Jonathan F. Bean, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., is a professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. Bean is an internationally recognized expert in geriatric rehabilitation. The goal of his work is to foster the development of new models of care that optimize the functioning of older adults. This includes an emphasis on principles that are prioritized within age-friendly health care systems. These overarching goals are addressed through his leadership of the based New England Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), one of the 20 congressionally mandated VA GRECCs. Bean is the first physiatrist to ever lead a VA GRECC. He is also a staff physician at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. His own research program focuses on developing new models of care that position rehabilitation as the centerpiece of secondary prevention of functional decline and adverse health outcomes among older adults. He leads a strong federally funded (NIH and VA) research training program for trainees of all levels desiring to pursue a career in patient-oriented research.

John Beard, Ph.D., M.B.B.S., is Irene Diamond Professor and director of the International Longevity Center USA at Columbia University, New York. He was previously director of ageing and life course with WHO in Geneva. While at WHO he led multiple large international initiatives including the 2015 World Report on Ageing and Health, the Integrated Care for Older People program, and the Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, which now covers more than 300 million people. He has worked extensively with the World Economic Forum and was a commissioner with the recent U.S. National Academy of Medicine Commission on Healthy Longevity.

Jerome Bickenbach, Ph.D., LL.B., is a permanent visiting professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at the University of Lucerne and professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and Faculties of Law and Medicine at Queen’s University. Since 1995 he has been a consultant with the WHO working on the revision of the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps to the final draft leading to the ICF. Bickenbach has participated in nearly all revision activities and continues to consult with WHO on ICF dissemination and international disability social policy. His research is in disability studies, using qualitative and quantitative research techniques within the paradigm of participatory action research. Most recently his research includes disability quality of life and the disability critique, disability epidemiology, universal design and inclusion, modeling disability statistics for population health surveys, the relationship between disability and well-being, disability and aging issues and the application of ICF to monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As a lawyer, Bickenbach was a human rights litigator, specializing in antidiscrimination for persons with intellectual impairments and mental illness. Since 2007 he has led the Disability Policy Unit at Swiss Paraplegic Research in Nottwil. He is the author of Physical Disability and Social Policy (1993) and the coeditor of Introduction to Disability (1998), Disability and Culture: Universalism and Diversity (2000), A Seat at the Table: Persons with Disabilities and Policy Making (2001), Quality of Life and Human Difference (2003), and numerous articles and chapters in disability studies.

Dorothy Boggs, Ph.D., O.T.R./L., M.Sc.P.H., F.H.E.A., is a mixed methods researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) who works with the International Centre for Evidence on Disability. She is a U.S. occupational therapist who received her bachelor’s in occupational therapy at Boston University and both her master’s in public health and her Ph.D. in clinical research at LSHTM. She worked for Humanity & Inclusion for almost 7 years before joining LSHTM as a researcher in 2016. Boggs’s work focuses primarily on health, functioning, and disability metrics and measurement approaches and global access to rehabilitation and assistive technology. She has published more than 25 peer-reviewed publications, in addition to a variety of gray literature publications and international conference presentations. She has more than 15 years’ experience in rehabilitation, disability, inclusion, and maternal, newborn, and child health in low- and middle-income countries.

Henri Bounameaux, M.D., is an honorary professor and emeritus dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva. He was active for 40 years at the University Hospitals of Geneva as chief of the Division of Angiology and Hemostasis, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and director of education and research. His research topics dealt with all aspects of venous thromboembolic disease, mainly pulmonary embolism. Since 2020 he is the president of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.

Somnath Chatterji, M.D., worked with WHO for more than 20 years, most recently as the outgoing director of the Department of Data and Analytics. He trained as a medical doctor and specialized in psychiatry. He has coordinated several large international projects, including the development of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, the revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, the World Health Surveys, WHO’s Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health, the World Mental Health surveys, and several other large international projects funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Alcohol and Alcoholism, National Institute of Drug Abuse, the European Commission, and other funding agencies. He has participated as a speaker at several National Academies of Sciences meetings on subjective well-being, aging, and healthy longevity. He has a published track record of estimating the impact of health conditions and their burden globally, including books on the burden of mental disorders and on the cross-cultural study of disability. He has been listed by the Web of Science as being among the world’s most cited researchers (h-index 102) and has more than 200 publications in prestigious peer-reviewed journals.

