Lancet-EF Evidence to Impact Awards

Dr. Tim Baker is an Associate Professor, Critical Care Physician, and Anesthesiologist with over 20 years of experience in global critical care research, clinical practice, and health systems strengthening. His work focuses on developing and scaling health system innovations, particularly Essential Emergency and Critical Care, to improve outcomes for critically ill patients. Dr. Baker leads international collaborative research and capacity-building programmes, has positions at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and has worked with WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, and EECC Global.

Dr. Karima Khalid is a Lecturer and Senior Consultant in Anaesthesia and Critical Care at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences and Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute in Tanzania. She is a leading critical care expert with over 15 years of experience in clinical care, health systems research, policy engagement, and capacity building, and is actively involved in several WHO and global critical care initiatives.

Dr Anab Issa is a medical doctor and global health researcher with a background in health systems strengthening and Essential Emergency and Critical Care  implementation in Tanzania. She holds an MPhil in Population Health Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Godfrey Barabona is an experienced health systems and infectious disease researcher and clinician. He holds a PhD from Kumamoto University, Japan, and a Doctor of Medicine from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Tanzania. He serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Kumamoto University and as an Adjunct Lecturer at MUHAS. Dr. Barabona leads research projects in Tanzania, dedicated to building evidence and implementing Essential Emergency and Critical Care.

Hilda Mushi is a Principal Nursing Officer in the Department of Curative Services at the Ministry of Health, Tanzania. She has extensive experience in strengthening nursing services, health systems, and the delivery of quality healthcare. In her role, she contributes to the development and implementation of national policies and strategies to improve the quality of healthcare and patient outcomes across Tanzania.

Dr. Pius Kagoma is the Coordinator for Clinical Services in the Division of Health, Social Welfare and Nutrition Services at the Prime Minister’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PMORALG), Tanzania. He is a senior public health specialist with experience in health systems, healthcare management, and leadership. Dr. Kagoma’s research focuses on strengthening the use of high-quality evidence to inform decision-making in the public health system.

Upendo Bandeke is a community member and patient researcher in the EECC community engagement and involvement group ‘CRISP’ – Critically Ill Survivors, Patients and Relatives – which brings together people with lived experience of critical illness. Upendo cared for her brother who became critically ill during several admissions to hospital in Tanzania. Upendo provides firsthand insights about how the health system cares for critically ill patients and the priorities for patients, relatives and the community.

Dr. Aneth Kaliza is medical doctor, health systems researcher at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, and coordinator of EECC Global Tanzania, with over five years of experience in implementation research and capacity-building programs in global health.

Alma Damasy is a project coordinator for the implementing EECC in Tanzania programme at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania. She has experience in health systems innovations, implementation science, and qualitative research.

Elibariki Godfrey Mkumbo is a Social Science Researcher at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, previously with Ifakara Health Institute, bringing 17 years of experience in maternal and newborn health, quality improvement, community interventions, and critical care research. He coordinates the community critical care research and CRISP group at MUHAS, and has a special interest in how behaviour change and mindsets shape healthcare provision and access.

Dr. Rafael Shayo is a medical doctor and project coordinator on the implementing EECC in Tanzania programme at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. He has over five years of experience coordinating quality improvement programmes and multi-country clinical data management.

Dr. Anna Hvarfner is a medical doctor and PhD student at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania. She has worked on in global Essential Emergency and Critical Care research and training for more than 10 years and is researching the bottlenecks to EECC provision

Dr. Abbas Kiwae is a medical doctor, researcher, and project coordinator on the implementing EECC in Tanzania  programme at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science. His work focuses on strengthening health systems and generating evidence to inform healthcare policy and practice in low-resource settings.

Dr. Sabra Nazir Husseinis a medical doctor, anaesthesia resident, and project coordinator on the implementing EECC in Tanzania programme at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS).

Dr. Carl Otto Schell is a consultant physician in internal medicine and cardiology at Nyköping Hospital and researcher in global public health at Karolinska Institute and the Centre for Clinical Research Sörmland, Uppsala University in Sweden. He co-initiated the EECC concept, has worked on implementing EECC in Tanzania and other countries and with UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank.

Cristina is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at King’s College London. A nurse, midwife and public health practitioner, she has led maternal, child and adolescent health research, with expertise in clinical trials of complex interventions and innovations, implementation science, health systems and policy, systematic reviews, data science and mixed-methods research to improve health and wellbeing and reduce inequities in the UK and globally. Her collaborative work has informed national and international guidelines and policy. She is also a co-founder of the UK Chagas Hub and a Google Higher Ed Faculty AI Fellow.

