Michael Kent Ranson

Senior Economist (Health), World Bank

Michael Kent Ranson is a Senior Economist (Health), based in the World Bank office, in Geneva, since 2014. He is the World Bank’s overall focal point for engagement with Gavi, and has served as Gavi Board Alternate, and on the Gavi Programme and Policy Committee, since 2018. He led the World Bank team in developing a new mechanism that enabled countries to use World Bank financing to purchase COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX. He supports health financing collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He has served as part of many World Bank country teams, providing health financing and "pooled financing" technical support, and is currently part of the team that supports the National Health Support Program, Pakistan.

Prior to joining the World Bank, he researched, wrote and taught on health financing and system issues, first as a lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where he led a cluster randomised trial aimed at improving the equity impact of a community-based insurance program in Gujarat, India. Later, at the World Health Organization (WHO), he supported health policy and systems research and led the secretariat for the First and Second Global Symposia on Health Systems Research.

Dr Ranson holds an MD from McMaster University (Canada), an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health (USA), and a DPhil in health economics and financing from the LSHTM (UK).