Global
Healthcare
Challenge
GHeC

April,2013：Director of Shared Information Systems Promotion Office,Saitama Prefectural Association of Town & Villages
April,2015：The Chief Information Officer advisor, Shizuoka Prefectural Government
February,2018：Director, Dell Technologies Inc.
April,2022：DX Advocate, Amazon Web Services Japan G.K.
April,2025：Chief Digital Officer Director General, Department of Smart City Strategy, Osaka Prefectural Government

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands has a governance role within the Dutch healthcare system. It works closely with all (non-profit) health insurers, providers and patient organisations on developing sustainable health care. In recent years the Ministry has worked with the sector on several national improvement plans, among others ‘The Right Care at the Right Place’ and ‘Approriate Care’. With the recent ‘Integral Care Agreement’, the health sector has set goals towards locally organised integrated care.

Barbara Goezinne was appointed as Director General Curative Care (Vice Minister) in June 2022. Previously she worked as Deputy Director General Covid Care. In the beginning of her career she studied Educational Science at the University of Leiden and Public Administration Science at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. After that she worked at the Netherlands Court of Audit and as Director Financial and Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Halle Tecco, MBA, MPH is a digital health founder, investor, and board member. She has been an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School since 2015, and recently joined Harvard Medical School as a Course Director for healthcare innovation. She currently sits on the boards of Collective Health and Cofertility.

Previously, Halle founded seed fund Rock Health and Natalist (acquired by Everly Health). Halle received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her MPH from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in Women's and Reproductive Health. She is the creator and co-host of The Heart of Healthcare Podcast.

Keren Etkin is the author of The AgeTech Revolution
- a book about the intersection of tech and aging, and founder of TheGerontechnologist.com
- a media platform that covers the global AgeTech ecosystem and offers AgeTech education through the AgeTech Academy

Named one of the most influential people in aging by Next Avenue, Ms. Etkin, works with startups, big tech companies, elder-care providers, public sector organizations and NGOs on the development and adoption of AgeTech solutions.

Previously, she was the first employee at Intuition Robotics, the startup behind ElliQ - the world’s first social robot designed with and for older adults, and co-founder & VP of Product at Sensi.Ai, a startup that developed the first and only AI solution for remote care monitoring.

She holds an M.A. in Gerontology and a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from Ben-Gurion University.

Neil Gray was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in May 2024.
Neil Gray was born and brought up in Orkney and was educated at Kirkwall Grammar School. He graduated from the University of Stirling in 2008 with a first-class Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in politics and journalism.

He was elected to represent Airdrie and Shotts Constituency at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

He had previously won the Airdrie and Shotts Westminster seat in 2015 and held it on two subsequent occasions before resigning to stand for the same area in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Prior to becoming an MP, Mr Gray worked for former Scottish Government Health Secretary Alex Neil MSP as his Airdrie and Shotts constituency office manager.

Neil Gray was appointed Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development in January 2022. In March 2022 he additionally became Minister with special responsibility for Refugees from Ukraine. He was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy in March 2023, and Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care in February 2024.

At Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), he has led the effort to develop CIC Tokyo, Japan's largest startup center. CIC Tokyo, opened in 2020, is a host for 350 companies and innovation clusters for life sciences and climate tech among others. CIC just launched CIC Fukuoka as the company’s second site in Japan/Asia.

Umezawa has also served leading corporations in Japan and the US for 25 years as Senior Partner and Japan Chairman of KEARNEY. Areas of his consulting expertise include strategy, innovation, urban development, and organization.

He sits on the Government of Japan committees on innovation, intellectual property strategy, and tourism. He holds a Bachelor of law from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Päivi Sillanaukee (MD, PhD, eMBA) is the Special Envoy for Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland. Dr Sillanaukee served as the Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2019 to 2023 and as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health from 2012 to 2019. Between 2008 and 2012, she was the Director General of the Department for Social and Health Services at the Ministry. Previously, she was the Deputy Mayor and Director of Social and Health Services in the City of Tampere, Finland.

Between 1990 and 2004, she held clinical and managerial positions in the Pirkanmaa Hospital District and was a member of the Tampere City Council. Dr Sillanaukee is a specialist in public health and management and doctor honoris causa from the University of Helsinki. She has worked on policies to promote public health, social protection, gender equality, innovation and digitalization in the European Union and at the global level.

