Alan Bernstein

Professor Alan Bernstein is the Director of Global Health and Visiting Professor of Global Health at the University of Oxford. Alan spearheads the Oxford Global Health initiative which encompasses the four academic divisions of the University to promote and enable research at the highest level of international excellence whose goals are to advance knowledge and address some of the world’s great challenges in health.  

Alan’s distinguished career includes numerous contributions to cancer research, stem cell biology and retrovirology. He has also held many senior leadership positions including as the inaugural President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); Executive Director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise; Professor, Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology, University of Toronto; and President and CEO of the Canadian Institute for Advance Research (CIFAR); and Distinguished Fellow of the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.   

He has written over 80 opinion pieces in the lay press largely centring around the importance of science in improving health, as a driver of innovation, and as central to addressing pandemics and epidemics. He played a pivotal role in convincing the government of Canada to establish the Vaccine Task Force that was responsible for advising the government as to which vaccines should be purchased for Canada. He has been a lifelong champion of young people in science and as Canadian Institutes of Health Research president, established in 2000 the world’s first research institutes dedicated to the health of Aboriginal People and to Gender and Health. He is a member of numerous scientific advisory committees including the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.