Lucy is a midwife research fellow at King’s College London with extensive experience working with children, young people and families in Sierra Leone and the UK. She spent several years in Sierra Leone working with war-affected children and, following a 2017 Wellbeing of Women fellowship exploring causes of high adolescent maternal mortality, co-founded 2YoungLives with Mangenda Kamara. Lucy has also worked as a parent-and-child foster carer and ‘hub home carer’ within the award-winning Mockingbird family hub model, and evaluated training and support needs of parent-and-child foster carers, developing resources and a national practitioner network.

Mangenda is a teacher and gender expert leading the 2YoungLives programme at Lifeline Nehemiah Projects and working as a research fellow at Welbodi Partnership in Sierra Leone. Having had an adolescent pregnancy herself, she is passionate about supporting girls and ensuring their voices shape research and services. She co-founded 2YoungLives with Lucy and has extensive experience in gender, adolescent health and community-based research. Her PhD was awarded in 2025 and used photovoice with 2YoungLives girls to document their experiences, highlighting family rejection, social stigma and fear of seeking healthcare, as well as the strength they found through peer support, mentoring and community.

Elizabeth “Betty” Sam is s a prominent qualified nurse-midwife, researcher, and maternal health advocate with over 40 years’ experience in Sierra Leone’s health system. She completed her Diploma in Reproductive Health at the LSTM and has worked with the Ministry of Health and multiples organisations, developing extensive expertise in maternal and newborn health, emergency obstetric and newborn care, mentorship and capacity strengthening. Betty is passionate about strengthening the skills of healthcare providers and improving the quality of care for mothers and babies and has contributed to operational and applied research to improve sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health.

Suzanne, once the trial manager for 2YoungLives, is now Education, Training and Advocacy Director for Mercy Ships in Sierra Leone. A pharmacist specialised in clinical education, she oversees training onboard the Global Mercy, the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, and leads a land-based team working with the Ministry of Health and University of Sierra Leone to strengthen surgical care. Having lived and worked in Sierra Leone for 15 years, she has extensive experience in health systems strengthening and partnership working, with particular interest in faculty development and clinical skills education.

Philemon “PS” is Administrative Director of Lifeline Nehemiah Projects (LNP) in Sierra Leone and former Principal of Lifeline Secondary School. Having himself been a beneficiary of LNP in the 1990s, he has since contributed to a range of community and sustainability initiatives and provides community and administrative support to 2YoungLives. He is passionate about supporting marginalised groups and recently researched barriers to healthcare for adolescent girls living with disabilities, highlighting the need for disability-inclusive services, healthcare-provider training and community advocacy to reduce stigma and improve access to care.

Andrew is a Professor of Obstetrics and Head of Department of Women & Children’s Health at King’s College London. He specialises in clinical trials in antenatal and intrapartum care including interventions to predict and prevent preterm birth, pre-eclampsia, and reduce global maternal and perinatal mortality. He has an active clinical role in management of high-risk pregnancies, including a specialist award winning preterm birth surveillance clinic. He is the inventor of the CRADLE VSA device, a recipient of the international 2017 Newton Prize for excellence in research and innovation, and a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Paul is a now an Emeritus Reader in Medical Statistics at King’s College London, where he has worked in public health science and maternal and children’ health research since 1996. He moved into medical research after a career teaching mathematics and statistics and gained an MSc in Medical Statistics from LSHTM. He has extensive expertise in study design, sample size calculation, diagnostic and screening methods, growth data and measurement, and statistical analysis of maternal and pregnancy outcomes, including postpartum haemorrhage, preterm birth, pre-eclampsia and fetal growth.

Prince is a human rights defender and Executive Director of Lifeline Nehemiah Projects (LNP), a civil society organisation working for the rights of marginalised people, including children, women and people with disabilities. Having himself been a beneficiary of LNP in the 1990s, he has spent over 25 years in various leadership roles within the organisation, becoming Executive Director in 2019. Prince is passionate about engaging and empowering communities and has extensive experience in CEI, including leading community engagement during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. He is also a CEI lead for various global maternal health research programmes at King’s College London and a CEI adviser to the UK’s NIHR.

