This podcast brings you closer to the people driving change in health policy and systems research around the globe. In each episode, we explore the experiences of Alliance Alumni making three stops along the way: learning from the past, living in the present, and levelling up for the future. Are you an Alliance alum? You can also join the network on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13112912/).
The Alliance Lift: Dr Hodan Duale in conversation with Ms Idil Shekh Mohamed
In this episode of the Alliance Lift, Ms Idil Shekh Mohamed of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research speaks with Dr Hodan Duale, a medical doctor who leads the Somali Institute for Health Research (SIHR).
Dr Duale’s career spans clinical care, humanitarian programmes and research, from maternal and child health to health equity, and has been built alongside ministries, international partners and communities in Somalia.
Reflecting on the move from the outpatient clinic to public health, she discusses what it means to do research in a health system rebuilding after state collapse, where responsibilities are split between federal and state authorities and services still lean heavily on humanitarian aid.
As principal investigator on KNOSA – Partnerships for Stronger Knowledge Systems in Africa – in Somalia, Dr Duale describes what changes when researchers and policy-makers spend days in the same room, and why a knowledge system has to be connected to decision-making if it is going to last.
20 May 2026
The Alliance Lift: Dr Shalom Ndoula in conversation with Dr Daniela Rodríguez
The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of policy-makers, researchers and practitioners shaping health systems around the globe. In this Q&A, Daniela Rodriguez of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research speaks with Dr Shalom Ndoula, Country Director of the Expanded Programme on Immunization at Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health. With more than 20 years of experience spanning clinical medicine, district health management and national immunization leadership, Dr Ndoula has played a leading role in some of Cameroon’s major immunization milestones, including the rollout of the world’s first malaria vaccine and the efforts that led to the country being declared free of wild poliovirus in 2020.Reflecting on his transition from clinical medicine into public health leadership, Dr Ndoula discusses the importance of adapting evidence-based policy to local realities and the tensions that can emerge between global recommendations, resource constraints and community expectations.Drawing on Cameroon’s experience with embedded implementation research through initiatives such as MAINSTREAM and the Big Catch-up case studies, they also talk about how policy-makers, frontline health workers and researchers can work together to build more responsive immunization systems.
The interview explores the growing pressures facing immunization programmes globally, the long-term implications of declining health financing and why reaching zero-dose children ultimately means strengthening the relationship between communities and the health system itself.
17 Mar 2026
The Alliance Lift: Dr Keith Cloete in conversation with Dr Kumanan Rasanathan
The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this episode, Dr Kumanan Rasanathan, Executive Director of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, speaks with Dr Keith Cloete, Head of Health for the Western Cape Government in South Africa.Recorded following the recent Alliance Policy-maker Forum in Cape Town, the conversation reflects on lessons from the Western Cape health system, where policy-makers from around the world explored how leadership, research partnerships and systems thinking shape performance.A physician with more than three decades in public service, Dr Cloete shares how his experiences – from frontline clinical care to system leadership – have shaped his approach to building a learning health system.Together, they discuss relational leadership, system-wide and system-deep approaches and what it takes to lead health systems through crisis and change.
26 Jan 2026
The Alliance Lift: Dr Katherine Ann Reyes in conversation with Mr Jeffrey Knezovich
In this episode, Mr Jeffrey Knezovich, host of The Alliance Lift, speaks with Dr Katherine Ann Reyes, based at the University of the Philippines Manila. A physician by training, Dr Reyes works at the intersection of public health, policy and health systems, with a focus on practical policy choices that affect everyday life – from tobacco control and healthy consumption to immunization and stronger promotive and preventive care.
Jeffrey spoke with Katherine about the experiences that drew her from hospital-based care into prevention and public health, what she learned through the Alliance’s mentorship community and what makes the health policy and systems research ecosystem in the Philippines distinctive – including the role of government investment.
Dr Reyes also reflects on her Alliance-supported work to improve uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the Philippines. She discusses what it means to approach vaccine uptake as a complex systems issue, why co-creation must be embedded throughout the research process and how careful framing and listening can create space for informed decision-making when vaccination intersects with sensitive issues.
