts of population health interventions (policies, programs) on social, gender and health inequities in diverse contexts. Her research also examines how evidence affects global policy agendas related to employment, other social determinants of health and health equity in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. She was the inaugural Deputy Scientific Director with the CIHR-Institute of Population and Public Health. She holds a PhD in public health sciences from the University of Toronto. 

Dr. Tumviriyakul is a family physician and Head of the Department of Social Medicine at Hatyai Hospital in Thailand. She holds a Diploma of the Thai Board of Family Medicine from the Royal College of Family Physicians of Thailand, a Master’s degree in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and completed an Academic Fellowship in Family Medicine and Clinical Research Certificate at the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), University of Toronto (2018-2020). During her fellowship, she received the DFCM’s Academic Fellowship and Graduate Studies Program Award in 2018. Dr. Tumviriyakul was recognized with the Excellence in Family Medicine Award in 2023 by the Association of General Hospitals and Regional Hospitals and the General Practitioners/Family Physicians Association of Thailand. Her professional expertise includes urban primary care management, curriculum development for medical students and family medicine residents, academic leadership, and research. Currently, she serves as Chair of the Scientific Subcommittee and the Continuing Medical Education Subcommittee at the Royal College of Family Physicians of Thailand. Her recent interests focus on advocating policies to ensure appropriate budget allocations for primary healthcare

Professor Hery Nirina Rakoto Ratsimba is a full professor of general surgery at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. He currently serves as Vice-Dean in charge of partnerships and international relations, playing a key role in fostering academic collaborations and advancing medical education. Professor Rakoto Ratsimba is actively involved in a partnership with Université Laval in Quebec, established with the support of the Besrour Center.

Through this collaboration, he has contributed to a major ongoing reform of health studies in Madagascar. This reform was initiated in response to findings that traditional medical education was overly theoretical and that the competencies of trained doctors and paramedics were not adequately aligned with the actual health needs of the population. The reform emphasizes a competency-based approach, the integration of digital technology, and a stronger focus on primary care. A central goal of this initiative is the creation of a Department of Family Medicine to be integrated into the national medical specialty curriculum. Professor Rakoto Ratsimba is a strong advocate for socially accountable health partnerships. He believes that collaborations of this kind are mutually enriching and hold great potential to improve health systems and expand access to quality care for the communities they are designed to serve. 

Erica Barbazza is an international health systems expert with nearly 15 years of experience at the World Health Organization in roles related to primary health care (PHC), performance measurement, service delivery, health systems governance and health systems strengthening. She has led and contributed to technical assistance across countries in Europe and Central Asia—including Belgium, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Tajikistan—and undertaken projects with partners including the World Bank, European Commission and OECD. Since 2023, Erica has worked with WHO’s Special Programme on Primary Health Care on advancing evidence to support PHC implementation. Erica completed her PhD at the University of Amsterdam in a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network with a focus on exploring the actionability of health care performance indicators and holds an MSc in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics. 

Prof.em. Jan De Maeseneer is a family physician and worked in the inter-professional team of the Community Health Centre in Ledeberg – Ghent (Belgium) from 1978-2017. He was HOD of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care at Ghent University from 1991-2017 and vice-dean for Strategic Planning in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences from 2009-2017. From 1997-2016, he was leading the Educational Committee for the medical curriculum, and was in charge of the fundamental reform of the undergraduate program. He chaired European Forum for Primary Care from 2005 - 2017 and was Secretary General of The Network: Towards Unity For Health from 2007-2015. From 1997 - 2018, he contributed to the Primafamed Network ,that supports the family medicine training In 25 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Actually he is the Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Health Care – Ghent University since 2010. In 2019, he was elected as an International member of the National Academy of Medicine (Washington, USA). Jan De Maeseneer was the chair of the Strategic Advisory Board for Welfare, Health and Family in the Flemish Community (2009-2018) and also chaired the Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health, advising the European Commission (2013 - 2022). Nowadays, he is chairing the Health Council of the City of Ghent and since 2023, he is the chair of the Commission for Sustainable Higher Education in Flanders. He is still involved in projects like the establishment of BHIR (Belgian Integrated health record ) and the improvement of health care in prisons in Belgium.

