Professor Rifat Atun
Director of Global Health Systems Cluster
Professor of Global Health Systems
Department of Global Health and Population
665 Huntington Avenue
Building I, Room 1104A
Boston, MA 02115
ratun@hsph.harvard.edu
Dr. Rifat Atun is Professor of Global Health Systems and the Director of Global Health Systems Cluster at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
In 2006-13, Dr. Atun was Professor of International Health Management and Head of the Health Management Group at Imperial College London. In 2008-12 he served as a member of the Executive Management Team of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the Director of Strategy, Performance and Evaluation Cluster.
Professor Atun’s research focuses on the design and implementation of health systems reforms and their impact on outcomes. His research also explores adoption and diffusion of innovations in health systems (e.g. health technologies, disease control programmes, and primary healthcare reforms), and innovative financing in global health. Organization. Prof. Atun is a co-Investigator and the joint lead for the innovation work stream at the National Centre for Infection Prevention and Management at Imperial College. He is also a co-Investigator and the Theme Lead for ‘Organisational Change, Sustainability and Evaluation’ at Imperial College and Cambridge University Health Protection Research Unit for Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection. He has published widely in the Lancet, PLoS Medicine, Lancet Infectious Diseases, BMJ, AIDS, and Bulletin of the World Health Organization.
Prof. Atun has worked with several governments globally as well as the World Bank, World Health Organization, and the UK Department for International Development to design, implement and evaluate health system reform initiatives. He has led research and consultancy projects for GSK, Pfizer Inc., the Vodafone Group, Hofmann La Roche, PA Consulting, and Tata Consulting Services.
Prof. Atun was the Founding Director of the MSc in International Health Management, BSc in Management and Medical Science, and Founding Co-Director of the Masters in Public Health (MPH) Programme at Imperial College. He has been a director of Imperial College spin out companies operating in areas of health information systems and biotechnology.
Prof. Atun is a member of the MRC (UK) Global Health Group, the US Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Strengthening Health Systems and the Research Advisory Committee for the Public Health Foundation of India. He served as a member of the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board, the Norwegian Research Council’s Global Health and Vaccination Research Board. He was a Member of the Advisory Committee for WHO Research Centre for Health Development in Japan and the Strategic Technical Advisory Group of the WHO for Tuberculosis. He chaired the WHO Task Force on Health Systems and Tuberculosis Control and in 2009-12 he was the Chair of the STOP TB Partnership Coordinating Board.
Prof. Atun studied medicine at University of London as a Commonwealth Scholar and subsequently completed his postgraduate medical studies and Masters in business administration at University of London and Imperial College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners (UK), Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians (UK), and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK).
Education
- MBBS (Medical Diploma): University of London
- MBA: Executive MBA Programme, Imperial College London
- DIC: Diploma in Management, Imperial College London
- FRCGP: Fellow, Royal College of General Practitioners
- FFPH: Fellow, Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians (UK)
- FRCP: Fellow, Royal College of Physicians (UK)