Alarcos Cieza, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.Sc., is head of the Integrated Service Delivery Unit and the Sensory Functions, Disability and Rehabilitation Unit at the WHO Department of Noncommunicable Diseases. In this role, she provides strategic leadership, management support, and overall direction to WHO’s work on integrated service delivery with a focus on noncommunicable diseases, eye and hearing care, rehabilitation, and disability. Before joining WHO in September 2014, she served as chair and professor of medical psychology at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom and led a research unit for more than 10 years at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and then at the Pettenkofer School of Public Health at LudwigMaximilians-University, Munich, Germany.

Nicola Diviani, Ph.D., serves as a senior research associate at Swiss Paraplegic Research within the Person-Centered Health Care and Health Communication Group. He is also a lecturer at the University of Lucerne’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine. He is leading a pivotal 4-year project focusing on the existential aspects of self-management for individuals recently diagnosed with spinal cord injuries, generously supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. His involvement extends to numerous projects exploring health behavior and related factors. Diviani is an active member of the University of Lucerne’s Center for Rehabilitation in Global Health Systems and has offered his expertise as a consultant to the World Health Organization’s Make Listening Safe program and the World Rehabilitation Alliance. Furthermore, from 2016 to 2022 he represented Switzerland on the advisory committee of the International Association for Communication in Healthcare. Holding a Ph.D. in communication sciences from the University of Lugano, Diviani’s research primarily explores health behavior, literacy, self-management, health information seeking (both online and offline), health empowerment, eHealth, and mHealth. His work critically examines the challenges individuals face in leveraging new communication technologies for health-related purposes, such as cancer prevention, vaccination, or self-management, aiming to identify effective solutions to these issues. Over the years, Diviani has conducted extensive research at the Institute of Communication and Health at the University of Lugano, as well as at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Amsterdam School of Communication Research, contributing significantly to the field.

Victor J. Dzau, M.D., is president of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and serves as vice chair of the U.S. National Research Council. He is chancellor emeritus and James B. Duke Professor at Duke University and past CEO of the Duke Health System. Previously, he was professor and chair of medicine at Harvard and Stanford Universities. He is an internationally acclaimed leader and physician-scientist whose research laid the foundation for development of the class of lifesaving drugs known as ACE inhibitors, used globally to treat high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. Dzau serves as the inaugural president of the NAM, where he leads a strategy of innovation, action, and equity. The launch of the NAM Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge represents Dzau’s vision to inspire across disciplines and sectors to coalesce around a shared priority and audacious goal to advance health. The Grand Challenge consists of the Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity and the Global Competition. Among Dzau’s many honors and recognitions are the Gustav Nylin Medal from the Swedish Royal College of Medicine and the Poulzer Prize of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Dzau has received 18 honorary doctorates.

Julia Patrick Engkasan, Ph.D., M.B.B.S., is an associate professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Universiti Malaya. Her primary research area is in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, but she is also leading research in pulmonary and geriatric rehabilitation. She has performed collaborative research within different disciplines in Universiti Malaya, Malaysia, and internationally. She is the chair of International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine–WHO Subcommittee and is a committee member of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Taskforce. She sits on the editorial boards of Spinal Cord journal, Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, and ASEAN Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. She graduated from the Universiti Malaya with a master’s of rehabilitation medicine degree in 2006 and with a Ph.D. in shared decision making in 2017.

Walter R. Frontera, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P., is a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. He formerly served as the inaugural chair and professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Frontera’s main research interest is study of the mechanisms underlying muscle atrophy and weakness in older people and the development of rehabilitative interventions for sarcopenia. He is editor in chief of the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the immediate past president of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in applied anatomy and physiology from Boston University. Frontera is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has served on numerous National Academies’ committees, including the Standing Committee of Medical and Vocational Experts for the Social Security Administration’s Disability Programs and the Committee on the Use of Selected Assistive Products and Technologies in Eliminating or Reducing the Effects of Impairments. He is also a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London).

