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.
Learn moreUnit 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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Ms Giulia LOFFREDA
Scientist
@Giulia_Loff
Biography
Giulia is a health policy and systems researcher dedicated to strengthening primary health care and advancing equitable health systems. Her work primarily focuses on bridging the gap between evidence and policy in the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
She holds master’s degrees in pharmacy from the University of Bologna, Italy, and public health research from the Erasmus Medical Centre, University of Rotterdam, Kingdom of the Netherlands.
As a consultant for WHO, Giulia has worked with the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research and the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, Rehabilitation, and Disability, supporting efforts to advance NCD implementation research. Prior to joining the Alliance, she was a researcher at the Institute for Global Health and Development at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, and the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, contributing to policy-focused health systems research.
Giulia applies systems thinking and an embedded implementation research approach, fostering collaboration between researchers and policy-makers to strengthen health system resilience through evidence-informed decision-making.