44th IHF World Hospital Congress Presents Over 60 Plenary Sessions and 200 Renowned Speakers Across Four-Day Event

The 44th World Hospital Congress organized by The International Hospital Federation (Geneva, Switzerland) will bring together more than 200 healthcare experts, leading industry thinkers, and best practice presenters at over 60 sessions around nursing leadership, humanizing technology, COVID-19 vaccination, the next global pandemic, etc.

The 2021 World Hospital Congress is set to take place on 8-11 November in Barcelona, Spain and will be one of the first hybrid healthcare management events that will take place in Europe in 2021. Offering a compelling mix of sessions, posters, IHF Awards, hospital visits, networking opportunities, social activities, and an industry exhibition, the event will provide a comprehensive experience. And for those unable to travel, virtual access is available. All sessions will be live-streamed in a dedicated event platform and recordings will be made available to all attendees for on-demand viewing.


With the overarching theme "People on board: Transforming healthcare by blending agility, responsiveness, and resilience", the 44th World Hospital Congress will present over 60 sessions where more than 200 renowned speakers will gather to share their knowledge and good practices on healthcare transformations enacted across the globe. Among several sessions across the four-day event, the more thought-provoking ones include “Getting ready for the next global pandemic: European and North American perspectives” in which public health leaders from Europe and North America will share their views on how the next pandemic might unfold; how they are leading their organizations to address the next pandemic with the lessons learned from COVID-19; and the changes needed in their organizations and local health systems to effectively respond to the next public health crisis.

The speakers at this plenary session will include Dr. Rod Hochman, M.D., president and CEO of Providence; Dr. Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems at WHO Regional Office for Europe and Associate Professor at the University of Malta; Dr. JM. Campistol, nephrologist and current General Director of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona; Dr. Bechara Choucair, MD, White House COVID-19 Vaccinations Coordinator; Wright L. Lassiter III, President and CEO of Henry Ford Health System; and Bertrand Levrat, CEO of the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), the largest university hospital in Switzerland.

Another thought-provoking plenary session “Accelerating research, development and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine: Lessons learned from key stakeholders” will focus on ways to accelerate translational research, transform the way vaccines are developed and distributed and utilize new partnerships and collaborations from industry, governments and global public health actors. This session will also explore the drivers and constrains for such an agile and good response to the crisis, as well as the key learnings that can be gleaned from the different stakeholders for the near future. The session will be chaired by Dr. Hans Kluge, Regional Director for Europe, World Health Organization and will also include other participants such as Dr. Carmen Cabezas, Secretary of Public Health at Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain; Thomas Cueni, Director General at International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations; Dr. César Hernández, Head of Department of Medicines for Human Use at Spanish Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices, Spain; and Dr. John Nkengasong, Director at Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ethiopia.

Related Links:
The International Hospital Federation