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2024 Keynote Speakers

Professor Ronald Labonte

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Professor Emeritus, University Of Ottawa

Ronald Labonté is Professor Emeritus and former Distinguished Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity in the School of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Ottawa. He has enjoyed a 50-year career in public health spanning government positions, international consultancies, and universities. His earlier work focused on health promotion and social determinants of health. For the past 25 years his research has focused on the health equity impacts of diverse globalization processes, many of which form the content of his recent book, Health Equity in a Globalizing Era (Oxford University Press), awarded Book of the Year by the British Medical Association in 2021. He is co-Editor-in-Chief of the BMC journal, Globalization and Health, active with the People’s Health Movement (PHM), a frequent contributor to its flagship publication Global Health Watch, a co-editor of its 6th and 7th editions, and a member of the PHM Steering Council.

Professor Sharon Friel

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Professor of Health Equity, Director, Australian Research Centre for Health Equity (ARCHE), Australian National University.

Sharon Friel is an ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of Health Equity. She is Director of the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse, and the Australian Research Centre for Health Equity (ARCHE) at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), Australian National University. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia and the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. Previously, she was Director of RegNet from 2014-2019, and Head of the Scientific Secretariat (University College London) of the World Health Organisation Commission on the Social Determinants of Health between 2005 and 2008. In 2014, her international peers voted her one of the world’s most influential female leaders in global health. Her interests are in the political economy of health equity; governance of the social, commercial and planetary determinants of health inequities; climate change, food systems, trade and investment. Her 2019 book “Climate Change and the People’s Health” highlights the importance of addressing the global consumptogenic system.

Dr Benn McGrady

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Directed the O’Neill Institute Initiative on Trade, Investment and Health and is an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Benn’s research examines the intersection of public international law and health, with a particular focus on international trade and investment law and regulation of risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Benn has advised public health bodies, foreign governments and inter-governmental organizations on various aspects of public international law and has particular experience advising on the implications of international trade and investment agreements for domestic public health measures as well as on legal issues concerning the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Originally from Australia, Dr. McGrady holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Laws (hons) and a doctorate from Monash University in Melbourne, as well as a Master of Laws (dist) (Global Health Law) from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Dr Bronwyn King AO

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Founder, Director and CEO, Tobacco Free Portfolios

Dr. Bronwyn King AO began her medical career working as a doctor on the lung cancer ward at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia. While doing her best to treat her patients (many of whom had started smoking in childhood) Dr King observed first-hand the truly devastating impact of tobacco - many deaths and much suffering. She was unaware that at the very same time she was investing in Big Tobacco via her compulsory superannuation (pension) fund. Tobacco Free Portfolios was set up in response to that uncomfortable discovery. Since then, Dr King has assembled an accomplished team that has been instrumental in advancing the switch to tobacco-free finance across the globe. Her 2017 TEDxSydney talk on tobacco-free finance has been viewed more than three million times.


A former elite swimmer who represented Australia and for ten years worked as Team Doctor for the Australian Swimming Team, Dr King is also an Australia Day Ambassador and an Ambassador for Big Brothers Big Sisters Australia. Dr King has received numerous awards in recognition of her unique contribution to local and global health, including being appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to community health and in 2019 was named the Melburnian of the Year, an award bestowed by the City of Melbourne.

Ms Ana Novik

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Head of investment OECD

Ana Novik is the Head of the Investment Divison at the OECD. Her Division focusses on improving the international investment climate, promoting good domestic policies to support investment and Responsible Business Conduct. Ms. Novik establishes strategies for the OECD to secure a leadership role in the international investment debate and to advance a more structured economic analysis of investment flows and impact. She also contributes to OECD-wide initiatives, including horizontal work streams on competitive neutrality, global
value chains and OECD contributions to the G20.

Before joining the OECD, Ms. Novik was Ambassador Director of Multilateral Economic Affairs in the Economics Directorate of Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. During this period, she represented Chile in international organisations, such as WTO, OECD and APEC, and acted as the country’s G20 Sherpa during the year 2012. She also headed and supervised negotiations on behalf of Chile in the investment and services areas, with China, Australia, TPP, Pacific Alliance and MERCOSUR, among others, and participated in Chile’s accession to OECD, particularly in the areas of investment and trade.

Ms. Novik, a Chilean national, holds a Major in Business and Administration from Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile and a Masters in International Affairs, Economic and Political Development from Columbia University, United States.

