CAHRE National Symposium 2024 

Dr Rasanathan currently works as the Executive Director of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr Rasanathan is a public health physician with a strong background in health policy and systems research and extensive experience working at different levels of the World Health Organization and within the wider UN system.

During his almost 25 years working in health systems, career highlights have included serving as Incident Manager for WHO for the COVID-19 response in Cambodia, helping to drive the development of the Sustainable Development Goal health agenda while at UNICEF, contributing to the work of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, co-writing the 2008 WHO World Health Report on primary health care, and running meningococcal vaccine trials that enabled vaccine licensure and roll-out in New Zealand.

At the beginning of his career, Dr Rasanathan contributed to the early research and policy work on the health of Asian New Zealanders.

Dr Claire Achmad is a recognised advocate for children in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, having worked in a wide range of areas relating to children’s rights, including from legal, policy and practice perspectives.

Before becoming Chief Children’s Commissioner, she served as Chief Executive Officer of Social Service Providers Te Pai Ora o Aotearoa, and in that role championed the aspirations and outcomes of children, rangatahi and whānau and community-based social service providers, strongly grounded in a focus on equity.

Claire holds a doctorate in international children’s rights law from Leiden University, the Netherlands, and has published internationally on a range of children’s rights issues. She also holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Auckland and is a University of Auckland 40 Under 40 Honoree.

Previously, Claire worked for children’s NGOs and international organisations in Aotearoa, Australia and Europe, held a senior role within Te Kāhui Tika Tangata the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, and practised as in-house legal counsel in the New Zealand government. She was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2007.

Professor Teo Yik Ying is Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, and concurrently a Governing Board Member for the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education (SEAMEO) Regional Centre for Tropical Medicine and Public Health Network. Prior to his Deanship, he was the Director for the Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, and Founding Director for the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research for the School of Public Health.

Professor Teo is presently a member of the International Organising Committee for the Prince Mahidol Award Conference, as well as the M8 Alliance which forms the academic foundation for the World Health Summit. He is the Co-Director for the Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health’s Collaborating Centres for Health Promotion, and sits on the Global Coalition of Deans of Schools of Public Health.

Professor Teo previously worked on the use of genetic technologies for the control and elimination of several infectious diseases, including malaria and tuberculosis. As a previous member of the global MalariaGEN network, he was actively involved in training and capacity development of research fellows from different African and Southeast Asian countries

Kelly is the Chief Executive of Asian Family Services, leading an organisation that provides a range of nationwide health and social services to the Asian community in New Zealand. After becoming a qualified medical doctor in China, she migrated to New Zealand in 2002 and for over a decade has made significant contributions to the mental health and addiction sector and social sector.

Kelly’s background as a medical doctor in China and her subsequent registration as a social worker in New Zealand has given her a unique perspective and set of skills that she has utilised to great effect in her work. Her experience in mental health and addiction, as well as her commitment to serving the Asian community, has been the driving force behind her successful career.

Kelly’s work in setting up the Asian Wellbeing Services social enterprise model has been particularly noteworthy, as it has helped to fill an important gap in culturally and linguistically appropriate psychological services for Asians living in New Zealand. Additionally, her leadership in numerous Asian-focused research projects has helped to raise awareness and understanding of the mental health needs of the Asian community.

Kelly’s successful pilot of Asian Mental Health Services for Waitemata District Health Board in 2007 was another important achievement, highlighting her ability to create innovative solutions to address complex health issues. Her passion for the Asian community has been recognised when she was recently made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health and Asian communities.

Sir Ashley Bloomfield trained in medicine at the University of Auckland and specialised in public health medicine. His key areas of professional interest are non-communicable disease prevention and control, tobacco control, and addressing equity. He has 25 years’ experience in public policy and health leadership, including at the World Health Organization in Geneva.

He was New Zealand’s Director-General of Health from June 2018 to July 2022 and led the country’s health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was appointed a Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (KNZM) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to public health. Dr Bloomfield is now a Professor at the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health.

Prof. Jingcheng DONG, Dean of Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Chair of Department of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai Medical College, Chair of Department of Integrative Medicine, Huashan Hospital of Fudan University.

Dr Jingcheng Dong, Ph.D., M.D., Professor, Chief Physician, doctoral supervisor and postdoctoral co-supervisor. Leader of Discipline of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University; Dean of Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University; Chair of Department of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University; Chair of Department of Integrative Medicine, Huashan Hospital of Fudan University; Director of clinical postdoctoral site of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University. Qihuang Scholar of Talents Project of National Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance and Innovation (Qihuang Project); Director of World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine, Fudan University; Chief Scientist of the National Basic Research Program of China (“973 Program”), Ministry of Science and Technology; Leader of the State Key Clinical Specialty, Ministry of Health.