DrMeredith Labarda

Dr. Meredith del Pilar-Labarda is a Professor of Medicine and the former Chairperson of the Department of Medicine at the University of the Philippines Manila School of Health Sciences, an innovative school known for its community-oriented stepladder health professions education curriculum. Currently, she is the chairperson and coordinator of the school’s research unit. She is also the lead for Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI) Global Network Secretariat, a global network of passionate individuals, organizations and institutions advocating for social
innovation in health and advancing research in social innovation launched by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), as well as the lead for SIHI Philippines Research Hub. Both SIHI research hub and SIHI secretariat are hosted at the University of the Philippines Manila. She also served as Lead Technical Expert Evaluator in Human Resources, Risk Communication and Community Engagement World Health Organization (WHO) Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of International Health Regulations (IHR) Core Capacities. In 2023 she
served as a Temporary Adviser for Member States Consultation on the Draft Regional Innovation Strategy in the Western Pacific region of WHO. In the early part of 2020 and in 2021, together with SIHI Philippines and the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, she led the national crowdsourcing open call for the Gelia Castillo Award for Research on Social Innovations in Health (GCARSIH). She has also led several TDR-funded and supported research projects such as the Community Engagement Self-Monitoring Approach for Social Innovations and Gender Intersectionality study. She is also a Doctor of Social Development and the school’s lead coordinator for health leadership and governance programs in partnership with government and non-government organizations in co-designing training modules, providing capacity building trainings and coaching for local chief executives, municipal health officers and other important stakeholders in the local health ecosystem for the
implementation of the Universal health Care Law. Her advocacies, work engagements and research interests include health and social development, social innovations, transformative health leadership and governance, community engagement, partnerships and empowerment, local health systems strengthening, disaster and resilience, adolescent sexual reproductive health, intersectional gender research, youth capacity building, health and nutrition, community mental health and wellbeing and transformative health professions education.