Arush Lal, PhD joined The Elders in 2025 as Pandemics Programme Advisor, where he leads strategic planning, policy development, and high-level engagement on pandemic prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery.

A specialist in global health policy and diplomacy, Arush brings an interdisciplinary background in advocacy, research, and government relations. He focuses on advancing a more coherent and equitable global health architecture to strengthen resilience amid fragmented geopolitics and overlapping crises.

Prior to The Elders, Arush served as Senior Technical Advisor on USAID’s COVID-19 Response Team and as a Commissioner on the Chatham House Commission for Universal Health. He has also held leadership and advisory roles with Women in Global Health, PAHO Strategic Fund, the ACT-Accelerator, and the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative. A Planetary Health Equity Fellow, his policy and research contributions have informed strategies at WHO, World Bank, US Congress, and UK Cabinet Office, as well as appeared in The Lancet, International Affairs, and Devex.

Arush holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where his research examined how norms linking global health security and universal health coverage evolve through governance and institutional reform to strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration. He also holds an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a BSc in Business Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Outside of work, Arush is usually on the hunt for a hidden DJ set, off-the-beaten-path adventure, or anything involving dark chocolate.