Dr. Wilson is a family and emergency physician in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada, where she has been privileged to serve her community since 2000. She holds academic  appointments as Lecturer in the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Toronto, Clinical and Communication Skills Tutor at the Queen’s-Lakeridge MD Family Medicine Program (Adjunct 2), and Director of International Partnerships and Canadian Consultant for Family and Emergency Medicine at Leyaata Hospital in Ghana. Her clinical and academic work sits at the intersection of local care and global health, with a focus on developing sustainable, community-based primary care systems in low-resource settings. She is the corresponding author of a collaborative publication describing the “Nyansapo” model of partnership for strengthening primary health care in Ghana and has shared insights from this work through national and international presentations focused on equity and partnership.
Dr. Wilson serves as the DFCM Faculty Partnership Lead for the Africa Health Collaborative and has been recognized with awards, including the Family Medicine Forum’s 2024 “Big Soap Ideas” pitch and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s “Pillars of the Pandemic,” which she shares with the dedicated teams and communities she works alongside. She holds a Master of Public Health with a specialization in global health, as well as certifications in emergency and international public health. Dr. Wilson is also the author of Grant Us Tomorrow: A Medical Memoir. Above all, she is committed to advancing Primary Health Care for all, through the power of relationships, education, and service.

Professor Jose M. Valderas is an academic family physician. He currently serves as Professor and Head of the Department of Family Medicine at the National University Health System (NUHS), Singapore, and directs the Centre for Research in Health Systems Performance. Originally from Barcelona, Spain and trained in Spain, the US and the UK, his career spans clinical practice, policy, and research across leading institutions in Europe, the US, and Asia and serving populations with a variety socio-economic and political backgrounds. His scholarly work focuses on patient-reported outcomes and experiences (PROMs and PREMs), multi-morbidity, and quality and safety in primary care. He has led research projects and published extensively on models of care responsive to chronic disease and complexity in family medicine. He has contributed expert advice to World Health Organization, the Organization for the Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Economic Forum, and played a key role in shaping the WHO-UNICEF Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care and the OECD PaRIS initiative. As Chair of the WONCA Working Party on Quality and Safety, Professor Valderas champions global advancements in comprehensive, continuous, and person-centred primary care.

Dr. Karen Tu, is a Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine-Temerty Faculty of Medicine with a cross appointment in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation-Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, Canada and an Adjunct Professor in the International Centre for Future Health Systems-UNSW Medicine, University of New South Wales, Australia. She holds a Chair in Family and Community Medicine Research in Primary Care at UHN, is a Research Scientist and Family Medicine Research Lead at North York General Hospital and a family physician at University Health Network-Toronto Western Hospital Family Health Team. She is one of Canada’s leading primary care researchers in the secondary use of primary care EMR data and administrative data. Triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the understanding of common challenges worldwide, Dr. Tu developed the International Consortium of Primary Care Big Data Researchers-INTRePID. INTRePID joins together primary care researchers currently in 15 countries spanning six continents and includes visits to primary care on over 150 million patients around the world. INTRePID fosters and facilitates international collaboration, networking, knowledge exchange, mentorship and education for primary care big data research worldwide.  

Dr. Karine Bériault, M.D., CCFP, FCFP is a dedicated family physician, educator, and leader with a strong background in medical education and health leadership. She is an associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke and previously served as the director of GMF-U La Pommeraie. Passionate about improving patient care and medical training, Dr. Bériault has led various initiatives to enhance clinical education, professional development, and patient safety. Her research focuses on quality improvement in primary care, and she has presented her work at international conferences, including the International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare. She is currently enrolled in the Faculty of Administrative Sciences at Université Laval, pursuing a graduate microprogram in Leadership in Organizational Change. Recognized for her contributions to family medicine, she has received several distinctions, including the Dean’s Honor Roll and the CIUSSSE-CHUS Excellence Award. She is also a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. 

