Miklós Szócska is a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Public Health at Semmelweis University, Budapest. He also serves as the Director of the Healthcare Management Training Center and Head of the Institute of Digital Health Sciences. His career bridges academic leadership with healthcare policy, including roles as Secretary of State for Health (2010–2014), where he focused on evidence-based health policy, public health taxes, and e-health systems. Education: General Practitioner, Semmelweis University (1989) Master of Public Administration, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government (1998–1999) PhD, Semmelweis University (2008) Research Interests: Szócska's work spans network analysis , leadership and change management , crisis communication , social innovation , and big data/AI applications in healthcare . His recent studies focus on reconstructing 3D histological structures via machine learning, global mortality linked to pathogens, and tobacco control policies. Article Trends: His publications emphasize global health metrics (e.g., mortality decomposition, colorectal cancer risk factors) and digital health innovations (AI, e-health). Systematic analyses from the Global Burden of Disease Study frequently inform his research. Academic Affiliations: He leads the Institute of Digital Health Sciences and chairs the Faculty of Public Health at Semmelweis University. His international roles include Board Membership at the European Health Forum Gastein and Supervisory Board positions at EIT Health.
Wilma Nusselder, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Medical Demography at the Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC), Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She is actively engaged in research at the intersection of public health and demography, with a strong focus on health and mortality inequalities by socioeconomic position, gender, and ethnicity. Her research centers on the development and application of summary measures of population health, particularly health expectancies, to understand both the quantity and quality of life across populations. She investigates how risk factors and chronic diseases influence health trajectories and mortality, and evaluates the impact of public health interventions and policies. Her methodological expertise includes life table analysis, decomposition methods, and modeling frameworks such as DYNAMO-HIA and ERAINHE. The analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on health disparities, particularly educational and socioeconomic inequalities in life expectancy, disability, and chronic disease. Her work increasingly employs comparative international data, simulation modeling, and policy impact assessment, reflecting a trend toward evidence-based public health strategy and forecasting. Dr. Nusselder is the coordinator of ERAINHE, a collaborative European framework for harmonizing mortality data by socioeconomic position, enabling large-scale comparative research. She teaches medical and PhD students and collaborates extensively with multidisciplinary teams across public health, demography, sociology, and econometrics. She has contributed to numerous research projects and publications assessing the societal and health system impacts of policies, particularly in aging and health equity. Her work aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), especially in reducing health disparities.
Zubair Kabir is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health and Academic Director of the Master of Public Health (MPH) program at University College Cork (UCC). He holds dual roles in academia and global health research, serving as the country lead for Ireland in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study since 2016. His work has contributed to over 70 GBD-related publications, earning him recognition as the most cited Irish researcher in his field since 2019. Dr. Kabir’s research focuses on tobacco control, alcohol policy, and non-communicable disease (NCD) epidemiology, with a particular emphasis on policy-informed research. He pioneered the Irish CHD IMPACT model, instrumental in shaping Ireland’s cardiovascular health strategy and Healthy Ireland Framework. His contributions to the GBD Study have impacted global health policy, including WHO reports and OECD publications. He leads the Irish Burden of Disease (I-BoD) Research Group, fostering capacity-building through training master’s students in BoD methodology. His recent work includes alcohol policy research (e.g., estimating alcohol-attributable deaths in Ireland), tuberculosis epidemiology in migrant populations, and mental health studies among cancer patients. He also investigates the health impacts of obesity, aging, and long-COVID in Ireland. Dr. Kabir has secured significant funding, including EU COST Action grants and HRB awards, and serves on national health committees such as the Health Research Consent Declaration Committee (HRCDC). His awards include the American College of Chest Physicians Fellowship (2014) for excellence in tobacco control advocacy. His academic career spans postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard and Trinity College Dublin, and he holds a PG Diploma in Higher Teaching & Learning. Key contributions include co-editing Tobacco Use Insights, co-authoring WHO policy reports, and advancing dental public health through GBD-linked studies on oral cancer.
