The COVID-19 Virus, Variants, and Vaccines: a Virtual Business Intelligence Briefing

Dr. Kidong Park

WHO Representative to Viet Nam

Dr. Kidong Park assumed the role of World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Viet Nam on 1 September 2017.

Dr. Park has extensive experience in global health, health policy and management, and strategic planning and evaluation. His international career in public health spans from high level representative roles to technical work on communicable disease control and health system strengthening.

Dr. Park first joined WHO in 2006 working with the Global Influenza Programme. After three years at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Dr. Park moved to the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific. As the head of the Country Support Unit, he led the development and implementation of a new regional approach to WHO country cooperation strategies, the Organization’s medium-term strategic vision for its cooperation with Member States. He also played a key role in coordinating and implementing WHO reform initiatives in the Region.

Before joining the Government, Dr. Park participated in a WHO-funded District Health System demonstration project in Yonchon County, Republic of Korea from 1988 to 1991.

Born in the city of Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, Dr. Park is a medical doctor and holds a Masters and PhD in Health Policy and Medicine from Seoul National University College of Medicine. He is married with two daughters.

Rana Flowers

UNICEF Representative in Viet Nam

Rana Flowers is currently the UNICEF Representative to Viet Nam.

Prior to this appointment, she has led UNICEF teams as Representative in China, Cambodia, Mongolia and Belize. Ms. Flowers has also served in UNICEF Headquarters and in UNICEF’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Rana came to UNICEF with over 10 years of experience working on child development/rights issues in Australia.

Passionately committed to the achievement of concrete results for women and children, she applies her development expertise and emergency experience to inspire an approach at UNICEF and sister UN agencies that seeks to support the most excluded and vulnerable populations in particular.

Ms. Flowers is a national of Australia. She has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, and Bachelor Degrees in Social Work and Arts. She is the mother of two step children Patrick and Pilar and daughters Gabriela and Daniela.

Professor Guy Thwaites

MA MBBS PhD FRCP FRCPath FMedSci

Positions:

Director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit and Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme in Viet Nam; Professor of Infectious Diseases, University of Oxford; Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation trust.

Guy qualified from Cambridge University and the United Medical and Dental schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’ and trained in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology in Brighton, the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Vietnam, Imperial College London, and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London. His research interests focus on the management of severe bacterial infections, especially those involving the central nervous system. He has been Director of OUCRU, a Wellcome Trust funded Africa Asia Programme, since 2013. OUCRU has research units in Ho Chi Minh city and Hanoi in Vietnam, in Kathmandu in Nepal, and in Jakarta in Indonesia. OUCRU’s vision is to have local, regional and global impact on health by leading a locally driven research programme on infectious diseases in Southeast Asia.

Luke Treloar

Managing Director, Strategy Group, National Head of Healthcare and Life Science, KPMG Vietnam

Luke is a career KPMG strategy consultant with extensive Emerging and Frontier Market experience. Throughout his consulting career, he has been responsible for designing, developing, and implementing high-profile, profitable, and mission-critical strategy and operations management solutions for global Fortune 500 clients. This has included market entry and expansion strategies, acquisition target analysis, operational turnarounds, government interaction strategies, regulatory and risk management, restructurings, and market exits. He is currently the Managing Director Strategy Consulting for KPMG Vietnam and Cambodia, and runs the firm’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice.

Nitin Kapoor

Chairman cum General Director, AstraZeneca

Nitin Kapoor is a British business leader with 25 years of extensive experience across the finance, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. He is now serving as Chairman and General Director of AstraZeneca Vietnam with an aim to improve the lives of local patients with high-quality, innovative medicines while maintaining its position as an industry leader.

Under Nitin’s leadership, AstraZeneca Vietnam has championed public-private partnerships with the Vietnamese Government and healthcare partners on various meaningful initiatives to reduce the non-communicable diseases burden and promote sustainability in the country. The company’s efforts were recognised with two award certificates from the Minister of Health in 2019 and 2020 for its contributions to Vietnam’s fight against cancer and COVID-19, and a Medal from the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union for outstanding contributions to the youths.

In Vietnam, Nitin also serves as Board member and Treasurer of EuroCham – Pharma Group, as well as Board member of BritCham and the British Advocacy Committee.