Beyond her clinical and academic work, Dr. Bériault is deeply committed to mentoring and supporting the next generation of healthcare professionals. In September 2025, she will assume the role of Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine at the Université de Sherbrooke. 

Dr. Kate Stead is a rural family doctor with the Georgian Bay Family Health Team in Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada. She is a lecturer in the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. The University of Toronto DFCM is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care, for which Dr. Stead is involved in several projects through her capacity as the Global Health Fellow. She is currently a co-chair for the primary care workstream of the WHO-hosted World Rehabilitation Alliance providing leadership to advocate for the integration of rehabilitation and primary care. Formerly, she was the inaugural Faculty Lead for Social Accountability and Global Health at the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre site for the University of Toronto, DFCM.

Dr. Katherine Rouleau is a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) and family physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. She is also Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care and the Global Primary Health Care Lead in the Office of Health System Partnerships at DFCM. Her clinical and academic interests include primary care in the global health context, global health education, the scholarship-leadership continuum, the care of marginalized populations and HIV primary care.

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Associate Professor Klaus B von Pressentin is an academic, primary care researcher, and clinician-educator based in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the head of the Division of Family Medicine and the deputy head of the Department of Family, Community and Emergency Care (FaCE) in the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Cape Town. His research focuses on primary care service strengthening (including chronic conditions and palliative care in primary care), global health issues related to family medicine and primary care, and health professions education. He facilitates learning and teaching in research methods, leadership development, clinical governance, evidence-based practice, and consultation skills. His current volunteer activities include serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the South African Family Practice Journal (the official journal of the South African Academy of Family Physicians), serving on the Council of the College of Family Physicians of South Africa and chairing the Research Committee of the South African Academy of Family Physicians.

Dr. Leila Makhani (she/her) is a family physician and Assistant Professor with the University of Toronto, Canada. Her clinical and academic interests include migrant and refugee health, the care of underserved populations, and global health in the context of primary care and building collaborative academic partnerships. In her academic roles, Dr. Makhani serves as the PGY3 Enhanced Skills Program Director for the Global Health and Vulnerable Populations program, and is Associate Lead for the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration in Family Medicine (TAAAC-FM), both at the Department of Family and Community Medicine with the University of Toronto. In addition, Dr. Makhani co-leads the Global Health week teaching for second year undergraduate medical students, which highlights foundational global health principles to include social accountability, equity, and social determinants of health. Outside of medicine, Dr. Makhani enjoys the arts and dance, and spending time with her toddler.

Luke is a part-time GP and Co-Director of Oxford's Global Primary Care team with Michael Kidd. He has lots of experience working with WHO, the World Bank, and 20+ health ministries, mainly around equitably improving access to primary care, with an emphasis on NCD services. He has >150 publications and sits on the editorial boards of Lancet Primary Care, BJGP, and the African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine. He currently serves on two Lancet Commissions. He keeps bees, loves surfing, is married to a dynamic Anglican vicar, and has learned to love watching F1 with his youngest son Atticus who turns 12 on Wednesday (and is accompanying Luke on the trip as his executive assistant). Since you ask, Atti's favourite dinosaurs is the minmi - a diminutive ankylosaurus.  

Dr. María Sofia Cuba Fuentes is a medical specialist in Family and Community Medicine, trained at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH). She holds a Doctor of Medicine degree, a Master’s in Clinical Science from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and a Master’s in Social Management from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. 

She currently serves as an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Family and Community Medicine Residency Program at UPCH, where she also directs the Primary Health Care Research Center. In addition, she is the Coordinator of the Family Medicine and Primary Care Research Network of the Ibero-American Confederation of Family Medicine (CIMF-WONCA). 

