Rifat Atun

Professor Rifat Atun is the joint lead, with Alison Holmes, for work-stream 1 “Embedding infection control in organisational structures: innovation adoption and behaviour change””.  Rifat is leading the work being carried out by Yiannis Kyratsis and Raheela Ahmad to identify those factors which either help or hinder the active diffusion and adoption of planned innovations, using a number of analytical frameworks. 

These frameworks will examine the dynamics which mediate change including the role of individual adoptors, the

communication process, the wider context and the nature of the innovation itself.  The work is in the process of identifying effective systems-based approaches to adopt, implement and sustain best practice to influence better practice in the NHS. New innovations coming from the other work-streams will be used as case studies of innovation adoption as they are rolled out across the NHS.

Ultimately, this work will led to the development of guidelines and a “diagnostic tool box” for improving receptivity to innovation across the whole of the NHS.

Background

Rifat Atun is Professor of International Health Management at Imperial College London. In September 2008, he moved to Geneva to take up his new position in the Executive Management Team of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the Director of Strategy, Policy and Performance Cluster. He will be on extended leave from Imperial College during his tenure at the Global Fund.

At Imperial, Rifat founded and led the Centre for Health Management: a multidiciplin

ary  research group involved in a number of international and UK based research programmes which explored how contextual

and health systems factors influence the adoption and diffusion of complex health innovations (for example communicable disease control programmes for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, primary health care reforms, and novel technologies). Rifat is currently leading a multicountry collaborative research project with Harvard University (The School of Public Health Harvard Business School) the World Health Organization, and the World Bank.

See personal webpage for more details

Contact: Rifat.Atun@TheGlobalFund.org or his P.A at  fortunate.mendlula@theglobalfund.org
Tel: +41 58 791 1027