She represented Finland in the WHO Executive Board from May 2018 to May 2021 and served as its first and third Vice Chair from 2018 to 2020. From September 2021 to September 2022 she served as Executive President of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe. She has been the co-chair of the Alliance for Health Security Cooperation (AHSC), member of the Steering Group of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), member of Health Advisory Board of the UN Global Pulse Finland. She is Member of the HIMSS Board of Directors and Member of the I-DAIR inaugural Board.

Mio Kawada is the Executive Vice President of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO). With over twenty years of experience at JETRO, she has worked in promoting trade and investment from both in and out of Japan. Before assigned to the current position, she held the position of Director-General of the Invest Japan Department at the JETRO, sole public organization designated to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) in Japan. She has also worked at JETRO New York Office as the Executive Director, and at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan, as the Director of Overseas Business Support Office, Service Affairs Policy Division, in the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau.

Dr. Sakoi, Masami graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine in 1989.
He has served as a surgical clinician at institutions including the University of Tokyo Hospital and Toranomon Hospital.

After joining the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1992, he visited the U.S. to study at the Harvard School of Public Health and received the Master of Public Health in 1997.

Various roles he has held at the ministry since 2005 include Director, Health Risk Management Office, Minister’s Secretariat; Planning Director, Health Insurance Bureau; Director, Division of the Health for the Elderly; Director, Medical Care Planning Division; Director, Medical Economics Division; Deputy Director-General of the ministry, Minister’s Secretariat; and Director General of the Health Policy Bureau.

He also has an experience working at the Hiroshima Prefectural Government as Director General of Health and Welfare Department (2006-2009).

He was appointed Director General, Office for COVID-19 and Other Emerging Infectious Disease Control Cabinet Secretariat in October 2021 and the current position in July 2023.

The research of Pankaj J. Pasricha, M.B.B.S., M.D., focuses on the nervous system within the gut and the connections between the gut and the brain. He is a gastroenterologist and has an active neuroscience laboratory.

Dr. Pasricha is engaged in both basic and clinical research, with both areas interacting with each other. His laboratory research investigates neural stem cells and how nerve cells are coded to function.

Dr. Pasricha examines the messages nerve cells send to each other. These messages can sometimes cause problems such as difficulty in swallowing, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and constipation. His research investigates how these signals can cause problems with the brain itself.

Dr. Gayathri Srinivasan became Executive Director of MIT Corporate Relations beginning February 15, 2024.

As Executive Director, Dr. Srinivasan leads the growth of the ILP and Startup Exchange, building on a roster of over 200+ member companies, and forging impactful connections between global business leaders and MIT faculty.

Dr. Srinivasan is a distinguished scientist, who received her PhD in Microbiology from The Ohio State University in 2004, where she contributed to the discovery of the 22nd amino acid, Pyrrolysine (2002). She first came to MIT as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Tom Rajbhandary’s lab, where her research focused on understanding protein synthesis mechanism in Archaea.

Dr. Srinivasan subsequently moved into the business development and technology licensing space, serving in MIT’s Technology Licensing Office where she helped commercialize technologies in medical devices and alternative energies. She then moved to UMass Medical School’s Office of Technology Management in 2009 and to Emory University in Atlanta in 2014, as the Director of Public and Private Partnerships for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. In 2019, Dr. Srinivasan joined Emory’s Office of Corporate Relations as Executive Director, and, in 2021, she led the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations.

Mr. Muto Yoji was reappointed Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on November 11, 2024.
He also assumes the positions of Minister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Accident, Minister for Green Transformation, Minister in charge of Industrial Competitiveness, and Minister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation. Mr. Muto’s reappointment extends his tenure as METI Minister which started in October 2024.

Immediately prior to becoming METI Minister, Mr. Muto served as Director, Committee on Rules and Administration, a senior role in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). During his long career in public policy, Mr. Muto has served in several senior positions in the LDP and in government agencies. Notable roles in government agencies include State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry / Director-General of Local Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters / State Minister of Cabinet Office and State Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Muto was first elected to public office in 2005, successfully winning reelection five times. He serves as a member of House of Representatives representing Gifu Prefecture 3rd Electoral District.
Prior to seeking elected office, Mr. Muto worked in the private sector starting his professional career at Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. He also served in leadership roles at companies in Gifu Prefecture.
A graduate of Keio University’s Faculty of Business and Commerce, Mr. Muto was born in Gifu Prefecture on October 18, 1955.

