How can we build health systems fit for the future?

Ageing populations, workforce shortages, climate, pandemics and conflicts are testing health systems as never before, and many are struggling to cope. The question is no longer whether they will face another shock, but how well prepared they will be when it comes. This December, LSE Health launches a new Unit dedicated to helping health systems become more resilient.

The launch event will bring together decision-makers, health system leaders and the academic community to explore how health systems can grow stronger and more resilient in the face of mounting challenges and pressures.

The Health System Resilience Unit marks an exciting expansion of the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR), an established multi-stakeholder partnership working to improve health globally by building more resilient health systems. The PHSSR has now undertaken projects in collaboration with key health system stakeholders and governments in almost 40 countries worldwide.

The event will open with keynote addresses from Lord O’Neill, economist and investor, cross bench peer in the House of Lords and former Conservative government minister, and Dr Ulana Suprun, Ukrainian-American physician and activist, and Ukraine’s former Acting Minister of Health. A panel discussion will follow, chaired by Katie Young, Director of the Unit, with Professor Alistair McGuire, Kuwait Chair of Health Economics in LSE's Department of Health Policy; Jan-Willem Scheijgrond, Vice President of Global Government and Public Affairs at Philips; and Stefan Weber, Vice President and Head of Global Policy, Advocacy and Health Equity at AstraZeneca.

As well as marking the Unit’s public launch, the event will reflect on more than six years of PHSSR’s contribution to research and thought leadership on health system sustainability and resilience. It will also provide an opportunity for exchange of ideas and experience across research, policy and practice, looking ahead to future collaborations and wider efforts to strengthen health systems.

Meet the speakers and chair

Lord O’Neill is a cross bench peer in the House of Lords. He is Chair of Northern Gritstone, and is also Chair and Co-Founder of a new Policy Platform, BRICS+ Thinking. He is Co-President and formerly Chair of Northern Powerhouse Partnership. He is a member of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Economic Advisory Council and is Chair of the NeoTest AMC working group launched by CGD. His previous roles include joint head of research at Goldman Sachs (1995-2000), its chief economist (2001-2010) and chairman of its asset management division (2010-2013); creator of the acronym BRIC; chair of the City Growth Commission (2014); chair of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance (2014-2016); commercial secretary to the Treasury (2015-2016); chair of Chatham House (2018-2021). He is a board member and one of the founding trustees of educational charity SHINE. Lord O’Neill is a Distinguished Fellow at both The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the 2027 Cornell Canizares Center for Emerging Markets (EMC2). He is an honorary professor of economics, University of Manchester, and holds honorary degrees from the University of Sheffield, University of Manchester, University of Hull, University of London, University of Surrey and from City University London. He received his PhD from the University of Surrey and is now a Visiting Professor there.

Dr Ulana Suprun is a US-trained, board-certified radiologist who served as Acting Minister of Health of Ukraine from July 2016 through August 2019. Her team introduced sweeping health financing reform, creating the National Health Service of Ukraine as a government-funded single payer of healthcare services with a robust primary care foundation and implemented anti-corruption policies in pharmaceutical procurement and distribution, improving access to medicines and medical devices. The reforms strengthened the healthcare system, making it more resilient and better equipped to respond to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Dr Suprun currently resides in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Professor Alistair McGuire is the Kuwait Chair of Health Economics at the Department of Health Policy and Chair of LSE Health. Prior to this, he was Professor of Economics at City University, London, after being a tutor in Economics at the University of Oxford. Professor McGuire has also been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University, the University of Sydney, the University of York, the Universidat de Barcelona and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona.

Jan-Willem Scheijgrond currently serves as Vice President and Global Head of Government and Public Affairs at Philips, where he leads relations between Philips and public sector representatives, such as governments and international institutions. The Government Affairs function works to address global healthcare transformation challenges, in particular health system strengthening, geopolitical developments, climate change, digital technologies, and the resilience to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also responsible for public-private partnerships with institutions such as the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, and other international development partners. Mr Scheijgrond focuses on partnerships that strengthen health systems and foster sustainable and equitable healthcare. Mr Scheijgrond is the Chairman of the United Nations Global Compact Network Netherlands, and President of the European trade association COCIR. He is also a Steering Committee member of the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR). Mr Scheijgrond joined Philips in 2009 as Senior Director in the Corporate Sustainability Office with responsibility for risk and reputation management. He started his career at the United Nations Environment Programme, where he developed best practice guides related to cleaner production for emerging markets. Subsequently, he held several sustainability and government affairs related functions at the BLC Leather Confederation (UK), Epson (NL), and Hewlett Packard (B). Mr Scheijgrond holds a master’s degree in Environmental Technology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Stefan Weber is Vice President in AstraZeneca, leading the Global Policy, Advocacy and Health Equity team, whose mission is to advance equitable health outcomes globally in close partnership with Governments, patients and stakeholders across the healthcare sector. Stefan and the team lead enterprise-wide programmes that advance equitable access to screening, early detection and treatment across AstraZeneca’s therapy areas, as well as initiatives that strengthen health system resilience and sustainability in both lower- and higher-income markets.

Katie Young is the Director of the Health System Resilience Unit within LSE Health. Katie is a clinician by training and was a UK specialist registrar in plastic surgery when she chose to step away from clinical training and study health economics and health policy as an executive student at the LSE (MSc). Throughout her clinical years, Katie had experience in healthcare systems across Europe, the US and Australia. In the UK, she was heavily involved in surgical clinical trials, and analysis of national management of lower limb trauma. Alongside her master’s in health policy, Katie worked in healthcare consulting, working with the pharmaceutical and medtech industry in addition to UN agencies. After which, Katie joined the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Health and Healthcare as the Lead for Healthcare Transformation.

About the Health System Resilience Unit

The Health System Resilience Unit examines how health systems can deliver high-quality care sustainably in the face of demographic, epidemiological, technological and economic challenges. Through country, regional, global and disease-specific studies, the Unit generates robust evidence and practical recommendations to inform policy and drive change. The Unit was established with the support of its strategic partners, AstraZeneca and Philips.

The Unit builds on the work of the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR), an established public-private-academic partnership active in almost 40 countries. Over the past six years, PHSSR has brought together thought leaders, policymakers and health system stakeholders from across sectors to generate evidence-based country assessments, develop policy recommendations and support tangible changes that strengthen health systems and improve patient outcomes.

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