Professor Felicia Marie Knaul

Felicia Marie Knaul (MA PhD, Economics, Harvard University) dedicates herself to global health research, advocacy and policymaking focused on reducing inequities and improving the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable populations.

At the University of Miami, she is Director of the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and the office of Hemispheric and Global Affairs, Professor at the Miller School of Medicine, and Sylvester Cancer Center member. She leads a research team at the Mexican Health Foundation and is Honorary Research Professor of Medical Sciences at the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico. Dr. Knaul was Director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative, chaired by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. She has served in the governments of Mexico and Colombia in leading roles in health reform and social development and has designed and implemented research projects throughout the developing world.

Based on research accomplishments, Dr. Knaul was made a member of the Mexican National Academy of Medicine and, holds Level III (the most senior) of the Mexican National System of Researchers. She was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2020 and made an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2021.

Knaul has nearly 300 academic and health policy publications, spearheaded and led multiple global research networks, and designed and organized almost 75 international research-related symposia. She currently Co-Chairs the Lancet Commissions on Cancer And Health Systems, and on Gender-based Violence and Maltreatment of Young People. She is a member of several Lancet commissions and co-chaired (with Dr. Paul Farmer) the Commission on Palliative Care and Pain Relief and is lead-author of its landmark report. Knaul founded the Global Task Force on Cancer Care and Control and produced a book that has guided researchers, advocates and institutions on how to close the global cancer divide. She played a key role in design and research of the Seguro Popular, a model used for evidence-based health reform worldwide and chaired the Lancet Mexico Health Reform series.

Knaul maintains a synergistic program of global health research and advocacy. She is Founding President of Mexico´s Tómatelo a Pecho, a non-profit agency that promotes research, advocacy, awareness, and early detection of priority issues for the health of women; and has published a memoir on her cancer experience. She also serves on several high-impact boards.

Dr. Knaul is a citizen of Canada and the UK, and a permanent resident of Mexico