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
Temporary Academic, 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.

Functional limitation as a mediator of the relationship between multimorbidity on health-related quality of life in Australia: evidence from a national panel mediation analysis.
Authors: Authors: Lee JT, Ishida M, Haregu T, Pati S, Zhao Y, Palladino R, Anindya K, Atun R, Oldenburg B, Marthias T.
Front Med (Lausanne)
View full abstract on Pubmed
Text mining analysis to understand the impact of online news on public health response: case of syphilis epidemic in Brazil.
Authors: Authors: Pinto R, Lacerda J, Silva L, Araújo AC, Fontes R, Lima TS, Miranda AE, Sanjuán L, Gonçalo Oliveira H, Atun R, Valentim R.
Front Public Health
View full abstract on Pubmed
Sentiment Analysis in Understanding the Potential of Online News in the Public Health Crisis Response.
Authors: Authors: Marques T, Cezário S, Lacerda J, Pinto R, Silva L, Santana O, Ribeiro AG, Cruz AS, Miranda AE, Cadaxa A, Núñez LS, Gonçalo Oliveira H, Atun R, Valentim R.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
View full abstract on Pubmed
Data Resource Profile: The Global Health and Population Project on Access to Care for Cardiometabolic Diseases (HPACC).
Authors: Authors: Manne-Goehler J, Theilmann M, Flood D, Marcus ME, Andall-Brereton G, Agoudavi K, Arboleda WAL, Aryal KK, Bicaba B, Bovet P, Brant LCC, Brian G, Chamberlin G, Chen G, Damasceno A, Dorobantu M, Dunn M, Ebert C, Farzadfar F, Gurung MS, Guwatudde D, Houehanou C, Houinato D, Hwalla N, Jorgensen JMA, Karki KB, Labadarios D, Lunet N, Malta DC, Martins JS, Mayige MT, McClure RW, Saeedi Moghaddam S, Mwangi KJ, Mwalim O, Norov B, Quesnel-Crooks S, Rhode S, Seiglie JA, Sibai A, Silver BK, Sturua L, Stokes A, Supiyev A, Tsabedze L, Zhumadilov Z, Jaacks LM, Atun R, Davies JI, Geldsetzer P, Vollmer S, Bärnighausen TW.
Int J Epidemiol
View full abstract on Pubmed
Estimated economic burden of genital herpes and HIV attributable to herpes simplex virus type 2 infections in 90 low- and middle-income countries: A modeling study.
Authors: Authors: Silva S, Ayoub HH, Johnston C, Atun R, Abu-Raddad LJ.
PLoS Med
View full abstract on Pubmed
Estimating the total incidence of type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents aged 0-19 years from 1990 to 2050: a global simulation-based analysis.
Authors: Authors: Ward ZJ, Yeh JM, Reddy CL, Gomber A, Ross C, Rittiphairoj T, Manne-Goehler J, Abdalla AT, Abdullah MA, Ahmed A, Ankotche A, Azad K, Bahendeka S, Baldé N, Jain SM, Kalobu JC, Karekezi C, Kol H, Prasannakumar KM, Leik SK, Mbanya JC, Mbaye MN, Niang B, Paturi VR, Raghupathy P, Ramaiya K, Sethi B, Zabeen B, Atun R.
Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol
View full abstract on Pubmed
Multimorbidity and out-of-pocket expenditure for medicines in China and India.
Authors: Authors: La DTV, Zhao Y, Arokiasamy P, Atun R, Mercer S, Marthias T, McPake B, Pati S, Palladino R, Lee JT.
BMJ Glob Health
View full abstract on Pubmed
Designing, Developing, Evaluating, and Implementing a Smartphone-Delivered, Rule-Based Conversational Agent (DISCOVER): Development of a Conceptual Framework.
Authors: Authors: Dhinagaran DA, Martinengo L, Ho MR, Joty S, Kowatsch T, Atun R, Tudor Car L.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
View full abstract on Pubmed
Conversational Agents in Health Care: Scoping Review of Their Behavior Change Techniques and Underpinning Theory.
Authors: Authors: Martinengo L, Jabir AI, Goh WWT, Lo NYW, Ho MR, Kowatsch T, Atun R, Michie S, Tudor Car L.
J Med Internet Res
View full abstract on Pubmed
Rural-Urban Differences in Diabetes Care and Control in 42 Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Cross-sectional Study of Nationally Representative Individual-Level Data.
Authors: Authors: Flood D, Geldsetzer P, Agoudavi K, Aryal KK, Brant LCC, Brian G, Dorobantu M, Farzadfar F, Gheorghe-Fronea O, Gurung MS, Guwatudde D, Houehanou C, Jorgensen JMA, Kondal D, Labadarios D, Marcus ME, Mayige M, Moghimi M, Norov B, Perman G, Quesnel-Crooks S, Rashidi MM, Moghaddam SS, Seiglie JA, Bahendeka SK, Steinbrook E, Theilmann M, Ware LJ, Vollmer S, Atun R, Davies JI, Ali MK, Rohloff P, Manne-Goehler J.
Diabetes Care
View full abstract on Pubmed