Francesca Gimigliano, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of physical and rehabilitation medicine, chair of the Clinical Unit of General and Specialist Rehabilitation Medicine, coordinator of the Ph.D. National Program in Public Administration and Innovation for Disability and Social Inclusion, and president of the Bachelor Program of Speech and Language Therapy in the Department of Mental and Physical Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli.” Gimigliano is also the president of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

Marija Glisic, M.D., Ph.D., P.D., is a medical doctor with a master’s degree in health sciences and a Ph.D. in clinical epidemiology from Erasmus University Rotterdam Medical Center, the Netherlands. She has completed a postdoctoral qualification (habilitation) in clinical epidemiology at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Glisic is leading a research group at the Institute for Social and Preventative Medicine, University of Bern, that focuses on cardiometabolic disease and spinal cord injury. She also works at the Swiss Paraplegic Research in Campus Nottwil, Switzerland, where she co-leads the Cardiometabolic and Respiratory Research group. Glisic’s research aims to understand the determinants of cardiometabolic disease risk in individuals with neurotrauma. Additionally, she seeks to support the development and implementation of cost-effective personalized interventions to reduce disease burden and improve the lived experience of people with injuries. Her research has a special focus on sex/gender differences, women’s health, and lifestyle.

Abderrazak Hajjioui, M.D., M.P.M., Ph.D., has specialized in physical and rehabilitation medicine since 2009 and in pain medicine since 2011. Currently serving as a full professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University Abdelmalek Essaâdi of Tangier, Morocco, he holds a European master’s degree in physical and rehabilitation medicine and earned a master’s degree in public management in 2014. In 2017 he was awarded the national prize for research and innovation in disability. His extensive contributions include the publication of numerous articles and books. As an international expert in rehabilitation in health systems, he serves as the cochair of the workforce workstream of the World Rehabilitation Alliance and is a member of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine ClinFIT Committee and the Task Force on Physical Activity for People with Disabilities, and the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine–WHO Liaison Committee. Additionally, he is president of the Moroccan Association for the Promotion of Rehabilitation Sciences and Prevention of Disability, vice president of the Middle Eastern and North African network, and a member of the African Spinal Cord Injury Network.

Alan M. Jette, Ph.D., is emeritus professor and dean at Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and served as professor of health policy and management at the Boston University School of Public Health from 2005 to 2017. He also served as professor of rehabilitation sciences at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions from 2012 to 2021. He is an international expert on rehabilitation and a leader in developing patient-centered rehabilitation outcome measures in a range of challenging clinical areas such as work disability, post-acute care, spinal cord injury, and neurological, orthopedic, and geriatric conditions. He has authored more than 250 publications in the rehabilitation sciences field and served as a principal investigator for numerous studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, and several foundations. He has served as a member of more than a dozen National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine boards and committees. He chaired the Institute of Medicine committee that authored the 2007 report The Future of Disability in America. In addition to cochairing the Forum on Aging, Disability, and Independence, he was chair of the Committee on the Use of Selected Assistive Products and Technologies in Eliminating or Reducing the Effects of Impairments. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in public health from the University of Michigan.

Ruth Katz, M.Ed., is the incoming president and CEO of the Association of Jewish Aging Services in late February 2024. From 2018 to 2024 she served as senior vice president for policy and advocacy at LeadingAge. Both the Association of Jewish Aging Services and LeadingAge are membership organizations of nonprofit providers of aging services across the continuum of care, including nursing homes, assisted living, home care, hospice, low-income senior housing, and independent living services. At LeadingAge she led the Public Policy and Advocacy team, developing, leading, and overseeing the successful execution of LeadingAge’s public policy agenda, including legislation and regulation. Based on the board-approved public policy agenda and in collaboration with state partners, Katz oversaw the development of LeadingAge’s public policy positions and employed strategies to advance its policy agenda through Congress and the executive branch. She ensured thoughtful analysis of policy options and direction and activated the membership to achieve the LeadingAge agenda through engagement and grassroots efforts. Katz is a principal spokesperson for the association’s public policy positions and the primary representative of the policy agenda to other organizations and coalitions concerned with policy issues affecting LeadingAge membership. Before joining LeadingAge, Ruth was a longtime executive at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with a focus on development and execution of policy research and analysis for programs in aging, long-term care, and disability. Katz built her career at the Health and Human Services office of the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation and the office of disability, aging, and long-term care policy. In her dual roles as the associate deputy assistant secretary and director of the division of aging and disability, she led, directed, and coordinated policy and research regarding the Health and Human Services disability, aging, Medicare, and long-term care policy agenda.

