- Julio Frenk,
Physician, Global Health Researcher and Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Edward Holmes,
Evolutionary Biologist and Virologist, University of Sydney - Peter Hotez,
Paediatrician, Vaccinologist, Global Health Strategist, Baylor College of Medicine Texas and the coordinator of the Texas Children’s Centre for Vaccine Development - Heidi Larson,
Anthropologist and Founding Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine - Uche Amazigo,
Professor of Medical Parasitology and Public Health Specialist
As part of a listening and gathering process for the project ‘Improving Trustworthiness in Global Health’, Conrad Keating interviewed thinkers across agencies and geographies including physician-scientists, virologists, policy makers and global health leaders. These short interviews address a range of subjects from disinformation and declining global health budgets, to how the changing geopolitical context and the rise of defensive nationalism will affect global public health programmes over the coming decades.
- Jerome H. Kim,
Physician and Director General of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Seoul, South Korea - William ‘Bill’ Foege,
Physician, and Epidemiologist who devised the global strategy for the eradication of smallpox at the end of the 1970s, former Director of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention - Joy Shu’aibu,
Physician, Director of Programme Operations for Nigeria Sightsavers, and CharityComms Inspiring Communicator 2020 - Kevin Marsh,
Physician, Malariologist, Professor Tropical Medicine, and Director of Africa Oxford Initiative at Oxford University - Janet Hemingway,
Professor of Vector Biology, President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and former Director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
(opens in a new window)Julio Frenk
Physician, Global Health Researcher and Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Podcast recorded November 2024.
One of the world’s most experienced global health researchers, Julio Frenk talks about trust being the foundation of everything that connects and builds cooperation between human beings. He also discusses how Dr Gro Brundtland was able to rebuild trust in the WHO during her tenure as Director-General between 1998-2003. Among other things, Prof. Frenk comments on the primacy of storytelling and the dangers of AI appropriating that power: “storytelling is so important that we cannot give it up.”
(opens in a new window)Edward Holmes
Evolutionary Biologist and Virologist, University of Sydney. Podcast recorded May 2025.
Early in January 2020, Edward Holmes was one of the first people in the world to publish the SARS-2-CoV-2 genome sequence on Twitter. Professor Holmes also speaks about the puzzling composition of, and anti-vaccine polices being followed by, the US Department of Health and Human Sciences. Edward Holmes also thinks the status of virologic research is currently at a very low ebb. Moreover, he believes that the world is less well prepared for a pandemic today than in 2019: “In terms of the science we are better off; the problem is the politics, and trustworthiness has been decimated. The politics has massively undermined the science.”
(opens in a new window)Peter Hotez
Paediatrician, Vaccinologist, Global Health Strategist, Baylor College of Medicine Texas and the coordinator of the Texas Children’s Centre for Vaccine Development. Podcast recorded June 2025.
Dr Hotez is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and the development of new vaccines for these conditions. Peter Hotez speaks powerfully about the rise of anti-science and the personal antagonisms he continues to endure from anti-vaxxers. An optimist by nature, and passionate about his role as a science communicator, Dr Hotez talks straightforwardly about the central problem he encounters in the US: “My biggest frustration is that I cannot reach the people I need to reach. The way that people are walled off in their own echo-chamber, and how we can find champions to bridge that divide, is the one really complicated aspect of this.”
(opens in a new window)Heidi Larson
Anthropologist and Founding Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Podcast recorded April 2025.
Prof. Larson speaks persuasively about the question of the decline of overseas development aid and if there might be a silver lining in the form of a push by low-income countries to become more self-sufficient and not to be reliant on things that never arrive. In times of scarcity, she emphasises, people tend to get creative. The conversation then turned to Covid and the power of trust at the local level. Like many other highly experienced researchers involved in building public cooperation in the context of a largescale crisis, Heidi Larson acknowledges that “going local is the best way to build society and community trust.”
(opens in a new window)Uche Amazigo
Professor of Medical Parasitology and Public Health Specialist. Podcast recorded June 2025.
Professor Amazigo talks in encouraging terms about the continued financial contributions being made to global health by two not-for-profit NGOs, The END Fund and Sightsavers. Uche Amazigo then explains how she sees the rise of conspiracy theories as a response to health providers not wholeheartedly involving the public in health care programmes. By making people recipients of health programmes instead of allowing them to co-design, co-monitor, and co-implement programmes we enabled conspiracy theories to become very strong: “We have to look at public health from the lens of the people, and not from our own lens all of the time.”
