GIN2026 Plenary speakers

Dr. Cynthia Boyd is the Mason F. Lord Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Boyd is the Director, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. She holds a joint appointment in Health Policy and Management and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Boyd is a faculty member at the Center for Transformative Geriatric Research, Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health and the Roger and Flo Lipitz Center to Advance Policy in Aging and Disability.

A former Robert Wood Johnson Physician Faculty Scholar and a Beeson Scholar, Dr. Boyd is trained in internal medicine, geriatric medicine and epidemiology. Dr. Boyd’s career has focused on improving the health and well-being of older adults with multiple chronic conditions, with robust research and mentoring programs that have helped launch the careers of multiple junior faculty, fellows, medical students and other learners. Dr. Boyd co-leads the US Deprescribing Research Network with Dr. Michael Steinman from UCSF.

She earned her M.D. from the Duke University School of Medicine and her M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and performed a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Dr. Boyd has been recognized with several honors, including the American Geriatric Society’s Outstanding Scientific Achievement for Clinical Investigation Award, election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and Fellowship in the American College of Physicians and the American Geriatric Society.  Her research has been funded by the NIH, AHRQ, PCORI, and foundations. 

Professor Buchbinder is a practicing rheumatologist, clinical epidemiologist and NHMRC Investigator Fellow, and Professor and Head of the Musculoskeletal Health Unit and Wiser Health Care Group at Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Internationally recognised for her leadership in evidence-based medicine, Professor Buchbinder is known for landmark research examining medical treatments that entered clinical practice before being properly evaluated. Her work has played an important role in strengthening the evidence base for musculoskeletal care and challenging practices that contribute to overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

She currently serves as Coordinating Editor of Cochrane Musculoskeletal and Chair of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence for the Australia and New Zealand Musculoskeletal (ANZMUSC) Clinical Trials Network. She also chairs Australia’s national living guidelines for inflammatory arthritis in adults, children and young people.

Professor Buchbinder is the co-founder of Wiser Healthcare, a national collaboration dedicated to reducing unnecessary medical care, and the co-author of the widely discussed book Hippocrasy: How Doctors Are Betraying Their Oath, which explores society’s growing reliance on medicine.

A Fellow of both the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Australian Academy of Science, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2020 for her distinguished contributions to rheumatology and epidemiology.

At GIN2026, Professor Buchbinder will bring valuable perspectives on strengthening the role of evidence in healthcare decision-making and addressing the global challenge of overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

Dr. Wanrudee Isaranuwatchai is a Secretary-General and Senior Researcher of the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program Foundation (HITAP), Thailand. She is also an Affiliated Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, and an Associate Professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, in Canada.

Her research focuses on how to apply health economics and health technology assessment (HTA) in the real-world setting as well as how to advance methods in economic evaluation (EE). She has experience conducting EEs using various methods with specific interest in the potential of big data in health economics and HTA to support evidence generation and policy-making process. She has also collaborated with researchers, health professionals, and policy-makers in various areas to help communicate the value of health initiatives using EE. She has contributed to the training on HTA to support health systems in Asia, Africa, and North America.

Dr. Isaranuwatchai is dedicated to the creation and use of evidence in healthcare decision making.

Following a successful career as a secondary school teacher and leader, Dr Melissa Bond is a Research Fellow at the EPPI Centre (University College London) and the National Institute of Teaching.

Her research sits at the intersection of evidence synthesis, artificial intelligence, digital learning, teacher education, and public policy, and currently focuses primarily on the evaluation and use of automation within evidence synthesis pipelines, alongside improving evidence synthesis methods and capacity.

Melissa is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Review of Education journal, a founding editorial board member of the Nordic Journal of Systematic Reviews in Education, an International Advisory Board Member of the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education and a member of the Center for Open Education Research.

She has been ranked in the World’s top 2% Scientists List for the past four years, currently ranked #244 in Education globally, has received multiple awards for high impact articles, and is currently working with a range of international organisations to develop methods and infrastructure to support living evidence repositories.

Julian Higgins is Professor of Evidence Synthesis at the University of Bristol, UK, where he co-directs the NIHR Bristol Evidence Synthesis Group and heads the Bristol Appraisal and Review of Research (BARR) group. He was previously Chair in Evidence Synthesis at the University of York, and Programme Leader at the MRC Biostatistics Unit in Cambridge, where he was also head of the UK Human Genome Epidemiology Network Coordinating Centre.

Before these roles he worked at the medical schools of Imperial College London and of University College London. Julian’s wide-ranging research interests span all areas of systematic review and meta-analysis.

