The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this episode, Dr Kumanan Rasanathan, Executive Director of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, speaks with Dr Keith Cloete, Head of Health for the Western Cape Government in South Africa.Recorded following the recent Alliance Policy-maker Forum in Cape Town, the conversation reflects on lessons from the Western Cape health system, where policy-makers from around the world explored how leadership, research partnerships and systems thinking shape performance.A physician with more than three decades in public service, Dr Cloete shares how his experiences – from frontline clinical care to system leadership – have shaped his approach to building a learning health system.Together, they discuss relational leadership, system-wide and system-deep approaches and what it takes to lead health systems through crisis and change.

In this episode, Mr Jeffrey Knezovich, host of The Alliance Lift, speaks with Dr Katherine Ann Reyes, based at the University of the Philippines Manila. A physician by training, Dr Reyes works at the intersection of public health, policy and health systems, with a focus on practical policy choices that affect everyday life – from tobacco control and healthy consumption to immunization and stronger promotive and preventive care.

Jeffrey spoke with Katherine about the experiences that drew her from hospital-based care into prevention and public health, what she learned through the Alliance’s mentorship community and what makes the health policy and systems research ecosystem in the Philippines distinctive – including the role of government investment.

Dr Reyes also reflects on her Alliance-supported work to improve uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the Philippines. She discusses what it means to approach vaccine uptake as a complex systems issue, why co-creation must be embedded throughout the research process and how careful framing and listening can create space for informed decision-making when vaccination intersects with sensitive issues.

The Alliance Lift is a series that spotlights the journeys of Alliance alumni shaping health systems around the globe. In this episode, Ms Idil Shekh Mohamed, host of the Alliance Lift, speaks with Professor Asha George, the South African Research Chair in Health Systems, Complexity and Social Change at the University of the Western Cape. A globally recognized qualitative researcher, Professor George examines the interface between communities, health workers and health systems through lenses of governance, gender and human rights. She also serves as the Alliance’s 2025 Thinker in Residence, supporting reflection on how the field of health policy and systems research can engage more intentionally with gender equality.

Idil spoke with Asha about how early work shaped by global commitments on women’s rights influenced her approach to health systems, what she learned from working within her own health system in India and why she believes health workers’ lived realities must be more central to health systems research and practice today.

Professor George also reflects on the importance of listening to voices that are often marginalized, addressing silences that have become normalized within health systems and building alliances that connect evidence to action.