DOHA: The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) has announced Dr. Lawrence H. Summers (pictured) as a keynote speaker for 2016 Summit.
Dr. Summers will discuss the future of aid with a focus on investing in global health on the second day of the summit on November 30.
He will draw on key lessons from other sectors, including education and food aid. He will also consider the ongoing, dangerous neglect of global functions and examine the implications this has on research and development of new medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, policy and implementation research for flu pandemic preparedness and antimicrobial resistance.
Most of the world’s poor live in ‘pockets of poverty’ in middle-income countries, and Dr. Summers will make the case for supporting global functions as a way to reach the impoverished populations.
Dr. Summers is a Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University. He has served as secretary of the Treasury; director of the White House National Economic Council; president of Harvard University and chief economist of the World Bank.
He is a passionate advocate for innovation in healthcare. During his presidency at Harvard, he launched a major effort to make Boston, and Cambridge in particular, the global leader in life sciences research, with the formation of programmes for stem cell research and genomics.
He recently chaired the Commission on Global Health, praised by the UN Secretary-General who said it “will bring more than health — it will bring equity and contribute to a life of dignity for all”.
