Sciana: The Health Leaders Network, Cohort 6 Meeting 4

Cohort 6’s final residential meeting brought Fellows together for an intensive three-day programme dedicated to consolidating their learning and strengthening their systems leadership for new forms of health, care, and wellbeing across Europe.

As Fellows prepared to close their Sciana journey, they revisited both the personal and collective dimensions of leadership developed over the past three years.  

The gathering invited them to reflect on their growth, refine how they communicate as leaders in complex systems, and finalise their challenge work for of their exchange with Cohort 7.

The programme featured candid conversations, reflective moments, and insights from invited contributors, Sciana Advisors, and Sciana Fellows in Cohort 7

• Navdeep Sidhu, Marketing and Communications Manager at The Health Foundation (UK), guided Fellows through a session on leadership communication, supporting them in refining their op-eds and developing their individual leadership statements.
• Pedro Delgado, Vice President of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and Alwen Williams, Sciana Advisor for the United Kingdom, lead a session on the relational foundations of systems leadership, exploring how leaders shape culture and create the conditions for collaboration.
• Pedro Delgado, and Sciana Fellows Bola Owolabiand and Minal Bakhai (both Cohort 7) also shared perspectives from IHI on emerging innovations in population health.
• Lothar H. Wieler, Sciana Advisor for Germany and Chair of the Digital Global Public Health Department at the Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, along with João Rangel de Almeida, Global Health Emergency Corps Partnership Officer at the World Health Organization, offered insights into leadership for health emergencies and crisis response.

A central highlight of the meeting was The Exchange, where Fellows presented the culmination of their challenge work, key learnings, practical recommendations, and reflections on leading systemic change to Cohort 7.

The meeting concluded with the Sciana Lecture, Leadership Lessons in the COVID Response, delivered by Lothar H. Wieler and Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation, followed by a celebratory evening.

Across the three days, Fellows reflected on their Sciana experience, articulated how they will carry this work forward, and reconnected with the purpose that brought them into the programme.  

This final gathering aimed to provide clarity, momentum, and renewed commitment as they prepare to lead change within increasingly complex and interconnected health systems.