He has co-authored more than 100 applied evidence syntheses and over 200 papers on review methodology. Among his methods contributions are: a Bayesian approach to network meta-analysis; the I-squared statistic to quantify inconsistency across studies in a meta-analysis; simple prediction intervals for random-effects meta-analysis; a general framework for individual participant data meta-analysis; and risk-of-bias assessment tools for clinical trials and other study designs. He co-developed the original PRISMA reporting guideline and the STROBE-MR reporting guideline for Mendelian randomization studies, and co-led development of the STREGA reporting guideline for genetic association studies. 

Photo and biography to come

Professor Mol is an internationally recognised clinical academic in obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive health, whose work has significantly shaped global clinical practice. Combining frontline clinical work with large-scale research leadership, he has conceived and led more than 130 randomised clinical trials and numerous international collaborations across Australia, Europe and Asia.

Recognised by The Australian as the country’s leading researcher in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in both 2021 and 2023, his research has been published in many of the world’s most influential medical journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. His work has directly informed advances in infertility care, assisted reproduction, and key obstetric interventions such as the prevention of preterm birth and pre-eclampsia.

In recent years, Professor Mol has also played a pivotal role in strengthening research integrity within the field, helping expose scientific data fabrication and contributing to greater transparency and trust in medical evidence worldwide.

At GIN2026, Professor Mol will bring invaluable insight into the future of evidence generation, research quality, and the translation of robust science into trustworthy clinical guidelines.

Dhinesh Bhakkaran is an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, a Barrister-at-Law of Gray’s Inn, England and holds a Masters in Law from the University of Cambridge. He heads the Medico-Legal team at Shearn Delamore & Co, who are Solicitors for the Medical Protection Society (MPS).

His areas of practice include representing medical and dental practitioners in medical negligence litigation and in proceedings before the Malaysian Medical Council and Malaysian Dental Council. He also advises medical and dental practitioners on a diverse range of medico-legal issues.

He is a Past President of the Medico-Legal Society of Malaysia, and a past member of the IMU Joint-Committee of the Research and Ethics Committee of the International Medical University.

Dr Eachempati is a Consultant Senior Researcher at the MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation (Oslo) and Clinical Lecturer at the University of Plymouth (UK), with over 15 years’ experience at the intersection of evidence synthesis, guideline methodology, and clinical practice.

A dentist by training, she has contributed to Cochrane Oral Health reviews for more than a decade and currently serves as Co-Convener of the Cochrane Priority Setting Methods Group. Her work has informed national and international policy, including guidance from the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme, the World Health Organization School Health Services guideline, and recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee.

She is also contributing to the EDCTP-funded MARC-SE project, supporting the development of national antimalarial treatment guidelines in Malawi, and is a co-author of the forthcoming Core GRADE series (BMJ, 2025), collaborating with Gordon Guyatt and international GRADE experts to advance transparent and rigorous approaches to certainty of evidence assessment.

Having worked across India, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Norway, Dr Eachempati brings a vital Global South perspective to guideline development; championing context-sensitive, equitable, and implementable recommendations that can strengthen health systems worldwide.

At GIN2026, she will contribute to discussions on advancing methodological innovation, transparency, and equity in evidence-based guideline development in an increasingly complex global health landscape.

Dr Jack Nunn is the Director of the charity ‘Science for All’. He has worked for over 15 years to develop, report on, and evaluate equitable and ethical ways for people to get involved in all aspects of research and science across multiple disciplines.

He is Chair of the ‘Standardised Data on Initiatives (STARDIT)’ Steering Committee, Co-Chair of the Cochrane Patient and Public Involvement Executive, and a member of the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board.

Jack is passionate about evidence-informed ways of involving people. He is an investigator on multiple research projects and has worked for charities and universities in multiple countries. He continues to support the public in shaping future research and science.

Rebekah Thomas is the Secretary of the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines Review Committee, where she oversees the development, quality assurance, and scientific rigor of WHO guidelines. In this role, she supports multidisciplinary teams to ensure that every guideline meets WHO’s standards for scientific validity, transparency, and stakeholder engagement.

Previously, she served as Advisor for Human Rights in WHO’s Gender, Equity, and Human Rights Team, and has held positions at UNAIDS and the International Commission on Global Migration.

Throughout her career, Rebekah has played a key role in embedding human rights and equity considerations into WHO guideline processes and global health governance, contributing to efforts to strengthen universal health coverage and inclusive health systems. She has co-authored research on human rights–based approaches to women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health, reflecting a longstanding focus on linking global health outcomes with transparency and accountability in advancing the right to health.

Rebekah holds an advanced degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Nottingham and has over 20 years of experience in evidence-informed practices and guideline development to improve health outcomes and reduce inequities.