Fanny Janssen serves as a senior researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI-KNAW) in The Hague and holds an Honorary Professorship in "Mortality and Longevity" at the Population Research Centre, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen. Her dual affiliation positions her at the intersection of demographic research and academic instruction, contributing significantly to the field of population studies in the Netherlands and across Europe. Dr. Janssen earned her Bachelor's degree in Human Geography from the University of Groningen, followed by Master's degrees in Demography (Groningen) and Epidemiology (Rotterdam). She completed her academic training with a PhD in Medical Demography from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2005. After her doctoral studies, she continued her academic career at the University of Groningen before taking her current position at NIDI-KNAW. Dr. Janssen's research primarily focuses on mortality and health at the population level in the Netherlands and Europe. Her work examines mortality differences between men and women, across countries and regions, over time, and across generations. A significant portion of her research investigates how health-related lifestyle factors—particularly smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity—shape mortality differences and trends. Her ultimate goal is to improve mortality forecasting through a better understanding of these demographic patterns. Her research has evolved to increasingly focus on socio-economic inequalities in mortality, with her VICI project specifically examining how these inequalities will realistically develop in the future. Analysis of Dr. Janssen's recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on educational inequalities in mortality, particularly those attributable to lifestyle factors. Her work spans multiple European countries (England & Wales, Finland, Italy, and the Netherlands), demonstrating a comparative approach to understanding mortality patterns. There is a clear progression in her research from examining general mortality trends to increasingly focusing on the contribution of specific risk factors (smoking, alcohol, obesity) to socio-economic mortality inequalities. Her methodological contributions, particularly in developing approaches to estimate cause-specific mortality by educational level in a time-consistent and internationally comparable manner, represent significant advances in demographic methodology. VIDI grant (2014) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) VICI grant (2020) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) European Demography Award (2018) Dr. Janssen has successfully secured substantial research funding through competitive grants, most notably the prestigious VIDI and VICI grants from NWO. Her VICI research project focuses on socio-economic inequalities in mortality and their future development. While specific details about her advisees are not provided in the source material, her numerous collaborations with researchers across Europe suggest an active role in mentoring junior researchers and PhD students. Her work often involves leadership in large-scale international collaborations examining mortality patterns across multiple countries. As a senior researcher at NIDI-KNAW (a research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), Dr. Janssen is part of one of Europe's leading demographic research centers. Her work frequently involves collaboration with researchers from multiple European institutions, including the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, the University of Helsinki, and various UK institutions. Her research often utilizes population register data from multiple countries, suggesting participation in international data consortia. The scope of her recent work indicates leadership in projects examining socio-economic mortality inequalities across Europe.
Subas Neupane is a University Lecturer at Tampere University's Faculty of Social Sciences, specializing in Health Sciences. He leads the Master's Degree programme in Public and Global Health, focusing on occupational health, epidemiology, public health, global health, and aging. His work emphasizes understanding how work environments, lifestyle factors, and socioeconomic conditions impact health outcomes across populations. His research spans occupational health risks, mortality prediction through cohort studies, and the development of sustainable employability indices. Notable contributions include analyzing alcohol policies' health impacts in Nordic countries and evaluating mindfulness-based interventions for teacher burnout. Neupane has also contributed to global health initiatives like the Global Burden of Disease Study, examining risk factors, cancer burdens, and health disparities across 200+ countries. Key research themes include: Workplace exposure and mortality Musculoskeletal pain trajectories Public health policy evaluation Global aging trends Work-life balance dynamics His recent publications (2022–2025) highlight trends in occupational burnout among educators, the role of ergonomic risk factors in musculoskeletal disorders, and forecasting smoking-related mortality. He has pioneered data-mining methods to predict health outcomes and collaborated internationally on meta-analyses of health trajectories. Neupane's work prioritizes translating epidemiological findings into actionable policies, particularly in low-resource settings like Nepal, where he has studied childhood malnutrition and coronary artery disease risk factors. His research underscores the interconnectedness of workplace conditions, aging populations, and global health equity.
