Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health, specifically from wealth, power and prestige. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequities, and face worse health outcomes than those who are able to access certain resources. It is not equity to simply provide every individual with the same resources; that would be equality. In order to achieve health equity, resources must be allocated based on an individual need-based principle.
Paul Edward Farmer was an American medical anthropologist and physician. Farmer held an MD and PhD from Harvard University, where he was a University Professor and the chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was the co-founder and chief strategist of Partners In Health (PIH), an international non-profit organization that since 1987 has provided direct health care services and undertaken research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. He was professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
David Cappo AO is an Australian social justice advocate and Roman Catholic priest with particular interest in mental health care in developing countries. He is based in Adelaide, South Australia and Kampala, Uganda.
Victor Joseph Dzau is a Chinese-American doctor and academic. He serves as the President of the United States National Academy of Medicine of the United States National Academy of Sciences and Vice Chair of its National Research Council. He is Chancellor Emeritus and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke University and former president and chief executive officer of Duke University Medical Center.
Fay Gale AO was an Australian cultural geographer and an emeritus professor. She was an advocate of equal opportunity for women and for Aboriginal people.
Thomas Edwin Calma,, is an Aboriginal Australian human rights and social justice campaigner, and 2023 senior Australian of the Year. He was the sixth chancellor of the University of Canberra (2014-2023), after two years as deputy chancellor. Calma was the second Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to hold the position of chancellor of any Australian university.
EuroHealthNet is a non-profit partnership of organisations, agencies and statutory bodies working to contribute to a healthier Europe by promoting health and health equity between and within European countries. EuroHealthNet promotes health through its partnership framework by supporting members’ work in the EU and associated states through policy and project development, networking, and communications.
Dimity Dornan AO is a speech pathologist, author, social entrepreneur, bionics advocate, researcher, and businesswoman in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She is the founder of the Hear and Say Centre for Deaf Children on 6 July 1992 and helped initiate newborn hearing screening in Queensland hospitals, the first such program in Australia. She has received Australian of the Year for Queensland in 2003, and the Suncorp Queenslander of the Year in 2010. Griffith University offers a Dimity Dornan Hear and Say Master of Speech Pathology Scholarship for second year students who have an interest in paediatric speech pathology and working in a regional area.
Peter Francis McDonald is an Australian demographer and Emeritus Professor of Demography in the Crawford School of Public Policy of the Australian National University. He is known for his research on fertility transition and migration. He has researched extensively in Southeast Asia.
Camara Phyllis Jones is an American physician, epidemiologist, and anti-racism activist who specializes in the effects of racism and social inequalities on health. She is known for her work in defining institutional racism, personally mediated racism, and internalized racism in the context of modern U.S. race relations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jones drew attention to why racism and not race is a risk factor and called for actions to address structural racism.
Debra Elizabeth Jackson is an Australian academic nurse and professor of nursing at the Susan Wakil School of Nursing at the University of Sydney, Australia. In 2021 she was awarded professor emerita in the faculty of health in the University of Technology Sydney. She holds a number of adjunct roles including honorary professor of nursing, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, visiting professor at the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery in King's College London, Bournemouth University, and Auckland University of Technology. She was previously the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Nursing and is now the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Chandra L. Ford is an American public health academic who is Professor of Community Health Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. She serves as Founding Director at the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health. Her research considers relationships between racism and health outcomes.
Melanie Ann Wakefield is an Australian psychologist and behavioural researcher at the Cancer Council of Victoria. She has worked extensively on cancer prevention including tobacco control, through the introduction of plain-paper packaging.
Eileen Baldry is an Australian criminologist and social justice advocate. She is Deputy Vice-Chancellor Equity Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of Criminology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Shannon Nicole Zenk is an American nurse scientist specialized in researching social inequities and health disparities. She is director of the National Institute of Nursing Research.
Peter Tugwell is a Canadian physician and Professor in the Department of Medicine and School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa. He is known for promoting clinical epidemiology and championing for health equity worldwide. In 2013 he was named Officer of the Order of Canada for his efforts as "tireless contributor to global health".
Julie Leask, also known as Julie-Anne Leask, is an Australian social scientist and professor in the School of Public Health and Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is a leading researcher on social and behavioural aspects of vaccination and infectious disease prevention. Leask's research focuses on vaccine uptake, communication, strengthening vaccination programs and policy. Her flagship project is Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation (SKAI), a vaccination communication package designed to improve vaccination conversations between parents and health care workers. Additionally, Leask is an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) on vaccine acceptance and demand issues and was the chair of the WHO Measuring Behavioural and Social Drivers of Vaccination working group (2018–2022).
Louisa Degenhardt is an Australian drug and alcohol researcher, and a scientia professor. She is also a senior principal research fellow with the National Health and Medical Research Council, part of the Centre for National Drug and Alcohol Research. She was elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2024. She received an Order of Australia in 2023.
Anne Kavanagh is an Australian epidemiologist and professor at the University of Melbourne. Her research specialises in inequalities in health across different types of social determinants including gender, disability, the built environment, socioeconomic situations, as well as other factors such as housing and employment.