At the national level, Dr. Cuba Fuentes is the Primary Care National Director at EsSalud, Peru’s social security health system. She has also held prominent positions including President of the Peruvian Society of Family and Community Medicine, General Director of Health Promotion at the Ministry of Health, and has served as Manager of Comprehensive Care Policies and Manager of Services for the Elderly and Social Benefits at EsSalud. 

Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Past Program Director, Family Medicine, Addis Ababa University

Dr. Zerihun is a family physician working as an assistant professor of family medicine at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She served for two terms as the first program director of the first family medicine residency training program in Ethiopia. She is one of the co-founders of Society of Family Medicine of Ethiopia. In 2018, she was selected as a Young African Leader at the Mandela Washington Fellowship in the United States.

Dr. Nicholas Pimlott – is a Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and a family physician at Women’s College Hospital. He is also the Editor of Canadian Family Physician.

Dr. Melissa Graham is a family physician at the Credit Valley Family Health Team and interim Academic Lead for the Family Medicine Teaching Program at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, Ontario. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and currently holds the position of Associate Program Director, Academic Fellowship and Graduate Studies at the Department of Family and Community Medicine as well as Program Director for the Master of Public Health in Family Medicine at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.  

Professor Michael Kidd AO FAHMS is an Australian primary care and public health researcher and clinician leader. He holds a joint appointment as the Foundation Director of the International Centre for Future Health Systems at the University of New South Wales, and as Professor of Global Primary Care and Future Health Systems at the University of Oxford. He has recently ben appointed as the next Chief Medical Officer of Australia. He has served as president of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA), president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, and Foundation Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Care.

Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya MD, PhD is the Frigon Blau Chair in Family Medicine Research at Women’s College Hospital. He is the director of the Institute for Health Systems Solutions and Virtual Care and the co-lead of the Canadian Primary Care Research Network. He practices family medicine and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Orawan Tawaytibhongs serves as the Director of a 30-bed community hospital in Thailand and the Acting Deputy Director of the Division of Primary Care Support at the Ministry of Public Health. With a professional foundation in family medicine, his expertise spans public health, health policy, primary health care, and the political economy of healthcare. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, in collaboration with Chiang Mai University. His research focuses on health system resilience, emphasizing identifying a best-fit conceptual framework to understand and assess how local primary healthcare systems respond to multiple shocks and operate under conditions of uncertainty.

Dr. Praseedha Janakiram MD, CCFP, FCFP, MPH Candidate, is a family physician of Sri Lankan origin, based at the Crossroads Refugee Clinic at Women's College Hospital while also practicing community-based HIV primary care and family medicine. She has a passion for refugee health care, women's health, HIV primary care, and global health collaboration, leadership, and education. She is the Program Director for Global Health Education at the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and serves as Faculty Lead of the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration in Family Medicine. She is a Faculty Co-Lead for the New and Evolving Academic Leaders program at the Center for Faculty Development, and is Co-Chair of "Advancing Women's Excellence in Family Medicine" a program to support emerging leaders in family medicine who identify as women. She is deeply committed to learner education, faculty development, capacity strengthening partnership, and leadership development as a pathway to health equity.

Dr Kumar was bestowed the WONCA Fellowship, the WONCA – World Organization of Family Doctors award, at the WONCA Sydney Conference 2023. Dr. Raman Kumar has been featured on the cover of ‘THE LANCET’ as a global primary healthcare leader. One of the first-generation residency-trained board-qualified (DNB family medicine) family physicians, he is interested in contributing to primary care. He is the founder and national president of the Academy of Family Physicians of India (AFPI). Dr. Raman Kumar is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care (JFMPC), a peer-reviewed, PUBMED indexed journal. He also has been conferred with several awards and recognitions, which include the Healthcare Leadership Award 2012 India and the Montegut Global Scholar Award 2013 by the American Board of Family Medicine, Healthcare Leadership Award Dhaka 2020. He represented all young family physicians on the executive board of the WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors) from 2013-2016. He was on the WONCA international leadership board as South Asia President from 2019-2021. He has contributed to developing the National Post Graduate Curriculum in Family Medicine in India. Throughout his career, he has worked at several public and private health institutions in India throughout his career. Presently, he practices as a full-time family physician. He has published over 160 research papers in national and international journals and delivered educational programs, including many keynotes. Dr. Kumar was conferred the inaugural fellowship award by the AAPI (American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) in 2024, in recognition of exemplary service and dedication to establishing family practice discipline in India. He is also recipient of several other awards including - Montegut Global Scholar Award by ABFM , WONCA World Fellowship, and Lifetime Achievement Award WONCA South Asia Region.

