Dr. Ankita Mukherjee is Qualitative Researcher at The George Institute. She uses qualitative methods to evaluate interventions and improve intervention design. She works across multiple mental health projects including the SMART Mental Health and ARTEMIS cluster RCT, INDIGO and ANUMATI. In her work, she regularly interacts with communities, service providers and other stakeholders to understand their perspectives on projects and their implementation.

Ankita is interested in using community engagement to develop mental health interventions. Her other interest is in using health policy and systems research to improve access to quality mental health care. She has an M.Phil and PhD in Social Medicine and Community Health.

Veronica Le Nevez is Head of Impact and Engagement Australia at The George Institute for Global Health, where she leads the Institute’s advocacy and policy engagement activities in Australia and the Pacific region to help increase the impact of the institute’s health and medical research. Programmes of activity include preventive health, food and nutrition, primary care, injury, better treatments for non-communicable diseases, women’s health and critical care, and others.

Veronica has spent her career in public policy, having worked extensively in the environment portfolio and in digital innovation. Prior to joining The George Institute, Veronica was General Manager Policy and Advocacy at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and held policy development and implementation roles at the University of Sydney. Veronica has a Bachelor of Science in Resource and Environmental Management, and a Master of Environmental Science from Macquarie University and is currently studying a Masters of Business Administration at the University of New South Wales.

Maarinke is the Program Lead for the Global Thought Leadership Program, in the Impact and Engagement team. She drives research impact by working with researchers and other subject matter experts and translating knowledge for different audiences, complimenting advocacy efforts on preventable disease and injury. Maarinke joined the George Institute in 2018 to develop the program, establishing activities such as data visualisation, podcasts, and interactive stories. The Global Thought Leadership program now includes the Emerging Thought Leader Program -coaching early-mid career researchers and subject matter experts-  and managing the Distinguished Fellow Program, engaging and collaborating with a network of renowned experts around the globe.

Prior to this Maarinke worked for 8 years in medicines education, after 12 years in insurance, finance and IT. Maarinke has a Masters in International Law and International Relations, Graduate Certificate in Health Policy and Health Communications, and a Bachelor of Business with double major in Marketing and Management.

Dr Menglu Ouyang is a research fellow at The George Insititute for Global Health and Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW. Her research field is in stroke, including acute care, clinical management, health system and implementation science. She has extensive experience in secondary analysis in large international clinical trials and implementation research. Her research contributes to filling the knowledge gap in stroke clinical guidelines development, informs implementation strategies and supports promoting the care embedded in existing processes in low- and middle-income countries.

She is the leading investigator for the process evaluation alongside the large international trials funded by MRC and NHMRC, to explore the feasibility, acceptability and implementation of evidence-based care. She also chairs the monthly Process Evaluation/Health System Research Seminar at The George Institute. She is in the UNSW Cardiac, Vascular, Metabolic Medicine Early Career Researcher Committee and the editor board of Cerebrovascular Diseases and Frontiers Public Health.

Prof. Mark Huffman, a Professorial Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health and Adjunct Professor at UNSW, is a globally recognized preventive cardiologist with over a decade of experience in cardiovascular dissemination and implementation research. He is a Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Co-Director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis and Adjunct Professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University.

He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology and was recognised as an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine through the National Academy of Medicine. He is a standing member of the NIH Science of Implementation for Health and Health Care study section.

He co-created the World Heart Federation’s flagship Emerging Leaders program, which has trained >200 early-to-mid-career professionals from >50 countries in implementation research. Prof. Huffman has taught graduate-level courses, co-directed the NIH/Fogarty-funded global health fellows’ research training program, and mentored undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, and early-stage investigator trainees in implementation research.

Kylie is Chief of Staff at The George Institute for Global Health. She has 30 years’ experience in senior government, diplomatic and consulting positions. Kylie’s areas of expertise include international business strategy and growth, partnerships and stakeholder management, and business transformation. 

Before joining The George Institute, Kylie was a Deputy Secretary in the NSW State Government, responsible for its trade and investment portfolio, including its international network of trade offices. She was a Director at global advisory firm EY, and earlier worked for the Australian Federal Government for more than 15 years in senior diplomatic roles working in India, Southeast Asia and Europe. 

Kylie holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Sydney and has undertaken various post graduate leadership programmes, including at the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Professor Helena Legido-Quigley joined The George Institute for Global Health, UK and the School of Public Health, Imperial College London in 2023 as Chair in Health Systems Science.

Professor Legido-Quigley also holds an Associate Professorship in Health Systems at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House, a member of the Council of the World Economic Forum and is editor-in-chief of Elsevier’s Journal of Migration and Health.

She is also a member of Women in Global Health, Spain, a role reflective of her commitment to redistributing power in global health, and of her broader emphasis on championing the next generation of global health researchers through mentorship and teaching.