2026

September: In September I will be joining (virtually) the Third Annual Meeting of the Global Initiative on AI for Health (GI-AI4H), Hangzhou, China.

Summer: I was co-author of five papers published over the summer of 2026 on:

• The global initiative on AI for health (GI-AI4H) and health equity (see here);
• Artificial Intelligence and the Transformation of National Public Health Institutes (see here);
• Cost-effective use of data to advance paediatric research in low- and middle-income countries (see here);
• Health system barriers and cardiovascular care in Sierra Leone (see here);
• The India free trade agreement and global health (see here).

July and August: I taught a week-long course in Oxford on “Economics in a time of War, Sanctions, and Tariffs”, and gave an evening lecture on “Planetary Health”.

June: I was in Berlin for the Global Solutions Summit 2026: Finding Common Ground in a Fractured World, and for a reception at the British Embassy.

June: I was in Jakarta, Indonesia for the 2026 Global Sustainable Development Congress where:

I moderated a “How to” session “Driving progress towards equitable, sustainable health systems for all:

“Universities, healthcare providers, NGOs and corporates all have the potential to play a transformative role in advancing health equity and sustainability, not only through medical research, but also via embedding health and well-being into every aspect of institutional life. This session explores how different institutions can integrate health equity into their core operations, champion interdisciplinary and community-engaged research, and partner across sectors to influence real-world health systems change. Topics covered included: 

• Supporting interdisciplinary health research that addresses structural inequities
• Co-creating research, training and interventions that improve health outcomes and support sustainable health infrastructure
• Leveraging education and training to build future-ready health workforces.

I was speaker on a panel “How will AI transform global healthcare, and what governance standards are needed to manage it?”

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform healthcare, offering improved diagnostics, personalised treatments and efficient resource management. Without effective governance, however, AI risks exacerbating inequalities. This session will discuss real-world applications, key challenges and future opportunities for AI adoption across healthcare systems. Topics covered included:

• AI tools for personalised diagnostics, treatment and monitoring
• AI-driven predictive analytics to streamline workflows and resource management
• Unlocking insights from big data for better decisions and early disease detection
• Overcoming challenges in AI adoption: privacy, bias and regulatory compliance.

I joined a private roundtable “Imagining Health Science for a Connected World” organised by Hong Kong Baptist University, 2026 GSD partner.

May: I was in Birmingham, UK for the two-day TARGetAMR Annual Conference “Building the future of AMR Genomics”.

March: A paper, “Pathways to economically viable and sustainable vaccine manufacturing in LMICs”, that I reviewed and provided feedback on for colleagues at the WHO and Medicines Patent Pool (see the acknowledgements section) was published in the journal Vaccine.

March: I was at the Medical Research Council Unit at The Gambia for a week-long workshop launching the Campylobacter Control Campaign (CCC) with researchers and collaborators from the UK, The Gambia, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Egypt. An IOI news story is here. My talk was on “Food/Husbandry Systems and Antimicrobial Resistance: Building erconomics and cost effectiveness frameworks to support good global and local decision making”. Funded by the Wellcome Trust, CCC builds on GETCampy and related work across Africa and other partner sites, connecting surveillance, genomics, source attribution, modelling, and vaccine-informed prevention.

January: I was at Royal Holloway, University of London for a two-day workshop exploring multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary work on AMR and introducing new DPhil students to each other.

2025

December: The Oxford AMR Network (of which I am part of the organising group) ran a speaker event at Magdalen College, Oxford:

• Professor Sarah Tonkin-Crine, Professor in Health Psychology, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences spoke on “Reducing antibiotic prescribing in general practice: supporting clinician behaviour change”
• Dr Thomas Lanyon-Hogg, Career Development Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, spoke on “Unlocking new AMR targets through chemical biology”
• Professor Matthew Stracy, Associate Professor, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, spoke on “Antibiotic collateral damage to the microbiota and the spread of resistance: antibiotic treatment is a double-edged sword”

November: I joined the 2025 Longevity Forum Science Summit in Oxford.

September: I was in Freiburg, Southern Germany, at the International Symposium on Planetary Aspects of Urban Health, organised by the Master of Global Urban Health (MSc GUH) programme in collaboration with the Centre for Planetary Health (CPH). The10th year anniversary of The Master of Science in Global Urban Health (MSc GUH) at the University of Freiburg was celebrated during this event.

September: I took part in the CampyUK conference in Oxford (ahead of the launch of the new Campylobacter Control Campaign (CCC).

August: In Oxford I led a two-week course on “Global Health and Planetary Health” and gave an evening lecture on “Planetary Health”

July: I taught a week-long course in Oxford on financial crisis.

June: I was part of a speaker panel in Istanbul at the 2025 Global Sustainable Development Congress, on “Achieving universal health coverage: The path to health equity”.

Universal health coverage (UHC) is not just a goal, it is a necessity for fostering equitable and sustainable societies. This session will discuss the challenges, successes and future resolutions needed for achieving health equity globally.

• Outlining the current landscape of UHC worldwide
• Training the next generation of health leaders to advocate for and implement UHC initiatives
• Identifying opportunities for collaboration among higher education, government and private sectors to create sustainable solutions for universal health coverage
• Policy decisions and measures needed to ensure UHC as a foundation for sustainable healthcare

June: I organised the Oxford launch meeting of the Lancet One Health Commission report, generously hosted by All Souls College. The agenda is here. I organised a follow-on day of collaborator meetings to discuss possible future projects.

