David Peters

Faculty & School/Dept.

Faculty of Health -

Degrees

BSc - 1986
University of Manitoba
Canada

MD - 1986
University of Manitoba
Canada

MPH - 1989
Johns Hopkins University
USA

DrPH - 1993
Johns Hopkins University
USA

Biography

David Peters studies how to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries, particularly to better serve poor and marginalized populations.

He has been a researcher, policy advisor, educator, manager, and clinician, working in dozens of low and middle-income countries (LMICs) for over 30 years. He is known for his collaborative work on developing the fields of health policy & systems research, implementation science, and on building institutional capacity through innovations in organization, technology, and financing of health systems.  His research program has been funded by over 30 grants as Principal Investigator (> US$60 million in career) that are typically collaboratively designed, implemented, and translated to inform health policy and practice in LMIC settings. He has led or co-led research programs working in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Uganda, and at the global level.  His work has also led to over 150 peer-reviewed publications (over 230 publications overall including 8 books/monographs and 23 book chapters). While a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, he was advisor to over 100 graduate students and won 19 teaching awards. He is a much sought-after leader and advisor for international and national programs and is among the top 1% of most-cited scientists in the world (Ioannidis 2022).  

He has also made important contributions to numerous global health boards, advisory bodies, governments and universities, including the World Health Organization (Board Chair of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research); The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Scientific Advisory Board; and was co-Chair of the Canadian Institute of Health Research Advisory Board for the Institute of Population and Public Health.

Selected Publications

Peters DH, Yazbeck AS, Sharma R, Ramana GNV, Pritchett L, Wagstaff A. 2002. Better Health Systems for India’s Poor: Findings, Analysis, and Options. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Peters DH, Noor AA, Singh LP, Kakar FK, Hansen PM, Burnham G. A balanced scorecard for health services in Afghanistan. Bull World Health Organ 2007;85(2):146-51.

Peters DH, Garg A, Bloom G, Walker DG, Brieger WR, Hafizur Rahman M. Poverty and access to health care in developing countries. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2008;1136:161-71

Pariyo GW, Ekirapa-Kiracho E, Okui O, Rahman MH, Peterson S, Bishai DM, Lucas H, Peters DH. Changes in utilization of health services among poor and rural residents in Uganda: Are reforms benefitting the poor? International Journal for Equity in Health 2009;8.

Paina L, Peters DH. Understanding pathways for scaling up health services through the lens of complex adaptive systems. Health Policy Plan 2012;27(5):365-73

Peters DH, Bloom G. Developing world: Bring order to unregulated health markets. Nature 2012;487(7406):163-5.

El Arifeen S, Christou A, Reichenbach L, Osman FA, Azad K, Islam KS, Ahmed F, Perry HB, Peters DH. Community-based approaches and partnerships: Innovations in health-service delivery in Bangladesh. The Lancet 2013;382(9909):2012-26.

Peters DH, Adam T, Alonge O, Agyepong IA, Tran N. Implementation research: What it is and how to do it. BMJ  2013;347:f6753.  

Peters DH. The application of systems thinking in health: Why use systems thinking? Health Res Policy Syst 2014;12:51,4505-12-51 

Peters DH, Paina L, Schleimann F. Sector-wide approaches (SWAps) in health: What have we learned? Health Policy Plan 2013;28(8):884-90.

Kirsch TD, Moseson H, Massaquoi M, Nyenswah TG, Goodermote R, Rodriguez-Barraquer I, Lessler J, Cumings D, Peters DH. Impact of interventions and the incidence of ebola virus disease in Liberia-implications for future epidemics. Health Policy Plan. 2016; 1-10. doi: 10.1093/heapol/czw113

Engineer C, Dale E, Agarwal A, Agarwal A, Alonge O, Edward A, Gupta S, Schuh H, Burnham B, Peters DH. Effectiveness of a pay for performance intervention to improve maternal and child health services in Afghanistan: A cluster-randomized trial. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2016; 1-9. 

Theobald S, Brandes N, Gyapong M, El-Saharty S, Proctor E, Diaz T, Wanji S, Elloker S, Raven J, Elsey H, Bharal S, Pelletier D, Peters DH. Implementation research: new imperatives and opportunities in global health. Lancet. 2018; 392(10160):2214-2228.

Alonge O, Sonkarlay S, Gwaikolo W, Fahim C, Cooper JL, Peters DH. Understanding the role of community resilience in addressing the Ebola virus disease epidemic in Liberia: a qualitative study (community resilience in Liberia), Global Health Action. 2019. 12:1,

Gupta M, Wahl B, Adhikari B, Bar-Zeev N, Bhandari S, Coria A, Erchick D, Gupta N, Hariyani S, Kagucia E, Killewo J, Limaye R, McCollum E, Pandey R, Pomat W, Rao K, Santosham M, Sauer M, Wanyenze R, Peters DH. The need for COVID-19 research in low- and middle-income countries. Glob Health Res Policy. 2020 July; 5:33

Peters DH, Alonge O. 2023. Health Policy and Systems Research: The Role of Implementation Research. In S Siddiqi, A Mataria, KD Rouleau, M Iqbal, ed.  Making Health Systems Work in Low and Middle Income Countries: Textbook for Public Health Practitioners. Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom.

Supervision

Currently available to supervise graduate students: No

Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: No

Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: No