April,2013：Director of Shared Information Systems Promotion Office,Saitama Prefectural Association of Town & Villages
April,2015：The Chief Information Officer advisor, Shizuoka Prefectural Government
February,2018：Director, Dell Technologies Inc.
April,2022：DX Advocate, Amazon Web Services Japan G.K.
April,2025：Chief Digital Officer Director General, Department of Smart City Strategy, Osaka Prefectural Government

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands has a governance role within the Dutch healthcare system. It works closely with all (non-profit) health insurers, providers and patient organisations on developing sustainable health care. In recent years the Ministry has worked with the sector on several national improvement plans, among others ‘The Right Care at the Right Place’ and ‘Approriate Care’. With the recent ‘Integral Care Agreement’, the health sector has set goals towards locally organised integrated care.

Barbara Goezinne was appointed as Director General Curative Care (Vice Minister) in June 2022. Previously she worked as Deputy Director General Covid Care. In the beginning of her career she studied Educational Science at the University of Leiden and Public Administration Science at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. After that she worked at the Netherlands Court of Audit and as Director Financial and Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Halle Tecco, MBA, MPH is a digital health founder, investor, and board member. She has been an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School since 2015, and recently joined Harvard Medical School as a Course Director for healthcare innovation. She currently sits on the boards of Collective Health and Cofertility.

Previously, Halle founded seed fund Rock Health and Natalist (acquired by Everly Health). Halle received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her MPH from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in Women's and Reproductive Health. She is the creator and co-host of The Heart of Healthcare Podcast.

Keren Etkin is the author of The AgeTech Revolution
- a book about the intersection of tech and aging, and founder of TheGerontechnologist.com
- a media platform that covers the global AgeTech ecosystem and offers AgeTech education through the AgeTech Academy

Named one of the most influential people in aging by Next Avenue, Ms. Etkin, works with startups, big tech companies, elder-care providers, public sector organizations and NGOs on the development and adoption of AgeTech solutions.

Previously, she was the first employee at Intuition Robotics, the startup behind ElliQ - the world’s first social robot designed with and for older adults, and co-founder & VP of Product at Sensi.Ai, a startup that developed the first and only AI solution for remote care monitoring.

She holds an M.A. in Gerontology and a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from Ben-Gurion University.

Neil Gray was appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in May 2024.
Neil Gray was born and brought up in Orkney and was educated at Kirkwall Grammar School. He graduated from the University of Stirling in 2008 with a first-class Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in politics and journalism.

He was elected to represent Airdrie and Shotts Constituency at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

He had previously won the Airdrie and Shotts Westminster seat in 2015 and held it on two subsequent occasions before resigning to stand for the same area in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. Prior to becoming an MP, Mr Gray worked for former Scottish Government Health Secretary Alex Neil MSP as his Airdrie and Shotts constituency office manager.

Neil Gray was appointed Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development in January 2022. In March 2022 he additionally became Minister with special responsibility for Refugees from Ukraine. He was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy in March 2023, and Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care in February 2024.

At Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), he has led the effort to develop CIC Tokyo, Japan's largest startup center. CIC Tokyo, opened in 2020, is a host for 350 companies and innovation clusters for life sciences and climate tech among others. CIC just launched CIC Fukuoka as the company’s second site in Japan/Asia.

Umezawa has also served leading corporations in Japan and the US for 25 years as Senior Partner and Japan Chairman of KEARNEY. Areas of his consulting expertise include strategy, innovation, urban development, and organization.

He sits on the Government of Japan committees on innovation, intellectual property strategy, and tourism. He holds a Bachelor of law from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Päivi Sillanaukee (MD, PhD, eMBA) is the Special Envoy for Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland. Dr Sillanaukee served as the Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2019 to 2023 and as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health from 2012 to 2019. Between 2008 and 2012, she was the Director General of the Department for Social and Health Services at the Ministry. Previously, she was the Deputy Mayor and Director of Social and Health Services in the City of Tampere, Finland.

Between 1990 and 2004, she held clinical and managerial positions in the Pirkanmaa Hospital District and was a member of the Tampere City Council. Dr Sillanaukee is a specialist in public health and management and doctor honoris causa from the University of Helsinki. She has worked on policies to promote public health, social protection, gender equality, innovation and digitalization in the European Union and at the global level.

