Dr. Xiaolin Wei (MD, PhD, MPH, FFPH) is the director of the Global Science Implementation Lab. Drawing from his background in public health and clinical medicine, Dr. Wei’s wide-reaching work primarily focuses on global public health interventions, which have successfully promoted better education and proper stewardship surrounding the treatment of tuberculosis, COVID-19, antimicrobial resistance, hypertension, and diabetes at the point of clinical care delivery. His efforts and strategies promote equitable access to health care, social inclusion, gender responsiveness, and poverty reduction, and findings from his studies have been applied to public policy and practice in countries including China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ghana, and Swaziland.

Dr. Wei is a tenured full professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and holds the Dalla Lana Chair in Global Health Policy. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health (UK). In 2022, he was elected as a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Health Sciences which is regarded as the highest academic honour of health researchers in Canada.  He has published over 140 peer reviewed research papers, and held over $10m research funding as the principal investigator from MRC, DFID, CIHR, StopTB Partnership and HK RGC. He serves as a board member and has served as the Secretary General and Vice President of the International Union of Lung Disease. He also holds adjunct/visiting professorship with the Johns Hopkins University, USA, the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, University of Leeds, England, and Peking University, China.

Zhitong Zhang is currently a Research Associate in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (from June 2019) and Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds (from June 2018). He has been working as the manager and office director of the China Global Health Research and Development Center in Hong Kong sponsored by the Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development, and a trial coordinator in Shigatse Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in China since receiving his Master of Public Health degree in the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2012.

His main research interests are health policy evaluation and service delivery in primary care. He has participated in and have managed several projects including 1) cluster randomized controlled trials on cardiovascular diseases risk reduction in Zhejiang Province, China and antimicrobial stewardship in Guangxi and Guangdong Province, China; 2) individual randomized controlled trial to improve medication adherence of tuberculosis patients in Tibet, China; 3) survey on diagnosis and treatment experience of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis patients in Shandong Province, China, and 4) implementation research to improve COVID-19 patient management in China, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Yanhong Li was graduated from Western University in London, Ontario, majored in Biostatistics. She has worked as a biostatistician in healthcare area for more than 10 years. Working closely with principal investigators and other colleagues, she focused on data analyses in clinical research to investigate the association between risk factors and diseases in retrospective, prospective cohort studies, case-control and cross-sectional studies using various statistical models. Now she also works under Dr. Xiaolin Wei’s supervision to investigate the unknown area in COVID-19.

Naila Muzaffar is a public health researcher with a focus on implementation science and heath systems thinking.  She has worked extensively in low-resource and high-risk settings across diverse global health domains including child and adolescent mental health, tuberculosis and co-morbid care, immunization equity, non-communicable diseases, and gender-transformative programming. She holds a Masters degree in Public Health and her interests includes clinical trials, mixed-methods research, intervention co-design, and the integration of gender-transformative approaches in health programming. She has contributed to several donor-funded initiatives and collaborated with governments, academic institutions, and civil society organizations in Pakistan. Naila is committed to advancing equitable, evidence-based health solutions through community-informed research and collaborative partnerships.

Raja Abbas is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in health services research with emphasis in health policy at the IHPME. He has an M.Phil. in public policy (2011) from National Defence University, Pakistan and a Masters in political science (2003) from Punjab University, Pakistan. Being related to healthcare since 2001 and having seen the reality of life and death, in a country like Pakistan, He decided to give up a promising career, for this program. He will always remain grateful to his supervisor Professor Xiaolin Wei and the Dalla Lana school of Public health for acknowledging his passion and having faith in his commitment. It further motivates him to continue his research in finding ways to improve implementation of ‘One Health’ based polices that intend to inhibit the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries.

Hammad Durrani (MBBS, MSc) is currently a PhD candidate in Health Services Research (emphasis: health policy) at the Institute of Health, Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto (UofT). He is also completing a Collaborative Specialization in Global Health (CSGH) at Dalla Lana School of Public Health, UofT. Prior to undertaking on the PhD studies Hammad worked in multiple senior positions at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Centre for Global Child Health at SickKids Hospital and consulted for organizations like the World Vision Canada, The Citizens Foundation, Tech4Life in areas of strategy development, partnerships and business development in Health and Education.  As a researcher, Hammad has led multiple research projects around health systems development and evaluations, and digital health in South Asia, Central Asia and South East Asia. Previously, Hammad holds a Master’s degree in Health Policy from the Aga Khan University and MBBS from Bahria University, Pakistan.  His key interests are Digital health,  global health policies, scale of services and impact measurement.  Hammad is currently coordinating a Randomized Control Trial study in Pakistan for Global Implementation Science Lab.

