Open lecture on health innovation: Engineering Solutions for Health Systems Strengthening

Join us and our guest speaker from Boston University for an interesting afternoon discussion on innovative health solutions and impact.

Venue: CSS, Room 35.01.05, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 København K

Time: Monday 14 August, 14:15-17:00 (2:15-5PM).

Reception after the open lecture.

The event is open to the public.
Sign up is not required.

Professor Muhammad H. Zaman is Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and International Health at Boston University. He will discuss the challenge in developing solutions for health systems strengthening and our approach in addressing those challenges based on case studies. The first case study focuses on our work to improve the quality of medicines and increasing access to quality medicines in Ghana and Indonesia. The second case study focuses on using quantitative systems modeling to improve maternal health outcomes in Zanzibar (at the facility level) and in Yemen (at the national level).

Description: While technological innovation and engineering solutions have made a significant impact on diagnostic testing and data capture for global health applications, the impact on overall system strengthening and improvement has been relatively small. As a consequence, despite advancement in point-of-care solutions, gaps in equitable access to quality healthcare remain as major challenges in global health. The bulk of our research in global health, in the last decade, has aimed at bridging this gap. Using two case studies from our own work, Prof. Zaman will bring to discussion the challenge in developing solutions for health systems strengthening and our approach in addressing those challenges. The first case study will focus on our work to improve the quality of medicines and increasing access to quality medicines in Ghana and Indonesia. The second case study will focus on using quantitative systems modeling to improve maternal health outcomes in Zanzibar (at the facility level) and in Yemen (at the national level). Finally, Prof. Zaman will present some opportunities to develop collaborative and multi-disciplinary solutions for pressing problems at the systems level using engineering, public health and policy.

Bio: Professor Muhammad H. Zaman is Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and International Health at Boston University. Prof. Zaman’s current research is focused on developing robust technologies, and systems level solutions, to improve the quality of medicines, particularly as they are related to mortality and morbidity issues associated with anti-microbial resistance. Broadly speaking, his work focuses on understanding and developing solutions for high-value healthcare problems in the developing world, including in conflict zones. His work on global health research and education has appeared in Science, Nature Reviews, PNAS and other leading journals of the field. Scientific American has named technologies from the Zaman lab among the top 10 technologies that will change the world.

His forthcoming book Bitter Pills (Oxford University Press, 2017), looks at the global challenge of substandard and counterfeit drugs and the need for integrated solutions, ranging from innovation and technology to public health and regulation, to address the global crisis in the prevalence of substandard drugs and how they relate to global anti-microbial resistance challenges.

In addition to his research, Prof. Zaman is actively engaged in improving access to quality engineering education, with a multi-disciplinary focus on innovation, in a number of countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia. He is currently involved in setting up biomedical engineering departments at universities in Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana and Ethiopia that focus on addressing local challenges through innovation and technical capacity building. He is working with the UN Economic Commission in Africa to increase awareness of Biomedical Engineering and has served as the co-Chair of the Africa Biomedical Engineering Initiative.

Professor Zaman is currently working on projects in multiple countries including Pakistan, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Indonesia, Lebanon and Brazil. Professor Zaman is also working with frontline public health and refugee relief organizations in Syria and Lebanon, and developing engineering solutions to address medical needs in a sustainable manner.

In addition to his research papers, his newspaper columns have appeared in newspapers around the world, including the New York Times, Houston Chronicle and US News and World Report. He is a regular contributor on issues of drug quality and global health for the Project Syndicate (his columns have appeared in newspapers in more than 30 countries in six different languages), Huffington Post and writes a weekly column on innovation in health and education for leading Pakistan daily, Express Tribune which is part of the International New York Times group.