Dr Maristela G. Monteiro is the senior advisor on alcohol at the Pan American Health Organization in Washington DC for 18 years, after nearly 10 years coordinating the Program on Substance Abuse at the World Health Organization in Geneva.  Dr Monteiro is a medical doctor with a PhD in Psychopharmacology from the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, and postdoctoral studies at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. Dr Monteiro is responsible for technical cooperation activities with Ministries of Health, Universities, Research Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, and Collaborating Centers of PAHO/WHO on topics related to alcohol policy, research and capacity building in all countries in the Region of the Americas. Dr Monteiro has nearly 190 publications in scientific journals and book chapters.

Dr. Jürgen Rehm is Senior Scientist in the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH. He is Professor and Inaugural Chair of Addiction Policy in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Dr. Rehm is a leader in generating and analyzing the scientific data needed to inform clinicians and policy-makers of strategies to reduce alcohol-, tobacco-, and other drug-related harm. His recent research has more and more included interactions between socio-economic status, poverty and substance use, including analysis of policies and interventions with respect to reducing or increasing inequalities. His work has been awarded with numerous awards and prizes, most importantly, the Jellinek Memorial Award (2003) and the European Addiction Research Award (2017).

Dr. Supreda Adulyanon is one of the leading experts in innovative health financing and health promotion movement in Thailand and Asia. He is well known internationally for his work on supporting countries on sustainable health financing mechanism, and on addressing major health risks control for NCDs in Thailand, such as tobacco and alcohol. Since 2016, he has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), the forefront national agency which catalyzes, motivates, supports, and coordinates health promotion movement in Thailand to over 20,000 multi-sectoral partner organizations in Thailand and abroad since 2001. Prior to joining ThaiHealth, he was a lecturer and senior administrator at the Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand. At ThaiHealth, he previously served as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and its Director of the Major Risk Factors Control Section for 10 years, overseeing Tobacco Control Plan, Alcohol Control Plan and Road Traffic Accident Prevention Plan. He was instrumental in coordinating multisectoral movements to reduce those major risk factors. He has written and published numerous articles about health promotion and innovative health financing. Dr.Supreda received his bachelor degree in doctor of dental surgery (DDS) from Mahidol University in Thailand and PhD. in epidemiology and public health from the University of London in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Rohan Ratnayake is the Director of the Mental Health in the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka. The Directorate of Mental Health was established in year 1998 and over the years it has strengthened its organizational structure, linkages and capacity to cater the needs of the country. It has played a key role in expanding Mental Health services throughout the country. Mental ill-health and Psychiatric  disorders are one of the most significant public health challenges in the world. The burden of mental disorders continues to grow with significant impacts on health, social, human rights and economy.

Evan Blecher, M.A., Ph.D. is an Economist in the Fiscal Policies for Health team at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. He previously led tobacco tax efforts in the African region in the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases department. Prior appointments include the University of Illinois at Chicago where he was a Senior Economist at Health Policy Center, Institute for Health Research and Policy. Between 2008 and 2013, he was a Senior Economist in the Health and Economic Policy Research Program at the American Cancer Society and an Affiliate in the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit at the University of Cape Town where he served as the Project Director of the Economics of Tobacco Control Project. He is also an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Economics, University of Cape Town. He received his bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Strategy from the University of Cape Town, an M.A. in Economics with Distinction from the University of the West of England, Bristol and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cape Town. He was a member of the expert group for the IARC Handbook on the Effectiveness of Tax and Price Policies for Tobacco Control and is a coauthor of the NCI Monograph on the Economics of Tobacco Control. Evan’s research focuses on tax policy and the influence of tax policies on health behaviors, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and covers issues including tax and price policy and illicit trade. His research has been an influence on policy globally, providing expert input to parliamentary committees and international forums in several countries.

Dr. Sheila Dutta is a Senior Health Specialist at the World Bank. She has worked extensively in managing health programs and analytic work in East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Africa over the past 25 years at the World Bank.  Her experience has included managing health sector programs as diverse as  COVID-19, Ebola, refugee health, NCD prevention, health taxes, and primary health care reform. Her academic training is in epidemiology and maternal and child health (PhD, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; MPH, Yale School of Public Health), with a specialization in chronic disease epidemiology.

Pubudu Sumanasekara is the Executive Director of the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Sri Lanka, which is an internationally recognized resource center for alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention interventions and policies. He had been working for UNODC as a volunteer specialist. Pubudu holds a Master’s Degree in Health Promotion from studies in Canada as well as a degree in Psychiatric and Medical Social Work in India. Pubudu is a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo and University of Rajarata in Sri Lanka. Pubudu is a member of the expert committee of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA), the Presidential Task Force on Drug Prevention and the Drug Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka. Pubudu serves as the International Vice President of Movendi International.