The Future of Global Health and Innovation
Global health funding is facing steep cuts, prompting widespread concern over the potential impacts on international public health systems and emergency response efforts worldwide. As the funding landscape continues to shift, collaboration matters now more than ever. Please join us in a special fireside chat on the future of global health with John-Arne Røttingen, Chief Executive Officer of the Wellcome Trust, and Julie Delahanty, President of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). This is a unique opportunity to sit down with two of the field’s leading funders. With global health at an inflection point, Røttingen and Delahanty bring their combined decades at the helm of the world’s most influential health and development organizations to an exchange you won’t want to miss. The event will open with remarks from York University President Lisa Philipps and will be moderated by Global Strategy Lab Founder and York University Professor Steven Hoffman.
- The Future of Global Health and Innovation
- Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
- Time: 2:00 p.m – 4:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Tribute Communities Recital Hall, Accolade East Building, York University (map)
This event is co-sponsored by the Global Strategy Lab, the AMR Policy Accelerator, the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, and York University.
John-Arne Røttingen is Chief Executive Officer of the Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation that spent £1.9 billion on solving urgent health challenges in 2024/25. Before Wellcome, he served as Norway’s Ambassador for Global Health and was the founding CEO of CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. A physician and researcher by training, he has led major global efforts including the Ebola vaccine trial in Guinea and the WHO’s Covid-19 Solidarity Trial. He holds an MD and PhD from the University of Oslo, an MSc from Oxford, and an MPA from Harvard, and is a member of both the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the US National Academy of Medicine.
Julie Delahanty is President of the IDRC, a Canadian funder that strengthens health systems and policies to improve maternal and child health, advance women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, and support more equitable epidemic preparedness and response. She brings three decades of experience leading mission-driven organizations across the not-for-profit and public sectors, having served as executive director of Oxfam Canada and director of the Central America Program at Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and advised organizations including Oxfam International and the United Nations. A recognized expert on gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights, she holds degrees in law and legal studies and a graduate degree in international affairs from Carleton University.
Lisa Philipps is York University’s Interim President and Vice-Chancellor. A professor at Osgoode Hall Law School since 1996, she teaches and writes about taxation law and fiscal policy, and is known for sharp commentary on budgets, taxes, gender and social policy, and higher education. Before stepping into York’s presidency, she served as the university’s Provost and Vice-President Academic, and has held leadership roles including Associate Vice-President Research at York and Interim Dean of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University. She was appointed Special Counsel to Ontario’s Ministry of Finance in 2015. She holds an LLB from the University of Toronto and an LLM from York.
Steven Hoffman is the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance and Legal Epidemiology and a Professor of Global Health, Law, and Political Science at York University, where he founded the Global Strategy Lab and directs the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance. An international lawyer licensed in Ontario and New York, he specializes in global health law, global governance, and institutional design, with research spanning access to medicines, antimicrobial resistance, health misinformation, pandemics, and tobacco control. He has worked with the World Health Organization in Geneva and in the Executive Office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He holds degrees from McMaster, the University of Toronto, Harvard, and Sciences Po Paris.
The Global Strategy Lab (GSL) advises governments and public health organizations on how to design laws, policies and institutions that make the world a healthier place for everyone. We host multidisciplinary research programs on Global Antimicrobial Resistance, Global Health Law, Global Legal Epidemiology, and Public Health Institutions, while the AMR Policy Accelerator initiative provides evidence-informed support for policymakers at national and international levels. Based at York University and the University of Ottawa, GSL is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance.
The AMR Policy Accelerator is a knowledge-to policy initiative of the Global Strategy Lab that advances evidence-informed AMR policymaking. We conduct activities under three interconnected streams of work: policy research; policy translation; and capacity strengthening. We are uniquely situated as a connector between evidence and policy; science and politics; national and global governance; and equitable and context-specific solutions.
A research unit at York University, the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research is committed to effectiveness, excellence, and equity in global health. It conducts research, teaches, and forms partnerships to address 21st-century global health challenges across three thematic areas: planetary health, global health and humanitarianism, and global health foresighting.
York University is a top international teaching and research university and a driving force for positive change. Located in Toronto, Canada, York brings a uniquely global perspective across its three Toronto-area campuses, preparing students for long-term career and personal success.