Jane Sandall is Professor of Social Science and Women’s Health in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at King’s College London. Her multidisciplinary research focuses on the impact of innovative health technologies, maternity care organisation and service delivery on improving experiences, care and outcomes for women and babies. She brings methodological expertise in systematic reviews, hybrid implementation methodology and implementation science to research on complex interventions. She has received a CBE for services to women’s health, NIHR Senior Investigator awards and King’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2024.

Professor Anna Ugalde (PhD) is the lead of the Equitable Cancer Outcomes across Rural and Remote Australia (ECORRA) research program and is based at Deakin University. She is a cancer researcher with a focus on addressing health inequities through health services research. Her work is characterised by partnership across the sector, deep engagement with communities, and investment in the next generation of researchers. She has an extensive research track record and collaborates across Australia and internationally to advance research methods and understand and implement the delivery of better healthcare.

Associate Professor Skye Marshall (BNutrDiet (Hons), PhD) is a rural health researcher, currently holding a project management and leadership position with the ECORRA Research Program at Deakin University. A/Professor Marshall has a background of traditional clinical and health services research combined with a high-performance, fast-paced industry research. Marshall’s expertise lays in her ability to integrate outstanding research rigour at all project steps whilst optimising project management, governance, and stakeholder engagemen

Dr Anna Chapman is a Senior Research Fellow and Implementation Scientist who specialises in the application of theories, models and frameworks to inform knowledge translation.  She has a clinical background in nutrition and dietetics. Dr Chapman is dedicated to implementation research that aims to improve the quality of care provided to individuals with chronic conditions, including appraisal of barriers and facilitators, implementation of interventions and application of implementation science methods.

Associate Professor Serene Yoong is an internationally recognised implementation scientist and Co-Director of the Deakin Centre for Global Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) at Deakin University. Her research focuses on improving the translation, scale-up and equitable implementation of interventions to prevent chronic disease. Over the past decade, A/Professor Yoong has established an internationally recognised program of research that has advanced implementation science through implementation trials, methodological innovation, evidence synthesis, systems-informed approaches and digital implementation strategies.

Associate Professor Camille Short is a behavioural scientist at the University of Melbourne. She holds a Bachelor of Psychology with Honours and a PhD in Behavioural Medicine.  Her research aims to develop, evaluate and disseminate innovative health intervention and behaviour change technologies that can help bridge the gap between what is available in clinic and what is available at home. A/Professor Short brings extensive experience in co-design to develop relevant, feasible models of care.

Professor Nicolas Hart, PhD AES CSCS FESSA is an NHMRC Research Fellow in Cancer Survivorship, and Discipline Lead of Clinical Exercise Physiology at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). His clinical research focuses on improving outcomes for people affected by cancer (i.e., cancer survivors and caregivers), with a sub-specialty in advanced or metastatic cancers. He holds national and international research leadership roles in prominent cancer organisations.

Associate Professor Kate Gunn leads a team of behavioural science-focused researchers at Adelaide University to understand health and mental health-related strengths and challenges and co-develop and evaluate meaningful solutions to them. She is particularly passionate about improving rural cancer outcomes, drawing upon her experience in rural Australia and work as a clinical psychologist. In 2018 was awarded the prestigious Leslie (Les) J. Fleming Churchill Fellowship to investigate sustainable methods of improving the health and well-being of rural cancer survivors

Dr Rebecca Bergin is a Senior Research Fellow at Deakin University. She also holds honorary positions at the University of Melbourne (Department of General Practice and Centre for Cancer Research) and Cancer Council Victoria (Cancer Epidemiology Division). Her research aims to understand and address inequities in cancer outcomes, quality of care and patient experience by optimising pathways to cancer diagnosis and treatment. She has a special interest in early-onset cancers and rural and remote populations.

Dr Charlene Wright is an early-career researcher, research fellow and communications lead of the ECORRA Research Program. Her research focuses on how initiatives can support patients in resource-limited settings, ensuring continuity of care. She combines a strong academic foundation with practical experience, positioning herself as both a strategic thinker and an effective implementer in the field of health and digital interventions.

Hannah Jongebloed is a clinician-researcher, research fellow and psychologist currently undertaking her PhD. She brings extensive experience in project coordination, stakeholder engagement, and health services research. She chairs the ECORRA Advisory committee, who provide pragmatic guidance and support to the ECORRA Trial. Her research utilises are range of methodologies and she partners across government, health services and community groups to drive change.