NiCole R. Keith, Ph.D., M.S., is dedicated to research and programming that increases physical activity participation, improves fitness, and positively influences health outcomes while addressing health equity. She has served on the Indiana University Bloomington faculty since 2023. She also is a research scientist at the Center for Aging Research in the Indiana University School of Medicine and a Regenstrief Institute investigator. Keith was the 2020–2021 American College of Sports Medicine vice president of membership, communication, education, and policy as well as its 2020–2021 president, and she serves on several other national committees for the organization. A fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology, Keith serves on the academy’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Presidential Committee, the membership committee, and the editorial board. She is currently the chair of the National Physical Activity Plan and serves on the Physical Activity Alliance Advisory Committee. Keith earned a B.S. degree in physical education from Howard University in 1992, an M.S. degree in exercise science from the University of Rhode Island in 1994, a Ph.D. degree in exercise physiology from the University of Connecticut in 1999, and an M.S. degree in clinical research from Indiana University in 2011. She is trained in physical activity, community, and clinical research.

Fary Khan, M.D., A.M., M.B.B.S., F.A.F.R.M., is a specialist in rehabilitation and physical medicine and a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She is director of rehabilitation services at Royal Melbourne Hospital, clinical director at Australian Rehabilitation Research Centre, and clinical professor in the Department of Medicine at University of Melbourne, the Nossal Institute of Global Health, and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She is an elected international member for the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and was awarded the Member for the Order of Australia (2022) for her contribution to rehabilitation medicine and research. She is the inaugural academic fellow to the Royal Australasian College of Physicians’ Board of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and elected board member of the Rehabilitation Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand. She has 20 years of experience in neurological, cancer, and trauma rehabilitation. She set up evidence-based specialized rehabilitation programs for specific conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, stroke, oncology, musculoskeletal injuries, and disaster management. She is chair of the Disaster Rehabilitation Committee, International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, and Disaster Rehabilitation Special Interest Group, Rehabilitation Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand. She holds more than 20 national and international executive positions and more than 15 international academic appointments at various universities. She is an executive member of International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Women’s Taskforce and Cancer Rehabilitation Working Group. She has an interest in refugee health and disability. She works with the executive for the UN International Council for Caring Communities and WHO–International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Liaison Committee representing medical disability. She leads the Global Rehabilitation Flying Faculty (endorsed by the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine), established to support capacity-building activities in Rehabilitation Medicine, with educational training programs in more than 15 countries. Khan has a leadership role in rehabilitative care in Australia with more than 20 years of experience in health outcomes and health services research. She has published more than 500 scientific papers in peer-reviewed academic journals (including 14 Cochrane reviews and 20 book chapters).

Matilde Leonardi, M.D., is the director of the Neurology, Public Health, and Disability Unit and Coma Research Centre, and is director Italian of the WHO Collaborating Centre Research Branch, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico “Carlo Besta,” Milan, Italy. Leonardi is a neurologist, pediatrician, neonatologist, and child neurologist and specializes in bioethics. Leonardi is also a World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation Presidium member, Flying Faculty, and board member of advocacy; One Neurology ambassador; communication committee chair, board member, and FEAN Fellow of the European Academy of Neurology; European Federation Research in Rehabilitation board member; WHO expert on disability and neurology; cochair of the WHO NeuroCovid Forum essential neurological services group; and member of the Neuro Covid Global Research Coalition. Leonardi is a corresponding member of the Pontificia Academia Pro Vita and sits on the board of directors of the Bioethics Centre at the Catholic University of Milan. Leonardi was nominated by the Italian government to be a member of the National Bioethics Committee in 2022, was an elected board member of the National Neurology Society in October 2023, and was elected to the European Federation for Rehabilitation Research in November 2023.

