Professor Kickbusch created the GHC – the Graduate Institute’s centre of excellence on global health research, training and capacity building – at a time when the interface of health and foreign policy was not yet high on the political agenda. Through her leadership and vision, the Centre was able to undertake innovative social science research on global health governance, shape policy debates at national, regional and global levels, as well as establish a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Global Health Diplomacy, training a generation of global health negotiators.

At the 10th anniversary celebration of the GHC in December 2018, Philippe Burrin, Director of the Graduate Institute, stressed that “the Global Health Centre’s strength lies in its formidable capacity to link people and subjects”. Indeed the subjects studied at the Centre covered not only the impact of globalisation and the tensions between sovereignty and global action in health, but also the need for global public goods, the influence of political systems and need for strong leadership in global health. 

Professor Kickbusch’s approach always centred on health as a political choice and as a governance challenge, therefore going beyond a siloed disease approach: “We need the political capacity to, among others, collectively ensure global health security, tackle comprehensively non-communicable diseases, guarantee access to medicines, build universal health coverage, reduce global health inequalities, and better understand the opportunities and challenges of digital transformation in health. This is a vast agenda but first and foremost a political agenda that requires the support of all actors. The GHC has always played a crucial role in pushing boundaries and exploring new avenues and I wish my successors well in the endeavour.”