Christine Levesque is a Part-Time Professor in the Department of Psychology within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa. She teaches core undergraduate courses such as PSY2516 (Quantitative Methods II), PSY2510 (Social Psychology), PSY3707 (Psychometric Methods), and PSY2506 (Quantitative Methods I). Education: Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa, 2019 Honours BA in Psychology with Minor in Statistics, University of Ottawa, 2009 Her research focuses on romantic attachment, emotion regulation, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), intimate partner violence, and alcohol use disorders . She integrates clinical, social, and health psychology perspectives with strong methodological expertise in psychometrics and quantitative analysis. Her work often explores mediational models linking attachment insecurities to maladaptive behaviors. Her recent publications show a growing emphasis on public health implications of alcohol consumption, including contributions to national guidelines. The trend across her articles reflects a dual trajectory: one stream investigates interpersonal dynamics in romantic relationships, while the other addresses substance use and mental health outcomes using systematic reviews and technical reports. Scientific Contributions: Contributor to the evidence review for Canada’s updated Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines Published in high-impact journals such as Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research , European Review of Applied Psychology , and Journal of Youth and Adolescence Dr. Levesque is actively involved in research collaborations with experts in clinical and social psychology. While formal advising roles are not detailed, her involvement in graduate-level research projects suggests mentorship of students. She contributes to both teaching and research missions in psychology, particularly in advancing understanding of emotional and behavioral regulation in interpersonal contexts.
Jaakko Arthur Kaprio is a Research Director at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, and former Professor of Genetic Epidemiology (2001–2020). He has held leadership roles including Director of FIMM (2015–2018) and Academy Professor (2013–2017). His research focuses on genetic and environmental determinants of behavioral risk factors for non-communicable diseases, including smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, sleep, and obesity. He is renowned for pioneering work with the Finnish Twin Cohort since 1976, expanding it into longitudinal studies and integrating molecular genetics. His international collaborations include NIH and EU-funded projects, and he leads the Academy of Finland’s Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (2018–2025). Education: M.D. (1976), Ph.D. in Epidemiology (1984), both from University of Helsinki. Postdoctoral training at USC, Indiana University, and University of Michigan. Grants: Continuous NIH funding since 1998, Academy of Finland grants, and EU Horizon projects. Awards: Over 18 major honors, including the Finnish Cultural Foundation Prize (2022), Dobzhansky Award (2016), and two honorary doctorates. Advising: Supervised over 50 PhD students, receiving the Maud Kuistila Memorial Award for teaching excellence. Labs/Teams: FIMM, Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics. Key Projects: FinnGen, genetic epidemiology of nicotine dependence, and molecular studies of sleep and obesity. Leadership Roles: Former President of the Behavior Genetics Association and International Society for Twin Studies.
Kevin Shield, PhD, serves as Adjunct Associate Professor at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Independent Scientist at CAMH's Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, and Unit Head of the WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre. He additionally holds an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health. His research program pioneers public health surveillance methodologies for quantifying alcohol and drug-related harms globally. Core activities include measuring consumption patterns and disorders through the Global Information System on Alcohol and Health, analyzing treatment gaps for substance use disorders, establishing causal links between alcohol and diseases/injuries, estimating attributable mortality/morbidity, and evaluating policy interventions like taxation. These interdisciplinary efforts bridge epidemiology, burden of disease modeling, and health policy to inform clinical practice and international regulations. Dr. Shield's scientific recognition includes: 2018 CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Award in Population and Public Health Research (Early Career) Funded continuously by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Pan American Health Organization, and World Health Organization, his work directs major collaborative initiatives including the WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre. This unit generates critical evidence for global alcohol policy frameworks while maintaining active surveillance systems that monitor first- and second-hand health impacts across 194 countries.
