The Lancet Global Health Commission on People-Centered Care for Universal Health Coverage (the Commission) is honored to announce 34 commissioners and a board of 15 advisers. This esteemed group includes multidisciplinary experts from around the world representing people with lived experiences, health care providers, policymakers, academic researchers, civil society organizers, and private sector leaders. Together, we are excited to embark on this important work to advance people-centered care globally, ensuring that health systems are designed and delivered for and with people, as we strive to achieve sustainable universal health coverage and health equity.

Commissioners

• Luke Allen, Co-Director, Global Primary Care at Oxford's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences; Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales
• Duc Anh Ha, General Director, Medical Service Administration
• Mark Barone, Founder and General Manager, Intersectoral Forum of NCCs/NCDs in Brazil (ForumCCNTs) 
• Stephen Bell, Principal Research Fellow, Theme Lead - Social Science and Global Health 
• David Duong, Director, Harvard Medical School Global Primary Health Care
• Sameh El-Saharty, Senior Health Policy Advisor, Consultant at the World Bank
• Ibtihal Fadhil, Founder & Chair, NCD Alliance, Eastern Mediterranean Region
• Lucía Feito Allonca, Advisory Committee, Global Week for Action on NCDs, NCD Alliance;  Registered Lawyer, Gijón Bar Association 
• Rushika Fernandopulle, Co-founder, Iora Health
• Tinashe Goronga, Program Manager Equalhealth Campaign Against Racism , Co-Founder Centre for Health Equity Zimbabwe 
• Kimberly Green, Global Director, Primary Health Care Program Director at PATH (Foundation for Appropriate Technologies in Health)
• Lisa Hirschhorn, Professor, Department Medical Social Science and Director Ryan Family Center for Global Primary Care, Havey Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• Beth Holt, Associate Director of Health Systems, Global Primary Health Care, Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care
• Nathan Hutting, Associate professor, Occupation and Health Research Group at HAN University of Applied Sciences
• Meena Isaac, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Pushpagiri Medical College, Thiruvalla, Kerala
• Ruth Labode, Director,  Apple Pharmacy
• Xiaoyun Liu, Deputy Director, Professor, China Centre for Health Development Studies, Peking University
• Maxo Luma, Executive Director, Partners In Health, Liberia
• Maureen Luba, Senior Advisor for Global Policy at AVAC
• Adolfo Martinez Valle, Head of Academic Unit, CIPPS at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
• Brendan McCormack, Head of School and Dean, The Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery (inc. Sydney Nursing School), University of Sydney
• Sinit Mehtsun, Executive Director, Health Systems Engagement, Gilead Sciences
• Stephen Mills, Regional Director, Asia EpiC Project
• Anthony Paulo Sunjaya, Senior Lecturer, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney; Honorary Fellow, The George Institute for Global Health; Consultant, Tyree Institute of Health Engineering, UNSW Engineering
• Todd Pollack, Director, Implementation Science, Global Primary Health Care, Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care
• Steve Reid, Director and Chair of Primary Health Care, University of Cape Town
• Magda Robalo, President and Co-founder, IGHD, Guinea-Bissau
• Rosanne Rotondo, Head of Global Health Access at Novartis
• Glenda Sandy, Advisor, Infectious Disease, Department of Public Health, Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services
• Diah S. Saminarsih, CEO & Founder, CISDI
• Carolyn Taylor, Founder/Executive Director, Global Focus on Cancer
• Lavanya Vijayasingham, Independent Global Health Research Professional
• Maxine Anne Whittaker, Professor, James Cook University
• Bach Xuan Tran, Professor, Vice Head, Department of Health Economics, Hanoi Medical University

Board of advisers

• Angeli Achrekar, Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations
• Nicola Bedlington, Founding Partner, Millwater Partners
• Sanjana Bhardwaj, Deputy Director, Women’s Health and Primary Health Care, Gates Foundation
• Agnes Binagwaho, Former Minister of Health & Former Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda
• Francesca Colombo, Head of the Health Division, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Suraya Dalil, Director, World Health Organization Special Programme on Primary Health Care
• Sandra Eades, Associate Dean Indigenous and Rowden White Chair, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
• Tim Fountaine, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Co 
• Lutz Hegemann, President, Global Health and Sustainability, Novartis
• Arthur Kleinman, Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology, Professor of Medical Anthropology in Global Health and Social Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
• Christopher Muñoz, Advisor, Yellow Warriors Society Philippines Inc; Vice-President Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations
• Harald Nusser, Vice President, Global Health and Health Equity, Merck
• Medical Director, HAIVN program, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Cynthia Rayner, Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School’s Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
• Florence RiakoAnam, Co-Executive Director, Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)
• Vichai Tienthavorn, Chancellor of Praboromarajchanok Institute & Former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand

Goals of commissioners 

The Commission aims to address gaps in evidence-based guidance and identify best practices and novel approaches for enabling people-centered care. It will determine how people-centered care can be operationally defined, rigorously measured, and effectively operationalized across a variety of settings and income levels. This includes examining how best to achieve the co-production of health systems and care models through shared partnership and leadership with people with lived experience. The Commission is expected to launch its work on the sidelines of the 2028 UN General Assembly in New York, USA, informing discussions on the post-SDG 2030 agenda. 

Role of commissioners 

Commissioners will together be responsible for completing the work of the Commission over approximately 2.5 years, beginning in the second half of 2024. Tasks include formulating research questions, synthesizing existing evidence, and designing and conducting new research to advance people-centered care. The group will apply this evidence base to develop policy and practice recommendations for operationalizing people-centered care across diverse settings. Working groups will be organized around collectively agreed objectives, and utilize participatory, community-engaged research methods that align with the principles of PCC. The expected time commitment is approximately 2-4 working days per month, as well as semi-annual in-person convenings. Individuals who are not employed by a high-resource institution (as defined by the World Bank country classifications by income level for FY24) will be provided an honorarium, and all Commissioners’ travel expenses for in-person meetings will be covered.

How commissioners and advisers were selected

Nominations were submitted to the selection committee starting in May 2024. The selection committee reviewed hundreds of nominations based on five criteria (listed below).

1. Experience and expertise with people-centered care
2. Societal impact and contributions
3. Demonstrated commitment to equity
4. Resources and networks
5. Availability and commitment

The selection committee recognizes diversity as an essential element to the commission’s success. They carefully considered capabilities and experiences, and a balance across gender, geography, income-level, and other diversity factors when building the team of commissioners and advisers.

To learn more about the commission, visit the Commission’s website. To receive updates about the Commission’s work, join our contact list. Learn about other global primary health care projects at the HMS Center for Primary Care.