John N. Lavis

John supports policymakers and stakeholders to harness research evidence, citizen values and stakeholder insights to strengthen health and social systems and get the right programs, services and products to the people who need them.

He founded and continues to direct the McMaster Health Forum. He is committed to helping policymakers and stakeholders to: 1) learn how to make decisions based on the best available research evidence; 2) find evidence through the Forum’s own products and the best available sources of pre-appraised, synthesized research evidence (including the Forum’s Health Systems Evidence and Social Systems Evidence and the Forum-supported and citizen-targeted McMaster Optimal Aging Portal); 3) spark action through stakeholder dialogues, citizen panels and more; 4) embed supports for evidence-informed decision-making, by institutionalizing promising and proven approaches; and 5) evaluate innovations in supporting evidence-informed decision-making.

He is Co-Lead of the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges, the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVID-END), and Rapid-Improvement Support and Exchange (RISE).  He holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Evidence-Support Systems. He is Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Evidence-Informed Policy and Professor in the Department of Health Evidence and Impact at McMaster University, as well as Adjunct Professor at the Africa Centre for Evidence at the University of Johannesburg.

He holds an MD from Queen's University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a PhD (in Health Policy) from Harvard University.