Bachera Aktar is a Bangladeshi health systems researcher and academic with 15+ years of experience in health systems research and community-based public health interventions in urban, rural and humanitarian settings in Bangladesh. Her work experience and expertise include sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health and nutrition, urban health systems and health services in humanitarian settings, mixed-method research, community-based participatory research approaches, participatory action research, implementation research, community-centric health interventions, gender, power and intersectional analysis, and social-political determinants of health. In addition to her current research and administrative roles at BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, she is also a Faculty member, MPH course coordinator and thesis supervisor. Prior to joining BRAC University, she worked for BRAC (the largest southern-led NGO) Health Program for eight years and managed its largest maternal, newborn and child health program in rural Bangladesh. Bachera is an EV alumnus from the 2022 cohort.

Germán Alarcón is a Colombian nurse and global health scholar with a strong focus on addressing health inequities through evidence-based research. His work sits at the intersection of global health policy, health systems, mental health, and nursing care, with particular interest in strengthening equitable and sustainable health systems.

He is a nurse from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, holds an MSc in Global Health and Development from University College London and a certification in Public Policy Analysis from London School of Economics and Political Science. Germán is currently pursuing a PhD in global health and sustanability at the University of Sao Paulo, further advancing his research on health workforce dynamics and the impacts of international migration on source countries, particularly in Latin America.

He serves as a Research Fellow at UCL and contributes to international global health networks, including EV4GH. He is also a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (ΣΘΤ), which recognizes excellence in nursing scholarship and leadership.

Soe Yu Naing, originally from Myanmar, is a global health professional with more than ten years of experience in project management and scientific research. He received an international MSc in Infectious Diseases and One Health (IDOH) from the Université de Tours (France), the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain), and the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom). He is a product of liberal arts education and has a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the United States. Later, he joined the University of Pennsylvania to work on research toward HIV cure and clinical trials for Hepatitis, Ebola and Zika. Currently, he is a PhD researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. His work mainly focuses on molecular epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases, climate change and infectious diseases, pandemic preparedness, and antimicrobial resistance. He is currently managing a transdisciplinary project titled “Impact of reducing colistin use on colistin resistance in humans and poultry” in Indonesia. Beyond academia, Soe Yu Naing collaborates with ISGLOBAL, One Health Trust, and WHO, contributing to one health and planetary health policy. Soe Yu Naing is an EV alumnus from the 2024 (Nagasaki, Japan) cohort.

Alberto Ong Jr., or "JR", is a public health physician in the Philippines. He is the executive director of Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes (AIHO), a public health research and consultancy nonprofit organization providing technical assistance to public health agencies in the Philippines. He is also a former Secretary-General of the Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians, and presently works as a consultant for health regulations in Asian Development Bank. His interests are on health system strengthening, health regulations, social entrepreneurship in health, private sector engagement in public health, and health service delivery organization. He had his master in public health in Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, his master in public management from Development Academy of the Philippines, and his medical degree from University of the Philippines.

Dr. César Augusto Vargas is a Colombian physician with over 14 years of experience across healthcare delivery, health systems, and consultancy in both public and private sectors. Trained in epidemiology and health economic evaluation, his work sits at the intersection of data, clinical care, and decision-making in complex health systems. He focuses on strengthening how evidence is generated and used to inform policy and practice, particularly in value-based healthcare models for chronic conditions and antimicrobial stewardship. His approach integrates epidemiological analysis, economic evaluation, and real-world clinical insight to address challenges in resource-constrained settings. As an Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH) alumnus, he is committed to advancing more equitable and representative global health spaces, bringing perspectives from Latin America and advocating for a closer alignment between evidence, access, and health system realities.

Fadima is a health economist and sociologist interested in generating evidences for policy and decision makers through research focused on health policy and system in Africa. Fadima completed a maitrise in sociology from University of Ouagadougou, MSC in health economics from CESAG, and PhD in public health from University of Western Cape. She is researcher at Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS) in Burkina Faso. She is member of AfHEA and Women in Global Health.

Fatuma is a doctoral fellow at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research programme in Kenya. Over the past couple of years, she has been actively involved in knowledge translation (KT) initiatives at local and regional level, supporting the uptake of research findings within her organization. Her experience includes developing and implementing KT strategies, collaborating with policymakers to create evidence-to-decision frameworks, and training researchers in effective KT techniques. Currently pursuing a PhD focused on Knowledge translation for health policy-making, Fatuma is committed to advancing the field of knowledge translation and ensuring that research makes a meaningful impact on society.

Dr. Nandini D P Sarkar is a post-doctoral researcher in the Complexity and Health unit at the Department of Public Health, at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium. She holds a joint doctorate degree (cum laude) from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the University of Barcelona, Spain. Her doctoral thesis focused on the challenge of equitable quality mental health coverage in eastern Uganda. A health psychologist from India, Dr. Sarkar’s research interests focus on integrated health service provision, quality of care, digital health, mental health, and human behavior as related to health and illness – particularly in low- and middle-income countries. She has over a decade of experience with qualitative research methodologies, and most recently is working with complexity-driven Realist Evaluation methodologies.

Dr. Zahra Zeinali is a medical doctor and global health scholar from Iran. She received her MD from the Iran University of Medical Sciences, her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her Doctor of Global Health Leadership and Practice (DrPH) from the University of Washington.

Zahra brings over a decade of experience in research, advocacy, health diplomacy, and youth leadership in the fields of health systems and policy, health equity, gender-transformative action on health, and the social and structural determinants of health. She has been recognized as an Emerging Voice for Global Health by Health Systems Global in 2020. She is now a board member at the Emerging Voices for Global Health. She has also received the inaugural Young Professional Societal Award from the WHO and Health Systems Global in 2024 for the impact of her gender equity-focused research on the field of health systems and policy. Zahra serves as an editor for several high-impact journals, including PLoS Global Public Health and BMJ Public Health.

She continues to work at the intersection of research, policy, and leadership to shape more just and inclusive health systems globally.