Dr Nasreen Jessani has been appointed to lead IDS’s Knowledge, Impact and Policy Cluster (KIP). Nasreen joins IDS from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, where she has been responsible for capacity strengthening in evidence-informed decision-making and knowledge translation to strengthen health systems. Additionally she is faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Consultant to WHO.

Nasreen joins IDS in mid-September to enhance the KIP Cluster’s work to support practice and learning on getting evidence into use. She will spearhead a research portfolio that explores innovations and advances in the evidence ecosystem, including the relational, social and political dimensions of evidence use and impact for global development.

Background

Her background is in international health systems strengthening and health policy. Her primary research and practice sits at the nexus of health policy and systems research; innovations in evidence-informed policy and practice; and the relationship between academia and public policy.

Her expertise lies in exploring innovative means of quantifying and describing the social and political dimensions of research use in health policy – and the subsequent ramifications for health system governance. Results of her research and publications as well as contributions to institutional strategy have been used by development agencies to determine priorities for funding, by policymakers to determine priorities for interventions, by schools of public health to determine roles and incentives for faculty engaging with policy and practice stakeholders, by practitioners exploring advocacy, and by faculty as content for their academic courses.

Board memberships

Nasreen currently serves on the advisory board for INASP, UK and Academy Health, USA. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association for Global Health, Canada, and serves on WHO EVIPNet’s Global Steering Group, and the Forum for Health Professions Education at the National Academies of Sciences, USA. She is also on the Steering Committee for World Evidence Based Health Care day and Associate Editor of Health Research Policy and Systems Journal.

Nasreen was previously the Head of Strategy for the Africa Evidence Network and a Program Officer at Canada’s IDRC. She has served on several boards including WHOs Knowledge Translation and Policy Group and as Vice-Chair of the Evidence to Action TWG for Health Systems Global. She has lived and worked in several countries including Kenya, Bangladesh, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam, Canada, UAE, USA, and South Africa.

Nasreen holds a DrPH (Johns Hopkins University), MSPH (UNC-Chapel Hill), BSc (McGill University).