Alliance Secretariat

The Alliance Secretariat is hosted and administered by the World Health Organization in Geneva and carries out the day-to-day implementation of the Alliance work plan, as determined by the Board.

Secretariat staff

Executive Director

Dr Kumanan RASANATHAN

Executive Director

Dr Rasanathan is a public health physician with a strong background in health policy and systems research and extensive experience working at different levels of the World Health Organization and within the wider UN system.

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Unit heads (a. i.)

Dr Aku KWAMIE

Technical Officer

Aku is a health systems researcher. Her work has focused on applying complexity theory to health systems governance, management and leadership.

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Dr Robert MARTEN

Strategy and Partnership Officer

Robert is a public health policy specialist and leads the Alliance’s work on noncommunicable diseases, climate change and the social determinants of health.

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Dr Zubin SHROFF

Technical Officer

Zubin is a health systems specialist with over ten years of experience in the areas of health governance and financing, human resources for health and access to medicines.

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Other Secretariat staff

Ms Idil SHEKH-MOHAMED

Technical Officer

Biography

Idil is a global health policy researcher and analyst from Sweden with a strong focus on facilitating effective health policy analysis and research. She is passionate about enhancing the uptake, engagement and communication of research to support health equity and promote sustainable growth. At the Alliance, Idil works to support countries in building resilient health systems, addressing the co-benefits of climate response and advancing systems thinking and capacity strengthening for health policy and systems research. 

Before joining the Alliance, Idil worked on evidence-based policy advocacy with the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) and coordinated the Lancet Commission on Peaceful Societies through Health Equity and Gender Equality at the Swedish Institute for Global Health Transformation. 

Idil holds a Master’s degree in Public Health and a Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies with majors in Political Science and Human Geography, both from Lund University. She also completed a degree in Communication for Development at Malmö University.

She has previously interned and worked as a consultant at the WHO Regional Office for the Americas / Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington, D.C., within the Department of Gender, Rights, Equity, and Diversity, and at the Secretariat for Every Woman Every Child Latin America and the Caribbean (EWEC-LAC).