Jing Yan is an Associate Professor at Anhui Medical University. She received training in health communication, public health and management science in University of Science and Technology of China. She has been a visiting scholar at Dalla Lana School of Public Health from 2024 to 2025. Funded by China National Social Science Foundation and the Provincial Youth Talent Program, she is currently leading two projects: one is to explore the optimization pathways of health policies from an individual behavior perspective; the other is to investigate the influencing mechanisms and guiding strategies for public healthcare choices in the context of National Regional Medical Centers (NRMCs). Some of her work has been cited by the Health Commission of Anhui Province.  

Dr. Huifen Ma (PhD) is currently a visiting professor in implementation science at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Her research interests are diverse, encompassing healthy aging, primary healthcare enhancement, and health workforce training. Driven by a commitment to advancing healthcare practices, Dr. Ma’s work includes recent studies on human resource capacity in medical-nursing integration models, which provide essential insights for strengthening elderly care services. She has also examined the role of performance management in motivating primary healthcare workers, highlighting how distributive fairness can positively impact workforce performance. Additionally, Dr. Ma conducted a cross-cultural comparative study on cognitive health among elderly populations, adding valuable knowledge to international aging research. Through her varied and impactful research, Dr. Ma aims to improve healthcare quality and accessibility, with a particular focus on strengthening primary healthcare systems and expanding services for underserved communities.

Chenxi Liu is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. He is also an Associate Professor at the School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. His research mainly focuses on digital health, AI implementation in health, health economics and policy assessment. Under the guidance of Professor Xiaolin Wei, he is exploring the cost-effectiveness of digital intervention to improve clinical outcomes in tuberculosis patients and developing an AI-based prediction model vulnerable populations.

Dai Su is currently a Visiting Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. He is also an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, Capital Medical University in China. His research mainly focuses on health insurance, healthy aging, and health big data mining. Under the guidance of Professor Xiaolin Wei, he is exploring the connections and applications between implementation science and integrated health service systems.

Yafeng Zhang is currently a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and concurrently holds a postdoctoral fellowship and assistant research position at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. His research primarily focuses on chronic disease management and child mental health. Under the guidance of Professor Xiaolin Wei, his current work involves the design and evaluation of targeted intervention strategies to strengthen screening and treatment pathways for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and tuberculosis.

Benjamin Borges is a second-year Master of Public Health (MPH) student specializing in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (2024–2025). He is currently a student research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Xiaolin Wei, contributing to the analysis of cluster randomized controlled trials. His work focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of digital health interventions in reducing hypertension and improving vaccine confidence for polio and measles. Benjamin earned his Bachelor of Science in Honours Health Sciences from Wilfrid Laurier University, where he first developed an interest in epidemiology. His research interests span both non-communicable and infectious diseases. Outside of academics, he maintains an active lifestyle and values the integration of health and wellness in everyday life.

Zelong (Vincent) Yu is currently pursuing an MSc in Biostatistics at the University of Toronto, where he also earned his Honours Bachelor of Science with Distinction in Statistical Science and Economics. He brings strong analytical and technical skills, particularly in R and Python, to health-related research and data-driven projects. His recent work includes analyzing the relationship between chronic conditions and food insecurity using national health survey data. Under the supervision of Professor Xiaolin Wei, Zelong is engaged in a work-study program focused on data cleaning and analysis for primary health care intervention programs in China.

Narjis Fatima Hussain is a PhD candidate in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, supervised by Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta with a Collaborative Specialization in Global Health. Her research focuses on the intersection of climate change, maternal-child health, and health equity in low- and middle-income settings. Her doctoral work evaluates the impact of heat exposure on postnatal maternal health, lactation, and infant growth in rural Pakistan, while also co-designing heat-health adaptation interventions with communities. Narjis has a diverse experience in global health research, program implementation and evaluation, and gender equity advocacy. She is passionate about knowledge translation, community-based research, and supporting researchers through mentorship and collaborations.