Patricia Morsch, Ph.D., M.A., P.T., is a physical therapist and has more than 18 years of combined experience in clinical physical therapy and research on aging, older adults’ health, and public health. She holds a graduate certificate in public health, a master of arts in gerontology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a Ph.D. in biomedical gerontology from the Pontifical Catholic University of de Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Morsch works as the healthy aging advisor in the Department of Health Systems and Services at the Pan American Health Organization headquarters in the Washington, D.C., regional WHO office for the Americas.

Elias Mpofu, Ph.D., D.Ed., is a professor of aging and rehabilitation sciences at the University of North Texas and honorary professor of health sciences at the University of Sydney. His aging and rehabilitation sciences research focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of resilience, social supports, and other health promotive relationships of older adults aging with or into disability. It frames aging and disability questions on the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Disability, Health, and Functioning, an integrative approach for biological, psychological, and behavioral data. This provides for a holistic person–environment interaction perspective in which contextual factors are moderators between health and well-being components (body function and structure, activity limitations, and participation restrictions) and with feedback pathways among the components. His research advances the design of person-centric approaches for the successful community living and participation of older adults, supporting their empowered aging.

Diana Pacheco, Ph.D., is professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne, and group leader of the Health Economics Group at Swiss Paraplegic Research. She earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, in 2013 and a M.Sc. in economics from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2008. Between 2015 and 2020, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Swiss Paraplegic Research in the Rehabilitation Services, Economics and Statistics Group. Since obtaining her Ph.D., Pacheco has taught several courses, including social policy, health systems and services, applied economics, and social impact of health. Her research interests include health economics, applied economics, and social policy.

Birgit Prodinger, Ph.D., M.Sc., M.Sc., is chair and professor of inclusive health care at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Prodinger is a health and rehabilitation scientist with extensive experience in studying and teaching functioning. Her research focuses on describing and understanding the lived experience of people with disability and how health systems respond to their needs. By using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health as a reference, she has contributed considerably to establishing methods for the standardized reporting of routinely collected functioning data in clinical practice. Prodinger is a member of the Centre for Rehabilitation in Global Health Systems, a Collaborating Centre of the WHO, at the University of Lucerne. Prodinger was trained as an occupational therapist in Salzburg, Austria, then completed the European master of science in occupational therapy program, a joint program of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Karolinska Institute, CVU Sud, and the University of Brighton. She completed her Ph.D. in health and rehabilitation sciences at Western University, Ontario, and received the Venia Legendi in Health Sciences from the University of Lucerne. Prodinger also holds a master of science in health informatics from University College London. Prodinger led a research group at Swiss Paraplegic Research focusing on describing and understanding the lived experience of health using the ICF as a reference system. Her research was conducted in close collaboration with WHO, among other national and international stakeholders.

Jan D. Reinhardt, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist and rehabilitation researcher. He is currently employed as full professor and director of health sciences at the Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction of Sichuan University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China. In addition, Reinhardt is visiting professor at Jiangsu Province Hospital/Nanjing Medical University First Affiliated Hospital, China, and lecturing professor at the Department of Health Sciences and Medicine of the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. He is a Ph.D. supervisor at the West China School of Public Health and School of Nursing, Sichuan University, and at the Department of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne. He is a former chair of the Disaster Rehabilitation Committee of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine and current chair of the Disaster Special Interest Group of the Asia-Oceania Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. Reinhardt is associate editor of the International Journal of Public Health. He has authored more than 150 original articles in international journals listed in science citation index with more than 3,700 citations and an h-index of 37. His research interests include rehabilitation research; International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health; epidemiology of functioning and disability; theory, measurement, and models of environmental factors and their relation to human health; labor market participation of persons with health conditions; effectiveness of clinical and health services interventions; international NGOs in disability and rehabilitation; health and rehabilitation after natural disaster; clinical trial design and research methodology; and prediction models for health care demand and payment.

