Dr Suzanne Kiwanuka (PhD, MPH, DDS) is a senior lecturer and head of department, Health Policy Planning and Management at Makerere University School of Public Health (Kampala, Uganda). She has more than 15 years experience in health systems strengthening and evidence based policy making. She has previously worked with the Cochrane Effective Practices and Organization of Care (EPOC) team to generate evidence for human resources for health and led a team under the knowledge Translation Network For Africa (KTNET Africa) to build capacity for and strengthen knowledge translation for researchers and their stakeholders in 10 African countries. She was a co-team leader under the Supporting Policy Engagement for Evidence Based Decisions for Universal Health Coverage in Uganda (SPEED). She evaluated the effectiveness of donor aid and its impact on the health system in Uganda and has designed, implemented and evaluated research programs focusing on health systems such as human resources, financing and information systems. She has also led a team evaluating laboratory systems preparedness in Uganda (114 laboratories) and co-led a project aimed at saving lives of mothers and new-borns through community empowerment and health systems strengthening in three districts in Uganda. She led the country team for the COVID 19 assessment across five African countries generating more than 10 publications from this work and is currently assessing priority setting for essential services delivery and inclusion during the COVID 19 pandemic.