Akiko Maeda is a Japanese health economist with 30 years' experience in international development. She has held various technical and managerial positions at the World Bank, OECD, Asian Development Bank, UNICEF, and UNDP, having served in field offices to implement projects on the ground in countries such as Yemen, Cambodia, and Tajikistan.  

More recently, Maeda led the World Bank’s global program on universal health coverage under the partnership program with the government of Japan and has contributed to the UN Global Health Workforce Strategy as a member of the technical working group. She was also responsible for producing OECD’s Health Workforce Skills Assessment report and is currently working with WHO to produce a health labor market analysis toolkit. Currently, she is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group for the Global Health Workforce Network and a member of the advisory board for The Network: Toward Unity for Health, an international non-profit organization which serves as a community of practice to educate and share knowledge for universal access and equitable health systems. 

Maeda holds a PhD in health economics from Johns Hopkins University, a master's in biochemistry & molecular biology, and a master's in political economy of the Middle East from Harvard University.