Sheila Leatherman

Biography

Research Professor, School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, conducts research and policy analysis internationally focusing on quality of care, health systems reform, methodologies for evaluating health care system performance, and integrating microfinance and community health interventions. In the international field of health care quality and health systems strengthening, she has advised and assisted in the development of national programs and strategies in the US, UK, Sudan, South Africa, Qatar, Singapore, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Canada, and Ethiopia. Ms. Leatherman is also the lead advisor for the five-year WHO National Quality Policy and Strategy initiative (2015-2019) on supporting low- and middle-income countries in designing and implementing national quality strategies in health. She is both a principal investigator and an advisor for research and implementation projects in multiple countries, and she contributes to numerous humanitarian and global health INGOs. She serves as the Quality Advisor for Doctors Without Borders/OCP. In 2002 she was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and in 2006 she was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In 2007, she was awarded the honor of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth for her work over the past decade in the National Health Service.

Research Interest

Ms. Leatherman has authored numerous articles and books. Her broad background in health care management in US state and federal health agencies includes the role of chief executive of an HMO and a senior executive of United Health Group, where she founded and directed a research center for over ten years.