Michael Kent Ranson

Senior Economist (Health), World Bank

Michael Kent Ranson has been a Senior Economist (Health), based in the World Bank office in Geneva, since 2014. He is the World Bank’s focal point for engagement with Gavi and COVAX, and has served as Gavi Board Alternate, and on the Gavi Programme and Policy Committee, since 2018. He is part of the team that developed a new mechanism that allows countries to use World Bank financing to purchase COVID-19 vaccines, beyond the fully donor-subsidised doses they are already receiving, through COVAX. He is co-chair of the Immunization Agenda 2030 Financial Sustainability working group.

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, 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).