Biography
Prof. Nasreen Jessani
Prof. Nasreen Jessani is an Extraordinary Associate Professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She is a health policy and systems researcher with a track record working with national and international organisations in global health to advance evidence for impact. Nasreen’s primary research and practice sits at the nexus of health policy and systems research; innovations in evidence-informed policy and practice; and the relationship between academia and public policy. Her expertise lies in exploring innovative means of quantifying and describing the social and political dimensions of research use in health policy – and the subsequent ramifications for health system governance. She teaches Evidence Informed Decision Making (EIDM) relevant courses as well as Implementation Science. She is particularly interested in how the social, technical and political aspects of relationships and networks interact to advance EIDM.
Nasreen’s research and evaluation expertise is complemented by her leadership and management of large projects and programs including her visionary leadership as former Head of the Knowledge, Impact and Policy Unit at IDS UK; Program Officer at IDRC, Canada/Kenya, Head of Strategy for the Africa Evidence Network and contributions to the strategy of the WHO Coalition of Evidence. Nasreen also holds an Associate position at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, USA; serves on the WHO EVIPNet Global Steering Group; and on the Steering Committee for World Evidence Based Health Care Day. She is a Consulting Editor of Evidence and Policy Journal and previously sat on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Association of Global Health.
Originally from Kenya, Nasreen has lived and worked extensively in several countries including UAE, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uganda, Senegal, Canada, USA, and South Africa. She holds a DrPH (Johns Hopkins University), MSPH (UNC-Chapel Hill), BSc (McGill University).