Improving the health and social well-being of societies must be everyone’s responsibility. There is an extraordinary amount of work to be done. The methodologies to creatively problem solve health and social concerns for the most vulnerable and marginalized populations will require social inclusion of these groups. Our progress and success need to be measured at how well we collectively take on challenges and generate solutions to better societies globally.

Promoting long-range thinking requires a cross-sector approach that cuts across geographic, ethnic, social, cultural and interdisciplinary boundaries. Strategic think-tanks and policy dialogues must be real and hard-hitting to create awareness and provoke concrete actions to a host of global strategic issues to improve health and social well-being. As stewards of large public institutions, as educators of future leaders, and as active participants in the search for ideas and solutions that will shape our common future, academic and research institutions have a critical role to play in advancing the sustainability agenda for health equity. To address complex issues and create meaningful change, we work with academics, researchers, policy makers, practitioners, community stakeholders, youth and elders to critically examine global health issues from a focused and collaborative lens. Our approach is multi-faceted and inclusive, in order to leverage diverse talents to support communities in developing, implementing and evaluating health policies and strategies.