June: I joined the two-day workshop “Beyond Antibiotics: Translation and Impact” at St Hugh’s College Oxford, organised by Centre for Antimicrobial Research and Engineering (CARE), Ineos Oxford Institute, and University of Oxford.

June: Attended the seminar “Translation with regards to novel antibiotics” at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, and the seminar on “Airborne dissemination of antimicrobial resistance: a multi-national microbiological and genomic study” at the Dunn School of Pathology.

June: I gave an evening talk in Oxford on “Planetary Health”.

May: I attended the Global Solutions Summit 2025 in Berlin, “Bridging Divides: New Pathways for Global Prosperity”.

May: I gave a talk at the Digital Health Cluster, Hasso Plattner Institute, Potsdam, on “Boosting AI-for-health implementation: crafting a novel health technology assessment toolbox”

Talk abstract: Supporting the equitable implementation of effective, high-quality AI-for-health applications that especially serve the poor will require the development and deployment of new frameworks of Health Technology Assessment (HTA).  Just as AI-for-health applications need to be designed collaboratively, with the input of many stakeholders (notably of user groups), so too must AI-for-health HTA frameworks.

There are many challenges: Those paying for AI-for-health face numerous other demands on their resources; around the world, very different systems for funding and paying for healthcare are used; and countries have vastly dissimilar levels of resources available for implementing AI-for-health. Because AI is often a part of complex applications that need to be tailored to local circumstances and to change over time, a one-size-fits-all approach will not suffice. Developers also need to be incentivized, through clear and trustworthy HTA frameworks, to develop AI applications that are responsive to local needs and are not just the most-heavily promoted applications even when they are unhelpful and of poor quality.

In this seminar, we will explore how local knowledge, local empowerment, and local ownership are critical for creating HTA frameworks that are affordable to operate, robust, and yet adaptable and easy to update. The challenges of implementing AI for health affect high-income as much as low-income countries and – working together – each can learn from the other how to effectively evaluate, integrate, and implement AI-for-health more effectively.

May: In Oxford, I attended the Lorna Casselton Memorial Lecture given by Dr Andrea Hinwood, Chief Scientist, United Nations Environment Programme, on “The Role of Fungi in Solving Planetary Crises”.

May: I was at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm for the 19th Key Symposium on Planetary Health “Planetary Health – connect the dots. What saves the planet saves our health” (programme here) organised by JIM (Journal of Internal Medicine) and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, with contributions by the Karolinska Institute and the Planetary Health Alliance Europe. The truly excellent sessions of the symposium are available on the YouTube channel of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (try starting here).

April: I was at the Škole narodnog zdravlja “Andrija Štampar” (Stampar School of Public Health) Zagreb, Croatia, to give a lecture/session 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?” and to have collaborative discussions on future possible work on AI in health and HIV.

April: I gave a presentation (virtual) to the (internal) WHO Community of Practice on AI for Health, “Supporting AI-for-health implementation:  Filling the Health Technology Assessment gap.”

April: I visited the Institute for Global Health, University of Siena, Italy, to give a half-day session for the module: Public Health, Vaccine Development Process and Policy Making.

April: In Oxford, I joined the IHTM 10th Year Reunion (having lectured every year since the MSc commenced and partnered, mentored, and written papers and reports with a variety of students) during which I chaired a panel on “Harnessing digital technology, innovation and AI for a more equitable world: implications for shifting global health power dynamics” Panel description:

This panel discussion will explore the transformative potential of digital technology, innovation and AI in healthcare, particularly its impact on the dynamics between those who traditionally have had power in health (such as the global north and healthcare providers) and those who are recipients of funding and care (such as the global south and patients themselves). Global initiatives on AI and digital innovation are largely led from the Global North. Key topics will include the opportunities digital innovations and AI present in addressing health challenges and improving care in low and high-resource settings, while also critically appraising the challenges and risks like overdiagnosis, unequal data ownership, and reliance on external technologies. Panellists will evaluate how AI and other digital technologies can either reinforce or dismantle existing inequalities and discuss strategies to harness AI’s potential sensibly, responsibly, and equitably. This conversation aims to balance the excitement surrounding digital innovations and AI with a critical examination of its ethical implications and the need for inclusive, global collaboration.

April: As part of a new collaboration with the Digital Health Cluster of the Hasso Plattner Institute, I joined a two-day CHAMPS health workshop in Potsdam, Germany.

April: I joined the AMR disease burden and beyond workshop at RKI, Berlin.

March: In Oxford I participated in the half-day “Agile Showcase & Forum: Putting Science into Action”, organised by the Agile Initiative.

February: I gave an evening talk in Oxford “AI in Health, Opportunity and Challenge”

February: I gave my yearly IHTM session “Vaccine Health Economics, Paying for Vaccines, Funding R&D”

February: I organised the 2025 Vaccinology Problem Based Learning (PBL) exercise focussing this year on malaria and mpox (see my teaching page, and a copy of the 2025 PBL is here).

February: I attended the “Towards re-decentralising the Web: an ethical web and data infrastructure” at the Oxford Martin School (watch here).

2024

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. In December, 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”.