LHL's Katrina Perehudoff appointed to Lancet Commission on medicines
6 October 2025
Dr. Katrina Perehudoff, Co-Director of LHL and Associate Professor at UvA, has been appointed to the Lancet Commission on Accelerating Progress on Essential Medicines. The Commission is co-chaired by Professor Veronika Wirtz, Professor em. Hans Hogerzeil, and Professor Andy Gray. With 28 Commissioners from around the world, this Commission's mission is to generate new evidence and actionable strategies for improving equitable access to essential medicines globally.
We’re taking a fresh look at what the last decade has taught us about essential medicines—how to pay for them fairly, how to share new innovations, how to build up public systems to deliver them efficiently and without discrimination, and how to track our progress.
I’m delighted to bring a legal perspective to the table, especially to look at how good laws can open up access, but also where legal barriers can still hold progress back. Making sure our legal frameworks work hand in hand with public health goals, new technologies, and global efforts for fairness will be key to ensuring everyone gets the essential medicines they need.
- dr. Katrina Perehudoff
The final report will launch in 2027, marking the 50th anniversary of the World Health Organization's Model List of Essential Medicines.
The Building Bridges for Medicines Justice Conference, taking place on 28–29 October, represents an important moment for collective reflection on the roles of law and governance in ensuring equitable access to medicines, to inform the work of this Lancet Commission. The conference will bring together experts, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates to examine the latest evidence, share diverse perspectives, and explore how legal and policy frameworks can better promote innovation and access to medicines.
Lancet Commissions are high-profile, peer-reviewed initiatives published in The Lancet, one of the world’s leading medical journals. Each Commission brings together an invited group of international experts (usually academics) to address urgent and complex health challenges, with the aim of shaping the scientific evidence base and influencing policy for years to come.
Dr. Perehudoff's research and participation in this Lancet Commission is generously supported by the Amsterdam University Fund. The Commission's inagural meeting in Brussels on October 8-10, 2025 is supported by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Enabel, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and Team Europe Support Structure MAV+.
Dr. Perehudoff's appointment highlights the growing recognition of the role of law in influencing human health globally, and LHL’s leadership at the intersection of law, policy, and health.