Paola Abril Campos Rivera, a globally experienced public health expert, holds a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She’s lived and worked across diverse regions to improve health outcomes, from Mexico to India (where she also studied at the United World College), the United States, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, and Ghana.
At the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Abril played a pivotal role in setting up the Delivery for Impact team to support member states accelerate progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals. Abril worked to strengthen the implementation of evidence-based policies to achieve Universal Health Coverage. She developed a course and workshops for practitioners to design and implement better evidence-based policies.
Abril has made significant contributions to the public sector in Mexico. Her career includes working in the Office of the Presidency of Mexico and as the Health Operations Manager at the Carlos Slim Foundation. There, she spearheaded the implementation of an innovative healthcare model for non-communicable diseases and maternal health, strengthening primary care and quality of care. She is the author of several peer-reviewed articles, including “Political Analysis for Health Policy Implementation” published in the open access journal “Health Systems and Reform”.
Abril brings her expertise in health systems, health policy implementation and political analysis to her current role as research professor at Tecnológico de Monterrey. Abril bridges policy, implementation and practice, and her research focuses on improving public policy implementation by using applied political analysis and pioneering research at the convergence of food, nutrition, and health. She has been a guest lecturer on health policy implementation at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Her extensive experience and dedication make her a driving force in public health.