Dr. Russell Dawe is a family physician and Associate Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr. Dawe has held a variety of academic leadership roles, including founder and Program Director of Memorial’s Care of Underserved Populations Enhanced Skills Program. In the course of establishing this program, Dr. Dawe has collaborated with international partnerships in Nepal and Uganda, as well as Indigenous partners in Labrador. Currently, Dr. Dawe is the Program Director for Memorial’s Family Medicine Residency Program, with an emphasis on rural medical education. Outside of the university, Dr. Dawe has been an active member of the Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine where he was previously co-chair of the scientific committee and, more recently, senior scientific advisor. He is also on the board of directors for the charity organization Global Familymed Foundation and has served as associate editor for the Canadian Journal of Medical Education since 2018. His scholarly interests include program evaluation, medical education, global health, and Indigenous health.

Dr Sameen Siddiqi is currently the Professor of Public Health and Health Systems, Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS), Aga Khan University, Karachi, where he served as its Chair for almost 6 years. Earlier, he worked for the World Health Organization for 16 years and served as Director, Health System Development covering the Eastern Mediterranean Region and spearheaded the work on universal health coverage. He has also served as WHO’s Representative to Lebanon and Iran. 
Prior to joining WHO, Dr Siddiqi was associated with the Health Services Academy, Ministry of Health, Pakistan where he was instrumental in developing its educational and research programs. Dr Siddiqi also worked as Senior Health Specialist for the World Bank in Islamabad for 2 years. Dr Siddiqi has a fellowship in internal medicine, and a master’s degree, fellowship and doctoral degree in public health. He has worked for three decades advising lower- and middle-income countries on strengthening health systems. He has special interest in health system governance, private health sector, public private partnership and quality and safety of care. Dr Siddiqi has over 150 publications and book chapters, is a reviewer and on the editorial board of several international journals and is the lead editor of the book on Making Health Systems Work in Low and Middle Income Countries. He serves on several international boards including the International Advisory Committee of the WHO’s Global Academy. He has recently been invited to be a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Primary Health Care in the Post-COVID Era, as well as to join the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Health Policy and Management.

Sophia Ikura leads Health Commons, an innovation lab focused on advancing equitable health care by amplifying community expertise and integrating lived experience into policy and service design. With senior leadership roles in government, health authorities, and political advisory, Sophia has shaped provincial strategies on funding reform, equity, and health human resources. She previously led strategic planning and engagement for the Toronto Local Health Integration Network and served as a senior health advisor to the Premier of Ontario. A nurse by training with an MPA from Queen’s University, Sophia brings a cross-disciplinary lens to solving complex health system challenges. 

Dr. Tania Whitby-Best is a Family Physician and Head of Student Health Services at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. She holds degrees in Zoology and Biochemistry (BSc), Medicine and Surgery (MBBS), a Master of Science, and a Doctor of Medicine in Family Medicine—all from the UWI. With nearly 20 years of clinical and academic experience, Dr. Whitby-Best is a passionate advocate for student wellness, sexual and reproductive health, and medical education. She is the President-elect of both the Caribbean College of Family Physicians and the WONCA North America Region and is also a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and has led the planning and delivery of numerous continuing medical education (CME) events for healthcare professionals.

