DR MONIKA PURI Global Policy Lead | Global Access Dr Monika Puri is a medical doctor and a trained public health specialist from India with extensive experience in developing and implementing healthcare programs. After working for public sector, civil society, and intergovernmental organizations, she now is a Global Policy Lead, Global Access at Roche. In this role, she is responsible for advancing the company’s role in the global health community as a credible and influential partner in efforts to improve access and build stronger health systems. In her long career in global health, Dr Puri has worked in the fields of deep patient management, essential drugs & medicines, health systems strengthening, epidemiology, reproductive and child health, non-communicable diseases, immunization, and malnutrition. Her path has allowed her to gain extensive technical knowledge of key public policy trends and practices in population health service delivery, making her a competent strategic negotiator with the ability to achieve time-bound results. She specializes in synergizing the role of the corporate sector in delivery of public health interventions, drawing on her experience in developing and implementing public health programs in India, policy shaping for Southeast-Asia and building credible relationships with Global Health Institutes. Dr Puri first joined Roche India in 2017 as lead for Policy and Government Affairs, developing extensive linkages within the higher echelons of power at the Ministries of Health & Family Welfare, Chemicals, Commerce, Finance and NITI Aayog (Policy think tank of India). She then moved to Roche’s headquarters, joining the company as Health Systems Strategy Leader in the Global Access team, moving then on to become Head of Institutional Relations and now Global Policy Lead. Prior to joining Roche, while at the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office, she worked as a public health professional, playing an instrumental role in assisting the region’s Member Countries to develop and implement their National Medicines Policy, strategies and plans on essential drugs and other medicines. This experience has deepened her understanding of the importance of health systems development for ensuring Universal Health Coverage. Dr Puri’s understanding of the health care needs of the people came from the honorary work she began doing in 2009, when she started managing the operations of a healthcare based not-for-profit organization in India. Her initiative of “Hospital on wheels” delivering health at the doorsteps of the brick kiln workers and poor dwellings is commendable. She currently serves as the organization’s honorary Chief Operating Officer. For her remarkable academic and professional excellence, Dr Puri became a member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, India, the Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine, and of the Indian Public Health Association. She was also awarded the Chevening Scholarship by the British High Commission, India, to attend the Leadership & Excellence program at King’s College London, UK. In 2020, she was named Global Ambassador for the G20 Health and Development Partnership, and she currently is a member of the B20 task forces on Trade and Investment & Women in Business Action Council, G20 Indonesia.