Africa Centre for Evidence welcomes Forum Director as a Distinguished Visiting Professor

The McMaster Health Forum is proud to announce that John Lavis, our Director, has recently been appointed as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). Joining him in this five-year role will be Sandy Oliver from the EPPI-Centre at University College London.

“I’m really looking forward to this closer collaboration with the Africa Centre for Evidence team and Sandy Oliver,” said Lavis. “This promises to be a great opportunity for us to collectively up our game.”

"As distinguished visiting professors, both Prof Oliver and Prof Lavis will contribute to the academic life at ACE and the wider UJ community through their research activities, publications, seminars and engagement with staff and post-graduate students," said UJ's Ruth Stewart, Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence.

“This appointment at UJ offers the opportunity to both share our lessons learned in supporting evidence-informed health policymaking, and to learn from colleagues working at the leading edge of similar efforts beyond the health sector. With the creation of Forum+ and Social Systems Evidence, we’re very keen to build a strong partnership among three organizations (ACE, EPPI-Centre and McMaster Health Forum | Forum+) committed to working across sectors.”

Stewart added, "With our vision to reduce poverty and inequality in our region by increasing the production and application of research evidence that is both useful and used, ACE is excited to collaborate with these two globally highly regarded scholars."

Read the full announcement from the Africa Centre for Evidence.