Els Torreele

Founding Director

Dr Els Torreele is independent researcher and advisor, and founding Director of æqua, a Think Space on Equity and Economic Justice for Health. A bioengineer and PhD in biomedical sciences from Brussels University (VUB), she previously worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), and Open Society Foundations towards transforming medical research and development to address priority health needs and ensure equitable access to knowledge and technologies where and when needed. She’s a Rockefeller Bellagio Centre Resident, former Visiting Fellow at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose and Honorary Science Fellow at the VUB. She’s an author on over 50 international journal publications, including in the Lancet, BMJ, Nature, and Vaccines, and a regular contributor to the societal debate around medical innovation and access through media and social media, most recently in the context of pandemic preparedness and response and Public Pharma.