Talking about the quality and reliability of evidence

Richard Horton is the Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet. He graduated in physiology and medicine from the University of Birmingham in 1986 and joined The Lancet in 1990, becoming North American Editor in 1993. Horton has chaired global health commissions and co-chaired the UN’s Expert Review Group on Women’s and Children’s Health. He has received numerous awards, including the Friendship Award from China (2015) and the WHO Director-General’s Health Leaders Award (2019). He is a Foreign Associate of the US Institute of Medicine and advocates for planetary health. Horton authored The COVID-19 Catastrophe (2020), with a second edition released in 2021, and was awarded an OBE in 2023 for services to health and medical journalism.

Quarraisha Abdool Karim, PhD, is an infectious disease epidemiologist and Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA. She is also Pro-Vice-Chancellor for African Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Professor at Columbia University. Karim has led groundbreaking research in HIV prevention, HIV-TB co-infection, and the impact of COVID-19 on HIV. She serves as President of TWAS and UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV, contributing to global health initiatives. With over 300 publications, she has trained 600+ Southern African scientists and received over 30 global honors, including the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award and the L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award.

Tracey Brown OBE is the director of Sense about Science. Under her leadership, the charity has launched important initiatives to promote open discussions of evidence, including Risk know-how and AllTrials - a global campaign for the reporting of all clinical trial outcomes. She initiated Evidence Week in the UK Parliament and co-founded the international Maddox prize. Tracey writes about the public and evidence, and leads Sense about Science’s work on transparency of evidence and AI in policy. She is honorary Professor in the Department of Science, Technology and Engineering in Public Policy at UCL. 

Alejandra Paniagua-Avila, Guatemala – Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University (USA); President and Co-founder, Asociación para la Salud Mental Saqirsán.

Alejandra Paniagua-Avila is a Guatemalan medical doctor and early career scientist dedicated to advancing access to recovery-oriented mental health services for all. She has a particular interest in addressing the health and social needs.