Meet the Experts

Faheem Ahmed Akhtar serves as Technical Officer Policy Implementation for Vital Strategies in Pakistan. His 12 years of experience in public health encompasses pharmacy practice, clinical research, project management, operational management in vertical programs, especially prevention and control of NCDs and tobacco control in Pakistan. He works closely with national & provincial governments, health departments, civil society organizations for policy development, implementation, regulatory affairs, and capacity building of stakeholders in Tobacco Control. He is a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) graduate and holds an advanced degree of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Public Health.

Syed Mahbubul Alam is a public health and environment policy lawyer who has worked on policy advocacy issues for over 19 years. Currently he works as a Technical Advisor for Vital Strategies, Bangladesh. Throughout his career, he has supported and led tobacco control law and policy development. He served as a legal expert on tobacco control law and policy, drafting committees of the Ministry of Healy and Family Welfare of Bangladesh. He holds an LLM from the World University of Bangladesh.

Dr Tara Singh Bam is the Director for Vital Strategies Asia Pacific Office based in Singapore and a Technical Advisor for Tobacco Control for national and sub-national governments in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor-Leste, Malaysia, and the Philippines. He has more than 20 years of experience in tobacco control health policy development, implementation, research, and evaluation. Tara holds a Doctorate Degree in Health System Development and a Master of Public Health.

Khurram Hashmi is the Technical Advisor for Vital Strategies Global Implementation Programme in Pakistan. He works closely with national and provincial governments and NGOs for policy development, implementation and capacity building of stakeholders in Pakistan. He also supports Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (STOP), working to implement project activities and expand its related work on tobacco industry activity.

Dr Connie Hoe is an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, International Health Department, Health Systems Programme. Her research focuses on the politics of the health policy process and utilises social science theories and methods to explore industry interference in public health policymaking, understand how international and national actors work collectively to advocate for national policy change/implementation, and examine factors that foster effective policy enforcement and increase policy compliance.

Dr Ryan David Kennedy, PhD, is a tobacco control researcher and Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Ryan works in low- and middle-income countries through his role with the Institute for Global Tobacco Control and focuses his research on tobacco advertising at the point-of-sale, health warning labels, and clean air laws. Additionally, Ryan oversees a global policy scan to understand how countries/jurisdictions are regulating emerging nicotine delivery systems.

Amie Liu is a tobacco control program coordinator for Vital Strategies Jinan Representative Office in China. She is the focal point for strengthening implementation and enforcement of smoke-free regulations in Lanzhou and Qingdao cities and works closely with municipal governments. She is also the focal point for Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (STOP) in China, working on monitoring the tobacco industry’s activities.

Dr. An Nguyen serves as Vital Strategies technical officer in Vietnam for the Global Implementation Program. She has more than 20 years of experience working in the fields of research, social work, education, health, and communication. She has five years’ experience working in tobacco control from her time at Health Bridge Canada. Dr. Nguyen holds a Doctor and Masters degree in Sociology Science from the University of Social Science and Humanities, Vietnam.

Bernadette Fellarika Nusarrivera is the Program Coordinator for Vital Strategies Global Implementation Program in Indonesia, managing efforts in 5 expansion cities and working closely with subnational governments and local partner organizations. Fella has robust experience assisting local governments on the development and implementation of 100% smoke-free policies, tobacco advertising bans, and regional tobacco taxations.

Bringing over 20 years of progressive experience to Vital Strategies, Ashish Kumar Pandey currently works as a Deputy Director of Tobacco Control Division of Vital Strategies. Pandey works closely with the country teams in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to reduce tobacco use. He has experience developing and implementing various tobacco control policies including smoke-free, TAPS, protection of minors, graphic health warning, vendor licensing and tobacco industry monitoring.

Dr Gan Quan is the Senior Vice President of the Tobacco Control Division at Vital Strategies, leading the division to operate in more than 20 countries. Gan Quan joined The Union in 2009 as a Technical Advisor and was the Director of The Union’s China Office from 2014 to 2016 before transitioning to Director of The Tobacco Control Department in 2016. He was closely involved in providing technical support to cities in China in both smoke-free law adoption and implementation. In 2023 Gan Quan became the Senior Vice President of Vital Strategies Tobacco Control Division. He holds a PhD and an MS degree in Environmental Health Sciences from the School of Public Health, University of California.

Dr Rana Jugdeep Singh has over 25 years of experience in public health at sub-national, national and international level. Rana Singh is currently Deputy Regional Director of Southeast Asia where he leads the Tobacco and NCD control programmes at Vital Strategies. He supports policy development and implementation, enforcement of legislations, capacity building of stakeholders, establishing networks and partnerships, and policy focused research.

Rui (Ray) Wang is the Director of Tobacco Control of the Vital Strategies Jinan Representative Office, China. Ray has more than 10 years of managing experience at health promotion non-government organizations and 7 years of working experience as a resident diplomat. Ray has a Master of Science degree in Global Health from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the China Foreign Affairs University.

Xiaojing Wang joined The Union in 2015 working on tobacco control and road safety programmes and is the Deputy Director of Tobacco Control of the Vital Strategies Jinan Representative Office, China. She received a Master of Public Administration from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at SUNY-Albany and a Bachelor of Arts from Capital Normal University.

Kathy Wright is the Senior Programme Manager of the Global Implementation Programme and Global Hub, building and supporting a network of in-country experts who provide guidance and resources to city governments on implementation and enforcement of tobacco control policies. She brings over 13 years of international experience in project management, operations and network building to the programme.