Borwornsom (Ack) Leerapan is an assistant professor in the Community Medicine Department at Ramathibodi Medical School of Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. He is a preventive medicine physician and health systems researcher with research interests in healthcare organization studies, especially applying complexity sciences in health systems governance and healthcare quality management. Before becoming an academic, he had worked at Maetha hospital, a 30-bed community hospital in Lamphun province in the north of Thailand, as both a general practitioner and the hospital director. His direct observations of inequitable access to care while managing and implementing health programs in the communities inspired him to pursue a post-graduate study in health policy and healthcare management later on. His recent research at Mahidol University has been focused on health systems strengthening, touching upon the issues of cross-subsidization of healthcare financing in Thai public hospitals, the new regional healthcare governance structure of Thailand’s UHC, the community-based health interventions for the vulnerable population in Thailand, strategic health workforce planning at the national level, and system dynamics modeling to support policy decisions in response to COVID-19. Besides his teaching and research, he is working as the Deputy Director of the Center for Health Policy at the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, and also serving on organizational and national committees, including the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation under the Royal Patronage.

MONTH	DATE	TIME	SESSION	SESSION TITLE
Dec 2020	16 Dec	19.00- 20.30 (BKK)	WS207	Immediate Health Response to COVID-19- A Test of Health Systems Resilience