What do you see as the major challenge of bringing evidence to policy makers in real time?

Stefano Bertozzi, MD, PhD

Knowledge about how to improve implementation is being generated all the time, all around the world. For an individual policymaker or program manager, the challenge is often centered around how can they access knowledge that is of high quality and relevant to their local situation.

Too often, information generated in other settings isn’t, or doesn’t, appear to be relevant for the local context, and it takes far too long to search and filter information to find what would be relevant.  It is even harder in implementation science because it is so broad – we need a knowledge base that better organizes the available information and makes it easier for the implementer to find what she or he needs. 

Stefano Bertozzi, MD, PhD, is Dean of the School of Public Health and a professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently co-chair of the Health Working Group for the UC–Mexico Initiative and co-editor of the Disease Control Priorities (DCP3) volume on HIV/AIDS, Malaria & Tuberculosis. He has served on governance and advisory boards for WHO, UNAIDS, the Global Fund, PEPFAR, the NIH, Duke University, the University of Washington and the AMA.