Dr Michelle Maloney

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Co-Founder and Director of NENA

Dr Michelle Maloney is Co-Founder and Director of NENA, and manages the Coordinating Hub, which leads NENA’s Hub Connectivity, communications and social media, national event management, membership and partnership development. Michelle also participates on the NENA Strategic Directions Group.

Michelle is a lawyer, NGO manager and thought leader in a range of fields including the new economy, Earth centred and bioregional governance, ecological law and Rights of Nature.  Michelle has a Bachelor of Arts and Law (Hons) from the Australian National University and a PhD in Law from Griffith University. As Co-Founder and National Convenor of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance,

Michelle manages the strategic direction and governance of AELA, including the extensive partnerships and networks that AELA has with the legal, academic, indigenous and environmental advocacy communities. Michelle also designs and manages AELA programs and events, including AELA's Peoples’ Tribunal for Community and Nature’s Rights, and coordinates the work of more than 20 fantastic multi-disciplinary professional and student volunteers around Australia. Michelle is Senior Adjunct Fellow, Law Futures Centre, Griffith University; Co-Founder and Director of Future Dreaming Australia; and a member of the Steering Group of the International Ecological Law and Governance Association (ELGA) . 

Michelle lives in Brisbane, (Queensland) with her husband, daughter and Raz the Wonderdog. For details about Michelle's work and publications, please visit her AELA Profile Page.

Professor Kelley Lee

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Professor, Canada Research Chair Tier I in Global Health Governance

Dr. Lee is trained in International Relations and Public Administration with a focus on international political economy. She spent over twenty years at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She was a core member of donor-led studies of WHO reform during the 1990s. She co-established the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Change and Health, and chaired the WHO Resource Group on Globalization, Trade and Health. Dr Lee also co-led the Guildford Archiving Project to secure public access to internal tobacco industry documents, and then the Global Tobacco Control Research Programme to analyze their contents in relation to the globalization of the tobacco industry. Her research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Cancer Research UK, European Research Council, Health Canada, New Frontiers in Research Fund, Nuffield Trust, Rockefeller Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, UK Economic and Social Research Council, UN Population Fund, US National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, World Health Organization and several governments.

She has authored 140+ peer-reviewed papers, 60+ book chapters and 15 books including The World Health Organization (Routledge, 2009), Researching Corporations and Global Health Governance (Rowman and Littlefield International with Ben Hawkins, 2016) and the Oxford Handbook of Global Health Politics (OUP with Colin McInnes and Jeremy Youde, 2020). She joined the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2011 as Associate Dean, Research and Director of Global Health. She is a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health, Royal College of Physicians, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Dr Jennifer Lacy-Nichols

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Commercial Determinants of Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Dr Jenn Lacy-Nichols is a Victorian Health Promotion Foundation research fellow at the University of Melbourne in the Centre for Health Policy. Her research advances our understanding of how powerful businesses influence health and politics. Her current program of work explores opportunities for monitoring corporate political activities such as lobbying and political donations. She is a member of Transparency International Australia, the Governance, Ethics and Conflicts of Interest in Public Health network, the WHO’s expert group on Commercial Determinants of Health, the Public Health Association of Australia and Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems Australia. She was one of the lead authors on the seminal 2023 Lancet series on Commercial Determinants of Health. Her most recent exciting feat was being asked to provide evidence into the Federal Senate Inquiry into lobbying transparency in Canberra.

Dr Fabio Gomes

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Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, PAHO/WHO

Dr Fabio Gomes is a Nutritionist, with a Masters in Population Studies and Social Research and a PhD in Public Health. He worked as a Ministry of Health Senior Officer in Brazil, for ten years, developing strategies to promote healthy eating practices in multiple settings; mobilising regulatory measures to reduce the demand for unhealthy products; and protecting health, food and nutrition public policies from interference of opposing commercial actors. As visiting scholar at the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health of New York University he studied corporations and related organizations’ products, practices and policies and their impact on food systems. He has worked advising and supporting UN agencies, governments, social movements, and professional, scientific and civil society organizations worldwide to promote food and nutrition security, regulate non-recommended products, and prevent conflicts of interest. Fabio is now the Regional Advisor on Nutrition and Physical Activity for the Americas at the Pan-American Health Organization/ World Health Organization supporting countries to design and implement food and nutrition public policies as well as to protect such policies from opposing interests.

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