Saini Yang

• Professor at Beijing Normal University, China

Saini Yang, PhD, is a professor at Beijing Normal University (Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management) with more than 15 years of academic experience in disaster risk science, emergency management, and resilient infrastructure research. She holds a PhD from the University of Maryland, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southeast University.

Professor Yang’s research focuses on risk assessment, complex system modeling, emergency response, resilience, and climate change adaptation. She has led over twenty research projects and published extensively in high-impact journals.

She serves as Executive Director of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), an international scientific programme co-sponsored by the International Science Council and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, advancing global science for disaster risk reduction.

Professor Yang is a member of the Expert Committee of the National Disaster Reduction Commission of China and of the Asia-Pacific Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). She also sits on the editorial boards of several international journals in disaster science and risk management.

Gaetano Privitera

• Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Italy

Gaetano Privitera is a medical doctor and full professor of Hygiene and Public Health. He graduated with honours in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Milan and completed postgraduate training in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. He also obtained advanced training in microbiology and antibiotic resistance at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.

He is Full Professor of Hygiene at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, where he served as Director of the School of Specialisation in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine. He has held several academic and institutional leadership roles, including Head of Departments in medical research and healthcare innovation, and President of degree programmes in prevention and environmental health.

Since 2002, he has been responsible for the Hygiene and Epidemiology Unit at the Pisa University Hospital and has coordinated integrated clinical risk management and patient safety activities. He has acted as regional and national reference expert for healthcare-associated infections, patient safety, and antimicrobial resistance, including advisory roles for the Italian Ministry of Health and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Since 2020, he has been a member of the Italian National Institute of Health working group on Infection Prevention and Control, with specific involvement in COVID-19 response.

His research activity focuses on hospital hygiene, epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases, healthcare quality and risk management, applied microbiology, and professional training in healthcare. He has coordinated numerous national and regional research projects and is author of over 400 scientific publications. He is actively involved in national and international scientific societies and editorial boards in the field of public health.

Stojgniew Jacek Sitko

• Professor at Jagiellonian University Medical College in Kraków, Poland

Stojgniew Jacek Sitko, PhD, is a senior lecturer in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College in Kraków, Poland. His academic work spans health policy, health system management, public health education, and health services research.

Dr Sitko has held prominent leadership roles within European public health networks. He served as President of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) (2008–2009) and was a long-time member of the ASPHER Executive Board

(2001–2008). He has been a member of the Accreditation Board of the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA).

His teaching includes health systems governance, health services organization, and quantitative methods in health management. Dr Sitko’s research contributions include institutional analyses of health promotion in Europe and studies on accreditation and improvement of public health education and health system performance.

Ulrich Laaser

• Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Germany

Ulrich Laaser is a physician and public health expert with a long-standing academic career in international public health. Since 1998, he has served as Head of the Section of International Public Health at the Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Germany.

He received formal training in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene) and at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Master of Public Health). His academic and professional work has focused on health systems, public health workforce development, and capacity building, particularly in Europe and low- and middle-income regions.

Professor Laaser has played a major leadership role in international public health organizations. He served as President of the World Federation of Public Health Associations (2010–2012) and as President of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). He has coordinated and led numerous international public health training and research projects, including large-scale initiatives in South Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Near East, and the Pacific region.

He has contributed extensively to public health education and policy through editorial work, scientific publications, and international advisory activities, with particular emphasis on strengthening multidisciplinary public health education, competency-based training, and health system resilience.

Yuichi Imanaka

• Professor at the School of Public Health, Kyoto University, Japan

Yuichi Imanaka is a physician and public health scholar, currently serving as Professor and Head of the Department of Healthcare Economics and Quality Management at the School of Public Health, Kyoto University. He is also Dean of the School of Public Health, Director of the Center for Health Security, and Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Medicine at Kyoto University.

He received his medical and doctoral training at the University of Tokyo and completed advanced graduate training in public health and health services research at the University of Michigan. He is board-certified in Public Health and Social Medicine and in Internal Medicine in Japan.

Professor Imanaka’s academic work focuses on the evaluation and improvement of health system performance, with particular emphasis on quality, efficiency, equity, resilience, and sustainability. He has extensive experience in clinical practice, healthcare management, and

health services research, and has contributed to the development of national and international frameworks for health system quality and safety.

He holds leadership roles in major academic and professional organizations, including President of the Japan Society for Healthcare Administration, Vice President of the Japanese Society of Public Health, and Chair of the Japan Liaison Council of Schools of Public Health. He is a Lifetime Member of the International Academy of Quality and Safety in Health Care and recipient of the Medical Award of the Japan Medical Association (2022).