Afifah Rahman-Shepherd
Afifah Rahman-Shepherd is currently a research fellow in health policy and systems research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Prior to joining LSHTM, Afifah was a research associate at Chatham House, working within the Global Health Programme on global health governance, pandemic preparedness and response, and operationalizing the One Health approach.
Afifah’s foundation in health security and infectious disease control has been enhanced by the diversity of her experience working with the National University Health Systems and Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in Singapore, The Union’s Asia Pacific Office, the Communicable Diseases Policy Research Group’s Bangkok Office, and the Institut Pasteur in Paris.
Charles Clift
Dr Charles Clift is an economist who spent much of his career working for the then UK Department for International Development. Since 2001 he has focused on the role of intellectual property rights in relation to developing countries, in particular their impact on innovation in, and access to, healthcare products. In 2004–06 he was a staff member of WHO, working on a major report on intellectual property, innovation and public health.
Since joining Chatham House in 2010 Charles has conducted research and published on counterfeit and falsified medicines, the role of WHO in the international system, antimicrobial resistance, and latterly issues raised by Ebola and COVID-19. From 2010–20 he was a board member of the Medicines Patent Pool.
Emma Ross
Emma Ross is a senior research fellow in the Global Health Programme at Chatham House, where she works across the programme’s portfolio, with a research focus on health security issues from sustainable biosecurity to outbreak management.
In addition, she is managing editor of the Control of Communicable Diseases Manual and serves as a writer, editor and strategic communications specialist for the Access to Medicine Index and associated indices.
Prior to this, Emma was a long-time medical correspondent at the Associated Press, on the front line of many major international health stories including outbreaks such as SARS and H5N1 Avian flu, global health challenges, and debates in public health policy and medical ethics. She subsequently headed news operations at WHO before joining Chatham House in 2010.
Lara Hollmann
Lara Hollmann was until June 2021 a research analyst with the Global Health Programme at Chatham House, working on health security issues with a focus on threats that arise at the human–animal–environment interface (One Health). She is now is a junior adviser on pandemic preparedness at GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). Her research focuses on global health governance as well as pandemic preparedness and response. She has an interest in health equity and the social determinants of health.
Lara previously worked at the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) at the European Commission, where she focused on humanitarian and global health policy; and for a local NGO in Battambang, Cambodia, delivering microfinance and capacity-building projects.
She holds an MSc in global health from the University of Copenhagen, with time spent at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College in Moshi, Tanzania, and a BSc in development studies with a major in human geography from Lund University. She is a volunteer researcher for Global Health 5050.
Nina van der Mark
Nina van der Mark is a research analyst with the Global Health Programme at Chatham House, working on universal health coverage (UHC) and health system reforms. Her research is primarily focused on the political economy of UHC and accelerating health system reforms in low- and middle-income countries.
She previously worked as an international development professional, with a focus on health financing and advocacy in the fields of sexual and reproductive health and rights, youth participation, and maternal and child health. She has experience working with projects in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Bangladesh, as well as with larger regional projects.
Nina has a multidisciplinary background, and holds an Msc in population and development from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in liberal arts and sciences from University College Utrecht. She is a volunteer researcher for Global Health 5050.
Benjamin Wakefield
Benjamin Wakefield is a research associate with the Global Health Programme at Chatham House, where he works on health security issues, in particular those related to Africa.
His research is primarily focused on biological security and laboratory biosafety. He has a broader interest in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats; and also works on civil–military relations in public health emergencies, and on the public health effects of conflict.
In addition to his role at Chatham House, Benjamin is an Emerging Leader in Biosecurity (ELBI) fellow in the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, and was a 2020 OSCE-UNODA Peace and Security scholar.
He holds an MSc in security studies from University College, London, a BA in international relations from Loughborough University, and a diploma in international studies from the University of Technology Sydney.
Champa Patel
Dr Champa Patel has led the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House since September 2017.
Before joining Chatham House, she was most recently the regional director/senior research adviser for South Asia and South East Asia and Pacific Offices for Amnesty International, responsible for managing research, campaigns, media and advocacy for the region.
Prior to her time at Amnesty, she worked in public health for almost a decade, with a focus on children at risk, refugees, asylum seekers and internal trafficking.
Champa is an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham, and a board member for the International Detention Coalition; she also sits on the editorial board of Human Rights Quarterly.
Robert Yates
Robert Yates is a political health economist specializing in universal health coverage (UHC) and progressive health financing. He is executive director of the Centre for Universal Health at Chatham House. He is also an honorary associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and a long-term consultant to The Elders on their health programme.
Robert’s principal area of expertise is in the political economy of UHC, with a focus on advising political leaders and governments on how to plan, finance and implement national UHC reforms. He has previously worked as a senior health economist with the UK’s former Department for International Development and with WHO, advising numerous governments in Asia, Africa and Europe on health financing policy and health systems reforms.