She represented Finland in the WHO Executive Board from May 2018 to May 2021 and served as its first and third Vice Chair from 2018 to 2020. From September 2021 to September 2022 she served as Executive President of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe. She has been the co-chair of the Alliance for Health Security Cooperation (AHSC), member of the Steering Group of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), member of Health Advisory Board of the UN Global Pulse Finland. She is Member of the HIMSS Board of Directors and Member of the I-DAIR inaugural Board.

Mio Kawada is the Executive Vice President of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO). With over twenty years of experience at JETRO, she has worked in promoting trade and investment from both in and out of Japan. Before assigned to the current position, she held the position of Director-General of the Invest Japan Department at the JETRO, sole public organization designated to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) in Japan. She has also worked at JETRO New York Office as the Executive Director, and at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan, as the Director of Overseas Business Support Office, Service Affairs Policy Division, in the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau.

Dr. Sakoi, Masami graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine in 1989.
He has served as a surgical clinician at institutions including the University of Tokyo Hospital and Toranomon Hospital.

After joining the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1992, he visited the U.S. to study at the Harvard School of Public Health and received the Master of Public Health in 1997.

Various roles he has held at the ministry since 2005 include Director, Health Risk Management Office, Minister’s Secretariat; Planning Director, Health Insurance Bureau; Director, Division of the Health for the Elderly; Director, Medical Care Planning Division; Director, Medical Economics Division; Deputy Director-General of the ministry, Minister’s Secretariat; and Director General of the Health Policy Bureau.

He also has an experience working at the Hiroshima Prefectural Government as Director General of Health and Welfare Department (2006-2009).

He was appointed Director General, Office for COVID-19 and Other Emerging Infectious Disease Control Cabinet Secretariat in October 2021 and the current position in July 2023.

The research of Pankaj J. Pasricha, M.B.B.S., M.D., focuses on the nervous system within the gut and the connections between the gut and the brain. He is a gastroenterologist and has an active neuroscience laboratory.

Dr. Pasricha is engaged in both basic and clinical research, with both areas interacting with each other. His laboratory research investigates neural stem cells and how nerve cells are coded to function.

Dr. Pasricha examines the messages nerve cells send to each other. These messages can sometimes cause problems such as difficulty in swallowing, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and constipation. His research investigates how these signals can cause problems with the brain itself.

Dr. Gayathri Srinivasan became Executive Director of MIT Corporate Relations beginning February 15, 2024.

As Executive Director, Dr. Srinivasan leads the growth of the ILP and Startup Exchange, building on a roster of over 200+ member companies, and forging impactful connections between global business leaders and MIT faculty.

Dr. Srinivasan is a distinguished scientist, who received her PhD in Microbiology from The Ohio State University in 2004, where she contributed to the discovery of the 22nd amino acid, Pyrrolysine (2002). She first came to MIT as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Tom Rajbhandary’s lab, where her research focused on understanding protein synthesis mechanism in Archaea.

Dr. Srinivasan subsequently moved into the business development and technology licensing space, serving in MIT’s Technology Licensing Office where she helped commercialize technologies in medical devices and alternative energies. She then moved to UMass Medical School’s Office of Technology Management in 2009 and to Emory University in Atlanta in 2014, as the Director of Public and Private Partnerships for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. In 2019, Dr. Srinivasan joined Emory’s Office of Corporate Relations as Executive Director, and, in 2021, she led the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations.

Mr. Muto Yoji was reappointed Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on November 11, 2024.
He also assumes the positions of Minister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Accident, Minister for Green Transformation, Minister in charge of Industrial Competitiveness, and Minister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation. Mr. Muto’s reappointment extends his tenure as METI Minister which started in October 2024.

Immediately prior to becoming METI Minister, Mr. Muto served as Director, Committee on Rules and Administration, a senior role in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). During his long career in public policy, Mr. Muto has served in several senior positions in the LDP and in government agencies. Notable roles in government agencies include State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry / Director-General of Local Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters / State Minister of Cabinet Office and State Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Muto was first elected to public office in 2005, successfully winning reelection five times. He serves as a member of House of Representatives representing Gifu Prefecture 3rd Electoral District.
Prior to seeking elected office, Mr. Muto worked in the private sector starting his professional career at Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. He also served in leadership roles at companies in Gifu Prefecture.
A graduate of Keio University’s Faculty of Business and Commerce, Mr. Muto was born in Gifu Prefecture on October 18, 1955.