(opens in a new window)Jerome H. Kim
Physician and Director General of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Seoul, South Korea. Podcast recorded April 2025.
According to Jerome Kim, global health needs to think less in terms of “snapshots” and more about “long-term” consequences: for instance, about the generational damage to children who missed out on two years of school during Covid. He also believes that the decline in overseas aid budgets could perhaps eventually lead to stronger health systems, “but how many children will die in the process?”
(opens in a new window)William ‘Bill’ Foege
Physician, and Epidemiologist who devised the global strategy for the eradication of smallpox at the end of the 1970s, former Director of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Podcast recorded February 2025.
Smallpox killed nearly 300 million people in the twentieth century alone. Its eradication is one of the great achievements of humankind. More than anyone, Bill Foege was responsible for the deployment of the ring vaccination programme that eradicated this feared disease. In a deeply philosophical discussion, Dr Foege touches on the origin of the scientific method with Roger Bacon in the thirteenth century, and how the “Soviets and Americans joined forces to eradicate smallpox…which showed the power of a coalition.” He also underscores the necessity for researchers to look as far ahead as possible and to ask a fundamental question: “is the decision we make today going to improve things in the future?” Bill Foege also sees the study of history as being a social and intellectual priority, because for him, it emphasises that we live in a “cause and effect world.”
(opens in a new window)Joy Shu’aibu
Physician, Director of Programme Operations for Nigeria Sightsavers, and CharityComms Inspiring Communicator 2020. Podcast recorded March 2025.
Working in the most populous country in Africa, Joy Shu’aibu has built a reputation as an outstanding communicator in the field of neglected tropical diseases. Dr Shu’aibu, and Sightsavers – the NGO has been working in Africa since 1950 – emphasise the need and value of partnership. Embracing that collaborative spirit, Dr Shu’aibu and her colleagues pioneered a study working alongside local media and radio journalists, because “the media is a powerful voice to influence behavioural change, and they could package the social behaviour communication messages to the communities.” She also believes that media training, communication skills, and storytelling should be embedded in the medical curriculum and training, “because we see that the media is a very strong partner that goes to where ordinarily legs cannot go.” Additionally, Dr Shu’aibu gives a very persuasive explanation as to why the great global health success stories this century has failed to register with wider society.
(opens in a new window)Kevin Marsh
Physician, Malariologist, Professor Tropical Medicine, and Director of Africa Oxford Initiative at Oxford University. Podcast recorded July 2025.
Prof. Marsh speaks about the decisive moments in malariology, and the key changes that occurred around 2000 with the emergence the Global Fund, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Roll Back Malaria Programme, and Medicines for Malaria Venture. Collectively, total spending on malaria rose, according to Kevin Marsh, “from a few million dollars in the 1990s, to over two billion within 5 or 6 years.” This investment was wisely spent on effective prevention and the adoption of artemisinin-based combination therapies. He also speaks persuasively about the power and promise of malaria vaccines. Prof. Marsh refers to the recent reductions in USAID in Africa as “a disaster” and is critical of the British government’s decision to reduce the overseas development budget. He also sees the “enormous potential” of the power of storytelling to engage with communities and mentions innovative attempts in Kenya and other countries in Africa to use the medium. “I think storytelling is critical, it is how we gain knowledge of the world, and how we come to our perspectives of the world.”
(opens in a new window)Janet Hemingway
Professor of Vector Biology, President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and former Director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Podcast recorded July 2025.
During the opening part of the discussion, Prof. Hemingway discusses the role of serendipity in directing her early career path as an entomologist. Later, when considering the decisive changes in efforts to control and eliminate malaria, Janet Hemingway underscores the dual necessity of a good drug treatment programme, and effective vector control, “they need to go hand-in-hand.” When addressing the recent reductions in USAID on Malawi, and other malarious regions of Africa, Prof. Heminway thinks this short-sighted decision could lose 15 to 20 years of progress, “and impact some of the poorest people on the planet.” Additionally, while Prof. Heminway notes the contemporary difficulties relating to disinformation, misinformation and declining overseas budgets, she also has a sense of hope and optimism because, “it is such an exciting time to be a scientist right now.” She believes that the pendulum of change will swing away from current troubles, “and it will shift, it may take five, ten, or twenty years to shift completely. But as a scientist you learn to be adaptable.”