Hi, I’m Seiya, a medical student from Institute of Science Tokyo, currently in iBSc Global Health. My goal is to work on Universal Health Coverage at the WHO, so helping run a conference with the Imperial WHO Collaborating Centre is the kind of work I want to do.
I’ve organised events like this before. In Japan, I helped organise student events across borders and disciplines, from exchanges with medical students in Thailand to sessions where medical and engineering students tackled health problems together. That last one matters at Imperial: some of the best ideas in global health come from people outside medicine, and I want our conference to welcome them.
I also bring a perspective from Japan, which has had UHC since 1961 but still leaves people behind. I’ve seen this volunteering at a free health consultation in Tokyo, and in my research on hospital staff’s attitudes toward foreign patients ( https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41182-025-00844-z ) and on overwork-related deaths ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N6fIQTwtUGgjgjZ5RQyQFG-LUvDk7WaC/view?usp=share_link ). At a conference in Thailand, I was the only Japanese student among about 100, and I learned how much we gain when different health systems meet in one room.
If elected, I will:
- Choose the theme early, with members’ input
- Invite speakers beyond the usual names, including voices from low- and middle-income countries and early-career researchers
- Add workshops and networking time, not just talks
- Run a session mixing medicine with engineering, policy or business
- Keep tickets affordable
- Give every subcommittee member a clear role
Thanks for reading, please vote Seiya!