David Wilson, PhD

David Wilson, PhD, is adjunct professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University and a senior program officer at the Gates Foundation. He leads investments to strengthen primary health care systems globally, managing a grant portfolio exceeding $400 million with emphasis on system planning and design, performance management, data systems and analytics, and health financing. He tests catalytical approaches subnationally in many contexts and synthesizes learnings and global best practices for transference and global scale. His current deep collaborations span governments in Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria and other LMICs, alongside partnerships with major global health agencies and funds.

Before joining the foundation, Dr Wilson held faculty and leadership roles at the Kirby Institute (UNSW) and the Burnet Institute, where he headed Modelling & Decision Science and later the Strategy, Insights & Impact Office. He founded the Optima Consortium for Decision Science, served as a consultant to the World Bank and various UN agencies, and previously led Australia’s national public health surveillance and reporting for HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmissible infections. He has provided technical assistance to approximately 60 national governments across all populated continents.

Dr. Wilson has authored more than 500 academic papers and over 100 technical reports, and has delivered roughly 600 invited and scientific presentations. His awards include the 3M Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science, the Royal Society of NSW Edgeworth David Medal, and the Australian Academy of Science Gustav Nossal Medal for Global Health. He has supervised 17 PhD graduates.

Education

PhD (Disease Modelling) – Queensland University of Technology, with studies at Oxford and ETH Zurich

Postdoctoral Fellowship – UCLA (Biomathematics)

Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics, University of Sydney

BAppSc (Hons), BSc (Mathematics), and BIT (Computer Science), QUT.