This interactive session with Jason Nickerson presents the efforts of MSF to ensure an equitable global distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine.  He gives his insights as an internationally recognized expert on the legal tools for improving access to controlled medicines for pain relief, palliative care, and anesthesia in developing countries.  Participants asked questions and participated in the discussion.  

Dr. Jason Nickerson, RRT, PhD is the Humanitarian Affairs Advisor for Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Ottawa, Canada, where he leads MSF’s humanitarian diplomacy in Canada and provides advice on humanitarian operations, medical advocacy and policy, and access to medicines. Jason has over 10 years’ clinical experience as a respiratory therapist working in adult critical care and anesthesia and has worked extensively in global public health response in Canada and internationally during armed conflicts, disease epidemics, and sudden onset disasters. He is an internationally-recognized expert on the legal tools for improving access to controlled medicines for pain relief, palliative care, and anesthesia in developing countries. In addition to his work with MSF, Jason is appointed as a Clinical Scientist at the Bruyère Research Institute in Ottawa and as an Adjunct Professor of Common Law at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, where he leads research on drug use and drug policy issues impacting older adults in Canada.

Jason is a graduate of Dalhousie University’s Bachelor of Health Sciences in Respiratory Therapy program, specializing in anesthesia. Following this, he completed a master’s degree at the University of British Columbia studying the education of health professionals who provide community-based HIV care in Vancouver’s downtown eastside, and a PhD in population health at the University of Ottawa where he focused on the methodologies for conducting assessments of severely disrupted health systems during acute and protracted emergencies. His research has been published in high-impact medical journals including The Lancet, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, PLOS Medicine, and Health Policy and Planning, among others. He has appeared as a witness before the Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committees on Health, Finance, and International Trade and published opinion pieces in The Star, iPolitics, and The Conversation, and has been widely quoted in international news outlets on a variety of global health and health policy issues.