Image of Rifat Atun, MD, BS

Rifat Atun, M.B.,B.S.

Vice Dean for Non-Degree Education and Innovation, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Temp Course Instructor - BI Elevate Launches, Harvard Medical School
Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
DCE Teaching Support, Faculty of Arts & Sciences

Dr Rifat Atun is Professor of Global Health Systems at Harvard University and the Faculty Chair for the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program.

From 2006- to 2013, Dr Atun was Professor of International Health Management and Head of the Health Management Group at Imperial College London. From 2008 to 2012 he served as a member of the Executive Management Team of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the Director of Strategy, Performance and Evaluation Cluster, where he chaired the panel that oversaw investments of around $4billion each year in more than 100 countries.

Dr Atun has published more than 400 papers in leading journals including the Lancet, NEJM, Academy of Management Journal, Lancet Global Health, Lancet Infectious Diseases, Lancet Oncology, and Lancet Psychiatry and PLoS Medicine. He has led or has been a commissioner in 12 Lancet Commissions and was a co-author and member of the Advisory Committee for the Editors for Disease Control Priorities (DCP) 3. In 2020, he was recognized by the Web of Science as one of the World’s Highly Cited Researchers.

Prof. Atun has worked with more than 30 governments globally and with the World Bank, World Health Organization, and the UK Department for International Development (DfID) to design, implement and evaluate health system reform initiatives. In 1999-2006 he was a member of the UK DfID Resource Centre for Health Systems.

Dr Atun has led executive education programs and undertaken assignments for major organizations including Novartis, Medtronic, GSK, Pfizer Inc., the Vodafone Group, and Hofmann-La Roche.

Professor Atun’s research has two major strands. The first examines health systems performance and how design and implementation of health system reforms impact on outcomes. The second strand of research explores adoption and diffusion of innovations in health systems (e.g. new health technologies, disease control programmes, and primary healthcare reforms), and innovative financing in global health. Prof. Atun is a co-Investigator and the joint lead for the innovation work stream at the National Centre for Infection Prevention and Management at Imperial College.

He is also a co-Investigator and the Theme Lead for ‘Organisational Change, Health Economics and Evaluation’ at the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit for Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection.

The 2026 EU-India free trade agreement: why it matters for global health and trade.
Authors: Authors: Berner-Rodoreda A, Parwani P, Rao C, André E, Fröschl G, Skordis J, Sharma S, Bassat Q, Atun R, Vainieri M, Farlow A, Tediosi F, Ravinetto R, Ismail KM, Renganathan E, de Ruijter A, Taylor T, Ooms G, Herrington E, Dabade G, Bärnighausen T, Perehudoff K.
Lancet Reg Health Eur
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READY-T1D-assessment of Research and Service Delivery Readiness for paediatric Type 1 Diabetes: a multi-country cross-sectional study.
Authors: Authors: Figi JT, Pearson H, Ahkouk S, Ahmed B, Ankotche A, Aschner P, Basit A, Chantana Y, Leangchhun K, Mamadou Diallo A, Atala Dib S, Vu DC, Hebbal Nagarajappa V, Nguyen Thu H, Imane Z, Kaké A, Kumar Km P, Malene I, Manet B, Mba CM, Claude Mbanya J, Ndour Mbaye M, Niang B, Mohd Noor N, Panha M, Pulungan A, Reddy Danda VS, Núñez Saavedra MDP, Sánchez AF, Sani M, Sathyanarayana Santhosh O, Nicolás Seclén Santisteban S, Maria Cesar Schiesari L, Tarekegn G, Theary N, Utari A, Wamalwa P, Yaneth N, Yazid Jalaludin M, Zabeen B, Forde BE, Cullen MJ, Ward ZJ, Shakir Z, Reddy CL, Atun R.
EClinicalMedicine
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Health insurance coverage and health-related Sustainable Development Goal indicators in 62 low- and middle-income countries: a household fixed-effects analysis.
Authors: Authors: Chen S, Min K, Chen Q, Jiao L, Geldsetzer P, Yang T, Huang K, Niu H, Wang W, Moshabela M, Atun R, Liu DP, Yang J, Wang C, Bärnighausen T.
Sci Bull (Beijing)
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Effects of compulsory and free basic education policies and COVID-19-related educational disruptions on offspring mortality in low-income and middle-income countries: a quasi-experimental and modelling study.
Authors: Authors: Li Z, Ma N, Chen S, Lou S, Tong G, Huang W, Aheto JMK, Zemene MA, Rahman MA, Mkopi A, Karoli P, Niyi JL, Lu C, Subramanian SV, Geldsetzer P, Vollmer S, Fu-Chun MCF, Atun R.
Lancet Glob Health
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A global analysis of national cardiovascular disease control plans using a multi-agent artificial intelligence model.
Authors: Authors: Pearson H, Kumar CJ, Reddy CL, LeBlanc ER, Atun R.
PLOS Digit Health
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Comparing Approaches for Deriving Diabetes Care Cascades to Inform Policy: A Cross-sectional Analysis Using National Data From 88 Countries.
Authors: Authors: Teufel F, Theilmann M, Marcus ME, Sulola MA, Guwatudde D, Quintana HK, Banegas JR, Soniwala A, Kim S, Aryal K, Bahendeka S, Bicaba B, Damasceno A, Farzadfar F, Houehanou C, Howitt C, Karki K, Lunet N, Martins J, Mayige MT, Mwangi KJ, Quesnel-Crooks S, Roa Rodríguez RG, Rodríguez-Artalejo F, Moghaddam SS, Sibai AM, Sturua L, Tsabedze L, Zhumadilov Z, Bärnighausen T, Geldsetzer P, Atun R, Vollmer S, Manne-Goehler J, Flood D, Gregg EW, Davies JI, Ali MK, Varghese JS.
Diabetes Care
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The recursive care law: artificial intelligence reinforcing feedback loops and health inequity.
Authors: Authors: Car J, Wong TY, Atun R.
Lancet
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Inclusion of antimicrobial resistance in a pandemic agreement: why it matters and what comes next?
Authors: Authors: Beckham J, Jain R, Haghgozar D, Castro-Sanchez E, Joshi J, Mpundu M, Atun R, Ahmad R.
Health Aff Sch
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Developing a scalable high-value solution for cancer care and control in India.
Authors: Authors: Virk A, Reddy CL, Pendharkar D, Atun R.
J Glob Health
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PRIMARY-AI: outcomes-based standards to safeguard primary care in the AI era.
Authors: Authors: Zeng D, Car LT, Khunti K, Liu Y, Bärnighausen T, Chavannes NH, Keane PA, Kunz H, Xue L, Sung JJY, Tham YC, Righetto L, Sarker R, Wong SYS, Boudreau D, Dai Q, Jia W, Liu Y, Shen D, Liu J, Shen W, Ji JS, Wang Z, Wang Z, Wang H, Tang S, Pei C, Jiang Z, Zou Z, Qin Y, Li H, Wang Y, Gunasekeran DV, Wong S, Xu D, Urbanowicz R, Laranjo L, Neves AL, Liu N, He Y, Le PV, Bressler N, Atun R, Klonoff DC, Sheng B, Shah N, Car J, Wong TY.
Nat Med
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