5 Jan 2026
The Alliance Lift: Professor Asha George in conversation with Ms Idil Shekh Mohamed
The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this episode, Ms Idil Shekh Mohamed, host of the Alliance Lift, speaks with Professor Asha George, the South African Research Chair in Health Systems, Complexity and Social Change at the University of the Western Cape. A globally recognized qualitative researcher, Professor George examines the interface between communities, health workers and health systems through lenses of governance, gender and human rights. She also serves as the Alliance’s 2025 Thinker in Residence, supporting reflection on how the field of health policy and systems research can engage more intentionally with gender equality.
Idil spoke with Asha about how early work shaped by global commitments on women’s rights influenced her approach to health systems, what she learned from working within her own health system in India and why she believes health workers’ lived realities must be more central to health systems research and practice today.
Professor George also reflects on the importance of listening to voices that are often marginalized, addressing silences that have become normalized within health systems and building alliances that connect evidence to action.
2 Dec 2025
The Alliance Lift: Ms Racha Fadlallah in conversation with Mr Jeffrey Knezovich
The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this Q&A, Mr Jeffrey Knezovich, a Technical Officer at the Alliance, talks with Ms Racha Fadlallah, a Senior Scientific Officer at the Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center at the American University of Beirut and co-founder of the SPARK Center for systematic reviews in health policy and systems research. Beyond Lebanon, she also serves on the Board of Health Systems Global and contributes to the strategic direction of WHO’s Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet).
Jeffrey spoke with Racha about her path into health policyand systems research, her work strengthening evidence-informed decision-making in Lebanon and globally, how crises and change shape the way evidence is used today, and her hopes and expectations for next year’s Ninth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (https://hsr2026.healthsystemsresearch.org/).
She shares how her early experiences shaped her commitment to making evidence accessible, what it means to work in a context of political and economic instability, and how to make the case for evidence-informed policy-making.
27 Oct 2025
The Alliance Lift: Dr Rachidatou Compaoré in conversation with Ms Idil Shekh Mohamed
In this episode of The Alliance Lift, Dr Rachidatou Compaoré – a public health physician and researcher from Burkina Faso whose work bridges health systems, policy, and reproductive health – speaks with Ms Idil Shekh Mohamed, Technical Officer at the Alliance.
As a Research Fellow at the Institute of Research in Health Sciences in Ouagadougou, Dr Compaoré’s studies have helped inform Burkina Faso’s national malaria control strategy and contributed to reforms in maternal and adolescent health across West Africa.
She reflects on her journey from clinical medicine to public health – shaped by the inequities she witnessed in hospital wards that could not be solved by medicine alone – and discusses her pioneering work on safe abortion and adolescent sexual and reproductive health. The conversation explores the challenges of conducting policy-relevant research in West Africa, the importance of empowering local researchers, and her vision for more equitable, decolonized global health partnerships.
17 Sept 2025
The Alliance Lift – With Dr John-Arne Røttingen
The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this episode, we meet Dr John-Arne Røttingen Chief Executive Officer of the Wellcome Trust and previously Norway’s Global Health Ambassador. He is also a former Chair of the Alliance Board. We asked John-Arne about the ideas and experiences that shaped his approach to health policy and systems research, what it will take to safeguard gains amid shrinking aid and shifting geopolitics, and how the global health system can better deliver for countries – from investing in research capacity to prioritizing global public goods and equity.
4 Sept 2025
The Alliance Lift: With Dr Archana Shrestha
The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this Q&A, we meet Dr Archana Shrestha, a Nepali epidemiologist, researcher and educator whose work is reshaping how we think about prevention and implementation science in low- and middle-income countries. We asked Archana about the experiences that shaped her journey, the lessons she has learned from working closely with communities, and her vision for the future.
11 Aug 2025
The Alliance Lift: With Ms Livia Dal Zennaro
The Alliance Lift is the series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this Q&A, we meet Livia Dal Zennaro, now Senior Policy Officer at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport – and formerly part of the Alliance Secretariat. We hear how she found her path into health policy and systems research and how that experience continues to shape her work today.
6 Jul 2025
The Alliance Lift: With Dr Eric Ssegujja
Dr. Eric Ssegujja shares his experiences in public health research and education, emphasizing the role of theory in health policy and systems research in this interview.
16 Jun 2025
The Alliance Lift: With Dr Carol Zavaleta-Cortijo
Dr. Carol Zavaleta-Cortijo shares her journey from medicine to health systems research, exploring how Indigenous perspectives can revolutionize health and environmental understanding in this interview.
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