Prof Arash Rashidian (MD, PhD) has an established career in health policy and systems development in different countries. He is the Director of Science, Information, and Dissemination in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the World Health Organization. He has led WHO regional agenda in areas of health information systems, evidence-informed policy-making, knowledge sharing, research promotion and governance, digital health since 2015. He is the Vice-Chair of WHO’s Guideline Review Committee. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the Research and Knowledge Management Pillar of the WHO Response Management team in the Region.

He is the Executive Editor of the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, the flagship WHO publication in EMR. His previous positions include Professor of Health Policy and Deputy Chancellor (Tehran University of Medical Sciences), founding Director of National Institute of Health Research (Iran), Visiting/Honorary Professor (Imperial College London, UK; Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran; School of Pharmacy, TUMS, Iran); methodological advisor to the National Collaborating Centre for Acute Care (affiliated to NICE, UK), Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK), Visiting Associate Professor (Aga Khan University, Pakistan) and Honorary Senior Research Fellow (Bangor University, UK).