Joseph T. Lariscy is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Memphis. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin (2013) and completed an NIA Postdoctoral Fellowship at Duke University's Duke Population Research Institute. His research focuses on racial/ethnic health disparities, quantitative demography, and immigrant health behaviors, particularly tobacco use. He has held roles such as Director of Graduate Studies (2020–present) and teaches courses in social statistics, medical sociology, and demography. Education: Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, 2013 MA in Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, 2009 BA in Sociology, University of Georgia, 2007 Research Interests: Lariscy examines mortality disparities across racial/ethnic groups, the Hispanic mortality paradox, and health behaviors among immigrants. His work bridges demographic methods and public health, addressing topics like smoking-attributable mortality, lifespan variability, and maternal healthcare utilization in South Asia. Recent studies include analyses of state-level mortality trends and alcohol abuse linked to social participation. Awards and Grants: 2021 Professional Development Award 2020 Open Access Grant IPUMS Health Surveys Research Award National Institute on Aging Postdoctoral Fellowship Advising and Service: Lariscy has mentored over 15 graduate students, many progressing to academic and professional roles. He serves as a reviewer for journals like Demography and Annals of Epidemiology, chairs committees for the American Sociological Association, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Joseph T. Lariscy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on racial/ethnic health disparities, quantitative methods in population studies, and the interplay between education, health behaviors, and mortality. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin and completed postdoctoral training at Duke University’s Population Research Institute as an NIA Fellow. His work examines lifespan variability, smoking-related mortality, and the Hispanic mortality paradox, with publications in leading journals such as Demography , Journal of Health and Social Behavior , and Social Science and Medicine . Courses taught include SOCI 642: Fertility and Mortality. Lariscy’s research highlights the role of early-life factors (e.g., education) in shaping long-term health outcomes and the societal implications of health disparities. Recent trends in his work emphasize methodological advancements in demographic analysis and the impact of social behaviors on population health. No scientific awards are explicitly mentioned in the provided materials. His advising and grant activities are not detailed, but his research reflects sustained engagement with critical public health issues.
Dr. Karen Li is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Psychology , University of Queensland, with research interests spanning Psychology, Adolescent Development, Substance Abuse, Linguistics, and Cognitive Linguistics. Her work bridges interdisciplinary domains, including metaphor theory, construction grammar, and cross-cultural studies. Interdisciplinary Research: Combines psychological and linguistic methodologies to analyze adolescent behavior and figurative language. Key Themes: Metaphor in cultural contexts, semantic constructions, and language acquisition. Email: k.li@uq.edu.au Research Trends: Recent publications focus on metaphor in gaming, semantic framing, and cross-linguistic analysis. Earlier work addresses adolescent alcohol use and clinical practices. Her articles explore conceptual metaphor, construction grammar, and agency in art descriptions. Academic Contributions: She integrates cognitive linguistics with social sciences, examining how metaphoric language influences cultural perceptions, legal discourse, and digital media. Her methodology spans corpus analysis, discourse studies, and experimental psychology.
Prof. Fanny Janssen is an Honorary Professor in Mortality and Longevity at the University of Groningen's Faculty of Spatial Sciences and a Senior Researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI-KNAW). She holds a PhD in Medical Demography (2005) from Rotterdam and has been active in academic research since. Currently, she focuses on mortality trends, health determinants, and socioeconomic inequalities in aging populations. Her work bridges demography, epidemiology, and public health, addressing topics like smoking’s impact, alcohol-related mortality, and cross-country health disparities. Education: Bachelor in Human Geography (Groningen), Master in Demography (Groningen), Master in Epidemiology (Rotterdam), PhD in Medical Demography (Rotterdam, 2005). Affiliations: University of Groningen (Honorary Professor), NIDI-KNAW (Senior Researcher), University Services (Grant Proposal Trainer). Her research emphasizes forecasting mortality patterns and understanding lifestyle’s role in health outcomes. She received the VIDI (2014) and VICI (2020) grants from NWO and the European Demography Award (2018). Notable projects include studying smoking’s long-term effects and socioeconomic mortality gaps. Prof. Janssen also trains researchers in grant proposal writing and collaborates internationally on population health studies. Her lab focuses on data-driven approaches to demographic challenges, with contributions to global health policy discussions.