Tara Kiran is a family physician and researcher based in Toronto. She is passionate about improving primary care systems through better policy and practice. She has worked with large administrative datasets to understand the impacts of reforms on quality of care in Ontario. She has also led numerous quality improvement initiatives, ranging from improving access to hepatitis C treatment to reducing harm from opioids. She is the Vice Chair for Quality and Innovation at the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine where she oversees the quality improvement curriculum and practice improvement activities for 15 affiliated teaching clinics. Tara is also passionate about patient and public engagement. In 2022, she launched OurCare, a national initiative to engage the public in co-creating the blueprint for a stronger, more equitable primary care system in Canada. Tara holds the Fidani Chair of Improvement and Innovation at the University of Toronto. She practices family medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. She is a Scientist at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital, a Senior Adjunct Scientist at ICES and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. You can learn more about her research here. 

Dr. Thiago Trindade is a family physician and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte/Brazil. He is also an International Faculty of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He holds a PhD and MSc degrees in epidemiology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil. He is a volunteer researcher at Upstream Lab/MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions/St. Michael’s Hospital/Toronto/Canada. At Upstream Lab, Dr. Trindade is working on research projects that aim to assess interventions on Social Determinants of Health in primary care settings in Canada, Brazil, and Latin America. He is a former president of the Brazilian Society of Family and Community Medicine. His works focus on teaching and researching in Family and Community Medicine (MD program, residency program and master/doctorate program), Primary Health Care, Clinical Epidemiology, Medical Education, and Global Health.

Unab Khan is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at Aga Khan University in Pakistan. A board-certified family physician with a fellowship in adolescent medicine, she is also a clinical researcher with a focus on community-based research involving adolescents and adults, particularly in the area of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Her recent work centers on developing a proof-of-concept primary care model for urban Pakistan—an especially critical initiative in a context where no formal urban primary healthcare system exists, and where approximately 70% of care is delivered through the private sector via out-of-pocket, fee-for-service arrangements. An additional area of interest lies in the capacity building of the primary care workforce. Under her leadership, a one-year hybrid certificate course for general practitioners has been developed and implemented. This course introduces key principles of family medicine and evidence-based care and is endorsed by WHO-EMRO as a regional diploma in family medicine. She is also actively involved in strengthening the health workforce in Syria through initiatives supported by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

Dr. Vanessa Redditt is a family physician at the Crossroads Refugee Clinic, a specialized primary care clinic for refugees at Women’s College Hospital, and a lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Department of Community and Family Medicine and Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She is passionate about advancing health equity and tackling social determinants of health. Vanessa’s clinical care, research, teaching, and advocacy focus on enhancing the health of marginalized communities, particularly refugee newcomers and migrants. She has also previously worked in Rwanda with Partners in Health and the Ministry of Health in primary care system strengthening and health worker training; consulted with the World Health Organization on community engagement strategies; and spent time working and learning in primary care settings in Brazil, Guatemala, Malawi, and Zambia, among other contexts.

Graduated from University of Edinburgh, Prof Wong received his Doctor of Medicine in 2007 having extensive academic and clinical experience from the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and China. He is currently Clinical Professor and Chairperson at the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, HKU and holds concurrent appointments as the Chief of Department at HKU–Shenzhen Hospital, China; Senior Research Fellow at University of North Carolina, USA and adjunct professor from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Prof Wong’s work has centred around infectious diseases, preventing their transmission and improving access for vulnerable populations. He co-chairs the Lancet Commission on “Transformation of Primary Health Care in post-COVID era” (2024-26).

Dr. Yaroslav Diakunchak is a family physician with 19 years of experience in family medicine. He practices at the Brovary Primary Healthcare Centre in Brovary, Kyiv region, Ukraine. His approach is rooted in evidence-based, patient-centered care, with a focus on managing noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, and COPD. He also specializes in geriatric care, mental health support, and the treatment of vulnerable populations, including internally displaced persons. In addition, he is actively involved in vaccination initiatives.