Anne Mills is Professor of Public Health and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Since 1990 she has led the Health Economics and Financing Programme, working on health systems in low and middle-income countries. Her research has highlighted the adverse effects of user fees and provided evidence on the importance of the retail sector as a supplier of public health products, particularly drugs, and how this sector can be used to scale up access. She has investigated ways of overcoming the barriers affecting demand for health care, including the role of health insurance. She has fostered long-term linkages with Southern Hemisphere research institutions and will be particularly useful to the Academy’s perspective on global health.