Harvard-LSHTM Panel on Ebola

In 2015, the Harvard Global Health Institute and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine convened an Independent Panel on the Global Response to Ebola. “The Ebola crisis has laid bare the inadequacy of the global response.  We need a thorough, careful analysis of what went wrong, and how we might do better in the future,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha. “The Harvard Global Health Institute is pleased to partner with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to create a unique platform for assessing the global response in a way that leads to real actions for change.” 

Chaired by Dr. Peter Piot of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Co-Chaired by Dr. Ashish Jha of the Harvard Global Health Institute, Dr. Muhammad Pate of Duke Global Health Institute, and Dr. Devi Sridhar of the Edinburgh Medical School; the 19 international panelists represent varying backgrounds and areas of expertise. “International solidarity has had a positive impact in this outbreak and it is crucial we keep up the momentum to prepare fully for future threats. I look forward to working alongside these leading experts to strengthen global health systems and improve surveillance to enable early detection of the next epidemic,” said Dr. Peter Piot, co-discoverer of Ebola and Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. 

The Panel held its inaugural meeting in Boston in March 2015, followed by a second meeting in London in June 2015. Over the course of the meetings, the panel assessed thematic areas including: leadership, coordination and advocacy; international rules; financing; operational response and operational research; and health technology R&D. 

The Panel’s work resulted in a publication in The Lancet entitled “Will Ebola change the game? Ten essential reforms before the next pandemic. A report of the Harvard-LSHTM Independent Panel on the Global Response to Ebola”. The report analyzes the major weaknesses in the global health system exposed by the Ebola outbreak, and offers workable recommendations for medium-to-long-term institutional changes required to address them. 

Panelists

The Independent Panel on the Global Response to Ebola, is made up of 19 international panelists representing varying backgrounds and areas of expertise. 

The complete list of panelists is as follows:

Dr. Peter Piot, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (Chair)
Dr. Ashish Jha, Harvard Global Health Institute/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Co-chair)
Dr. Muhammad Pate, Duke Global Health Institute (Co-chair)
Dr. Devi Sridhar, Edinburgh Medical School (Co-chair)
Dr. Suerie Moon, Harvard Global Health Institute/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health/Harvard Kennedy School (Study Director)
Dr. Chelsea Clinton, Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation
Ms. Sophie Delaunay, Médecins Sans Frontières
Ms. Valnora Edwin, Campaign for Good Governance
Dr. Mosoka Fallah, Action Contre La Faim International (ACF)
Mr. David Fidler, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Dr. Laurie Garrett, Council on Foreign Relations
Dr. Eric Goosby, University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Larry Gostin, Georgetown University
Dr. David Heymann, Chatham House
Dr. Kelley Lee, Simon Fraser University
Dr. Gabriel Leung, The University of Hong Kong
Dr. Steve Morrison, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Dr. Jorge Saavedra, AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Dr. Marcel Tanner, Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute

Related Work

Jointly Produced Work

• “Facing forward after Ebola: questions for the next director general of the World Health Organization,” BMJ, 2016
• “Global Health Security: 15 Questions for WHO Director-General Candidates,” The Graduate Institute, Geneva, 2016.

Dr. Peter Piot, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (Chair)

• “Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1976-2014,” Elife, 2015.
• “Ebola in west Africa: from disease outbreak to humanitarian crisis,” The Lancet, 2014.*
• “Ebola’s perfect storm,” Science, 2014.                
• “The Ebola Emergency — Immediate Action, Ongoing Strategy,” New England Journal of Medicine, 2014                
• “Infectious disease: Tough choices to reduce Ebola transmission,” Nature, 2014 

Dr. Ashish Jha, Harvard Global Health Institute/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Co-chair)

• “The Ebola Outbreak, Fragile Health Systems, and Quality as a Cure” JAMA, 2014

Dr. Devi Sridhar, Edinburgh Medical School (Co-chair)

• “The normative authority of the World Health Organization” Public Health, 2015
• “Reforming the World Health Organization After Ebola,” JAMA, 2015.
• “Overseeing Global Health,” Finance and Development, 2014.

Dr. Suerie Moon, Harvard Global Health Institute/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health/Harvard Kennedy School (Study Director)

• “Global Health Law: What, When and for What Purpose? A Commentary on Lawrence Gostin’s Global Health Law,” Global Health Governance, 2014
• “Governance Challenges in Global Health,” NEJM, 2013.*
• “The Global Health System: Actors, Norms, Expectations in Transition,” PLOS Medicine, 2010.

Ms. Sophie Delaunay, Médecins Sans Frontières

• “Ebola: Quarantine can undermine efforts to curb epidemic,” MSF, 2014.

Dr. Mosoka Fallah, Action Contre La Faim International (ACF)

• “Interrupting Ebola Transmission in Liberia Through Community-Based Initiatives The Annals of Internal Medicine, 2016.
• “Strategies to prevent future Ebola epidemics” The Lancet, 2015.
• “Ebola interventions: listen to communities” The Lancet, 2015.
• “Elimination of Ebola Virus Transmission in Liberia” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015.
• “Ebola and Its Control in Liberia, 2014-2015” Emerging Infectious Disease, 2015
• “Harnessing case isolation and ring vaccination to control Ebola” PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2015.
• “Community-centered responses to Ebola in urban Liberia: the view from below,” PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2015.

Dr. Laurie Garrett, Council on Foreign Relations

• “Ebola’s Lessons: How the WHO Mishandled the Crisis” Foreign Affairs, 2015
• “Ebola: Story of an Outbreak,” book, 2015.
• Obamacare will save U.S. from Ebola?,” Newsday, 2014
• Five myths about Ebola,” Washington Post, 2014
• Ebola still needs amped-up effort,” The Denver Post, 2014.
• “Why an Ebola epidemic is spinning out of control CNN, 2014.

Dr. Larry Gostin, Georgetown University

• “World Health Organization Reform: Lessons Learned from the Ebola Epidemic,” Hastings Center Report, 2015.*
• “The Ebola Epidemic: A Global Health Emergency,” JAMA, 2014.*
• “Ebola: Towards an International Health Systems Fund,” The Lancet, 2014.*

Dr. David Heymann, Chatham House

• “Ebola: missed opportunities for Europe-Africa research,” The Lancet, 2015.
• “Be prepared: Europe needs Ebola outbreak consortium” Nature, 2015.
• “Ebola: the challenging road to recovery” The Lancet, 2015
• “Global health security: the wider lessons from the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic,” The Lancet, 2015.
• “Randomised controlled trials for Ebola: practical and ethical issues,” The Lancet, 2015.*
• “Ebola vaccines: keep the clinical trial protocols on the shelf and ready to roll out The Lancet, 2015.*

Dr. Kelley Lee, Simon Fraser University

• “Revealing power in truth,” International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2015.
• “WHO: retirement or reinvention,” Public Health, 2014.

Dr. Marcel Tanner, Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute

• “Surveillance and response: Tools and approaches for the elimination stage of neglected tropical diseases,” Acta Tropica, 2015.
• “Will Ebola change the game? Ten essential reforms before the next pandemic. The report of the Harvard-LSHTM Independent Panel on the Global Response to Ebola” The Lancet, 2015.