Sonu
Bhaskar

Prof. Dr Sonu Bhaskar, MD, PhD, PHF, FANA, is an internationally recognised neurologist, physician-scientist and global health leader whose work connects migration and health, health equity, neurological and cardiovascular health, health-systems reform, and public policy. A specialist in vascular neurology and neuroradiology, he leads multidisciplinary programmes spanning clinical and translational neuroscience, global health, implementation science, health-systems strengthening, governance, policy and social innovation. Dr Bhaskar has extensive leadership and governance experience in initiating and delivering systems change through senior leadership and executive roles across academic, healthcare and research organisations, not-for-profit boards and international consortia. His work combines scientific evidence, policy engagement and cross-sector partnerships to address complex health challenges, particularly those affecting migrants, refugees, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, disadvantaged populations and people living in under-resourced settings. He is the Founder and Director of the Global Health Neurology Lab, an international collaborative research initiative dedicated to reducing disparities in neurological care and advancing health equity. He leads a multidisciplinary network of more than 50 clinicians, researchers and collaborators working across neurology, cardiovascular and brain health, population health, health systems and the social determinants of health. Dr Bhaskar is also the Founding Director and Chief Investigator of the NSW Brain Clot Bank, a world-first translational stroke initiative housed within NSW Health Pathology. The initiative integrates clinical, pathological, imaging and biomedical research to advance understanding of stroke mechanisms and accelerate innovation in stroke prevention, diagnosis and treatment. A major focus of Dr Bhaskar's international policy leadership is migration and health. He is a founding member, Chair and Co-Manager of the Global Health and Migration Community of Practice at the Global Health Hub Germany, a multi-stakeholder platform bringing together academia, government, civil society, healthcare and other sectors to advance equitable responses to the health needs of migrants and refugees. Through this platform and related international collaborations, Dr Bhaskar has contributed to policy initiatives addressing migrant and refugee health, health-workforce migration, universal health coverage, equitable access to healthcare, health-system inclusion and culturally responsive models of care. He has led and contributed to policy work including “Prioritising Migrants and Refugees in the Global Health Discourse” and policy engagement on workforce and migration in the health sector, including contributions informing discussions within the German Bundestag. His policy work advances the stronger integration of migrant and refugee health into national and global health strategies; ethical and sustainable approaches to health-workforce migration; recognition and inclusion of migrant health professionals; culturally and linguistically responsive health services; improved data and implementation research; and greater participation of affected communities in defining health priorities and solutions. In 2026, Dr Bhaskar further contributed to international debate on Universal Health Coverage through his article “Who Holds the Gaze? Rethinking Universal Health Coverage”, published by the Global Health Hub Germany. The article challenges conventional approaches to UHC by arguing that equitable health systems require communities (including migrants and populations traditionally excluded from decision-making) to participate meaningfully in determining health priorities, generating evidence, designing services and defining measures of success. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Bhaskar founded and led the Pandemic Health System REsilience PROGRAM (REPROGRAM) Global, an international consortium comprising more than 150 physicians, researchers, policymakers and other experts from over 25 countries. REPROGRAM was established to strengthen health-system resilience, protect healthcare workers, advance evidence-informed policy and pandemic preparedness, and build capacity for vulnerable populations and under-resourced settings. The initiative exemplifies his approach to systems leadership: mobilising multidisciplinary international networks to translate evidence rapidly into policy, advocacy and action. Dr Bhaskar has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers across neurology, stroke, neuroscience, cardiovascular health, global health and health systems. As of 24 August 2026, his work had received approximately 69,637 Google Scholar citations, with an h-index of 74. He has delivered more than 150 invited lectures, keynote presentations, teaching sessions and expert contributions across neurology, global health, health-systems leadership and research training, and has chaired sessions at major national and international scientific and policy meetings. His publications have appeared in journals including Nature Aging, The Lancet Neurology, Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, European Journal of Neuroscience, BMC Neurology, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Nature Medicine, and other leading clinical, scientific and interdisciplinary journals. His research influence has been recognised through international bibliometric analyses. The 2025 Stanford–Elsevier citation analysis placed Dr Bhaskar among the world's most influential scientists and within approximately the top 0.3% globally in Neurology and Neurosurgery. According to Expertscape, he has also been ranked among the world's top 0.39% of researchers and experts in Stroke, 0.35% in Cerebrovascular Disorders, 0.56% in Brain Diseases, and 0.75% in Cardiovascular Diseases. Alongside his research and policy leadership, Dr Bhaskar has contributed extensively to scientific publishing, research governance, mentorship and peer review. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous international journals, including PLOS One, BMC Neurology, BMC Medical Research Methodology, Frontiers in Neurology, Frontiers in Stroke, Frontiers in Aging, Frontiers in Public Health, Diagnostics, and touchNEUROLOGY, among others. Since 2023, Dr Bhaskar has served as Visiting Director at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan, supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science International Fellowship. The appointment strengthened international collaboration across cerebrovascular medicine, neuroimaging, neurodegeneration, translational neuroscience and health systems and extended his longstanding engagement across the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Bhaskar has been recognised in Australia and internationally for his contributions to neurology, research, global health, humanitarian initiatives, leadership and public service. He was named the Overall Winner of the 2025 Asian Australian Leadership Awards, recognising his leadership and impact across medicine, research, global health and community service, and was recognised as a touchNEUROLOGY Future Leader in Neurology in 2025. His other distinctions include two European Academy of Neurology Investigator Awards in 2019, the Rotary Vocational Excellence Award in 2020, multiple Paul Harris Fellow recognitions from Rotary International, the Advance Global Australian Award in 2022, election as a Fellow of the American Neurological Association in 2022, the IABCA Science, Research and Development Award in 2023, the JSPS International Fellowship (2023–2025), membership of Sigma Xi, and the Springer Nature Editor of Distinction – Author Service Award in 2026. His work and commentary have been featured by national and international media, including the Sydney Morning Herald, 9News, SBS News Australia, Reuters Health/Medscape, Rotary Down Under, ABC News and MSN, reflecting sustained engagement in science communication, public education and policy dialogue. Having worked across the front lines of medicine, research, academia, policy and community engagement, Dr Bhaskar's policy leadership focuses on how migration, language, culture, socioeconomic conditions, geography and institutional structures determine who can access healthcare, whose knowledge informs health policy, and who is left behind by health systems. His work bridges biomedical science with the social and structural determinants of health and translates evidence into policies, programmes and models of care that respond to population diversity. Dr Bhaskar advances rights-based, evidence-informed and whole-of-society approaches to migration and health. Central to this work is the meaningful inclusion of disadvantaged populations in research, policymaking and service design; the strengthening of equitable and culturally responsive health systems; and the development of durable partnerships across governments, academia, civil society, healthcare and communities. His overarching policy agenda is to help build health systems in which migration status, language, culture, geography or socioeconomic position do not determine access to healthcare or the opportunity to attain health, and in which the populations most affected by inequity have a meaningful role in shaping the policies, institutions and services that govern their health.