Sara Rubinelli, Ph.D., holds a degree in classics and philosophy from the Catholic University of Milan and a Ph.D. from the University of Leeds in the areas of argumentation theory, persuasion, and rhetoric. She is professor in health communication at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine of the University of Lucerne and vice dean of health sciences. Since September 2009 she has led the Person-Centered Healthcare/Health Communication Group at Swiss Paraplegic Research. Since 2017 she has been a scientific advisor for the World Health Organization.

Carla Sabariego, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a clinical psychologist and holds a master’s degree in public health and epidemiology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. She completed her Ph.D. in 2011 with a focus on cost-effectiveness evaluations of rehabilitation programs. Her habilitation, finished in 2016, focused on the implementation of the WHO ICF as a conceptual framework in clinical rehabilitation and public health. She pursued both her Ph.D. and habilitation at the Medical Faculty of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, where she worked for 15 years as a senior researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Public Health and Health Services Research. From 2011 to 2018, she was a consultant to the WHO in the area of functioning and disability measurement; she mainly contributed to the development, pilot testing, and implementation of the WHO Model Disability Survey—a dedicated functioning and disability survey—in several countries. From May 2017 to July 2018, she worked in the WHO’s Disability and Rehabilitation Programme in the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention in Geneva. In January 2021 she was appointed assistant professor (tenure track) for rehabilitation and healthy aging at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne, and is currently vice dean of the Department of Rehabilitation and Functioning Sciences. Together with Gerold Stucki, she heads the faculty’s Centre for Rehabilitation in Global Health Systems, which has been a WHO Collaborating Centre since 2018. Through her bridge professorship, she leads the Ageing, Functioning Epidemiology and Implementation working group, together with Jerome Bickenbach, at Swiss Paraplegic Research in Nottwil.

Paola Sillitti, M.Sc., is a research officer in the Health Division at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Her work covers mainly the topics of end-of-life care, long-term care, and integrated care. She holds a master of science in economics and management and a bachelor of science in economics from Bocconi University, Milan. She has also studied economics at the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, and international affairs at Sciences Po Paris.

Eleanor Simonsick, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist in the Longitudinal Studies Section of the Translational Gerontology Branch within the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging, where she serves as co-director of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and Federal Project Officer of the Health, Aging and Body Composition study. For more than 35 years she has conducted aging-related research within the context of longitudinal observational studies focused on assessment of higher-order physical function and evaluating the behavioral, psychological, biomechanical, and physiologic factors and conditions that impact maintenance and decline in function and the overall aging process.

Bruno Staffelbach, Ph.D., is a professor for business administration, director of the Center for Human Resource Management, and president of the University of Lucerne. Staffelbach is an honorary member of the International Committee of the Red Cross and is a former brigadier general and commander of an infantry brigade of the Swiss Armed Forces.

Gerold Stucki, M.D., M.S., is a professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine and director of the Center for Rehabilitation in Global Health Systems, a WHO Collaborating Center, at the University of Lucerne. He is also director of Swiss Paraplegic Research and the ICF Research Branch, Switzerland. A physician with clinical training in physical and rehabilitation medicine and rheumatology, Stucki holds a master of science in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health and a diploma in biostatistics and epidemiology from McGill University, Montreal. He has been a member of the National Academy of Medicine since 2012.

Carl Willers, M.D., Ph.D., holds a Ph.D. in public health and epidemiology from Karolinska Institutet, where he is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society. He is a member of a multidisciplinary research group focusing on rehabilitation, collaboration, and aging and has taught various courses on the subjects of health equity and registry data studies. Ongoing research projects include health economic analysis of health care and social care for the Swedish geriatric population, evaluation of existing models for discharge from geriatric inpatient care, and development of new ways of working to optimize care transitions. He is employed as an intern physician at the Karolinska University hospital and is an affiliated researcher at the Research and Development Center for the Elderly, an initiative for enhancing operationalization of research for older adults, run by the Stockholm Region Council and its municipalities. He also holds a degree in economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and worked in management consultancy (McKinsey & Company) and health economics (i3, United Health Group) before entering academia.