Miguel Gouveia is an Associate Professor at CATÓLICA-LISBON School of Business and Economics, Universidade Católica Portuguesa. His academic work bridges economics and public policy, with a strong focus on health care systems, income distribution, and social policy. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Rochester and previously served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests lie primarily in Public Economics and Health Economics , with a focus on economic evaluation of health interventions, burden of disease studies, health care financing, and policy analysis. He has extensively analyzed cost-effectiveness in areas such as diabetes management, addiction treatment, stroke care, and preventive vaccination. His work often involves policy-relevant assessments for national and international institutions. The recent publication trend highlights a consistent focus on quantifying the economic and health impact of chronic diseases (e.g., atrial fibrillation, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia) and public health programs (e.g., needle exchange, stroke pathways). The research combines rigorous economic modeling with epidemiological data, emphasizing real-world policy implications in the Portuguese and European contexts. Miguel Gouveia has contributed to applied policy work with the World Bank and various Portuguese ministries (Health, Finance, Social Security), as well as private institutions in the pensions and health care sectors. These engagements reflect his role in translating academic research into actionable policy insights. He has collaborated with public and private institutions on health policy and economic evaluation projects, contributing expertise in cost-benefit analysis and health system performance. While no formal lab or research team is mentioned in the text, his collaborative work suggests active participation in interdisciplinary health policy research networks.
Emilie Agardh is an Associate Professor and Principal Researcher at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Global Public Health. She co-leads the Epidemiology of Psychiatric Conditions, Substance Use, and Social Environment (EPiCSS) research group and heads the 'Determinants of Health and Burden of Disease' team. Her research focuses on quantifying disease burden, health inequalities, and social determinants using longitudinal and registry data, with collaborations at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Her core research investigates how socioeconomic, behavioral, and environmental factors drive health disparities, emphasizing: Global Burden of Disease (GBD) methodologies Alcohol/drug epidemiology Mental health and substance use disorders Impact of income, education, and inequality on mortality/morbidity Recent publications (2020-2025) predominantly analyze Nordic registry data using GBD frameworks, emphasizing: Alcohol/drug-attributable disease burden Socioeconomic gradients in mental health Life expectancy trends and policy impacts Awards & Grants: FORTE Project Grant (4.92M SEK, 2021) for 'A new approach to capture inequalities in health' Systembolaget Alcohol Research Council Grant (2019) Funding for Nordic alcohol policy studies (2020-2025) She leads 'Team Agardh', leveraging Swedish population registers for burden-of-disease studies and collaborates internationally on GBD projects.
Kali Zhou, MD MAS, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. Her expertise lies in transplant hepatology, with a focus on addressing disparities in liver disease outcomes through innovative approaches like geospatial analysis and pragmatic interventions. She completed her medical training at Northwestern University, residency at UCLA, and fellowship at UCSF, where she earned a Master's in Clinical Research. A Fulbright Scholar (2014-2015), she has published extensively on viral hepatitis, liver cancer disparities, and healthcare access. Education: MD from Feinberg School of Medicine (Northwestern University), MAS in Clinical Research (UCSF) Training: Internal Medicine Residency (UCLA), Gastroenterology & Transplant Hepatology Fellowship (UCSF) Her research prioritizes equity in liver transplant access, including studies on immigration impact on HBV care and rideshare interventions to reduce waitlist mortality. Key areas include: Geospatial analysis of liver cancer hotspots Social determinants affecting transplant eligibility Health disparities among immigrant populations In 2025, her work highlighted transportation barriers in liver transplant waitlist mortality and demonstrated disparities in hepatocellular carcinoma downstaging success. She leads NIH-funded projects exploring acculturation effects on HBV monitoring and evaluates novel interventions to bridge healthcare gaps. Awards: NIH K23 Award (2022-2026), American Cancer Society Impact Award (2022), AASLD Clinical Research Award (2021) Her translational research bridges clinical practice and population health, with grants focusing on: Rural-urban disparities in liver transplantation Immigration's role in healthcare utilization Liver cancer prevention strategies in underserved communities Leveraging multidisciplinary collaborations, Dr. Zhou's work aims to create scalable solutions for improving liver disease outcomes through evidence-based equity-focused interventions.
