Global Medicines launch: A St. Jude employee’s perspective of a world-changing platform

Medicines are already being delivered in most of the pilot nations, which include Ecuador, Jordan, Mongolia, Nepal, Uzbekistan and Zambia. 

St. Jude has partnered with WHO in collaboration with PAHO Strategic Fund and UNICEF to provide these essential medicines at no cost to hospitals, clinics and other treatment facilities.  

“We are now providing these children an uninterrupted supply of quality medicines,” Liu said. 

An international perspective 

Liu, who was born and raised in Beijing, China, first came to the U.S. on a scholarship to the University of Georgia. She earned a master’s degree in economics and PhD in international relations. 

Liu joined St. Jude in June 2022. She had not worked in public health but had extensive experience in foreign policy and dealing with international agencies. 

Two months into her role at St. Jude, Liu traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to meet with WHO officials. She compares the early and current stages of her work to launching a startup company. 

Liu said the effort involves a three-pronged approach: governance, global procurement and country engagement. 

“It took time to build a team. Relationships are an important part of our work,” she said. 

As partnerships formed, the Global Platform began to develop collaboration with international procurement agencies such as UNICEF and PAHO Strategic Fund. While St. Jude defines what medicines and formulations are needed, procurement agencies source these medicines from trusted manufacturers through a complex global tender mechanism.  

The third part of the process involves countries and their regulatory processes. 

“Countries have their own requirements for importation of these products, and some of these medicines have cold chain considerations for transport and handling,” Liu said. 

Once medicines arrive in a country, the next step is warehousing and distribution, ensuring that countries have the infrastructure in place to store and deliver the medicines to treatment facilities. 

“We spent months developing clinical and supply chain minimum standards, and we evaluated them,” Liu said. “We sent dozens of experts to the six countries to do assessments. Then they came back, and we determined what we needed to do to address these gaps in consultation with countries.” 

Assessing the situation 

As a technical partner in the Global Platform, St. Jude provides its clinical expertise to help ensure participating facilities meet clinical requirements for its systems and practices. The medicines supplied by the Global Platform have different requirements for handling, storage and use. 

“Our Global Pharmacy team goes in and assesses if these facilities have the right protection measures and that the staff knows how to prepare, prescribe and administer those medicines and to properly dispose of waste,” Liu said. “It is not just one trip for an assessment; there may be multiple trips that involve readiness and technical assistance.” 

Looking ahead 

Liu’s workday often begins with morning meetings with WHO colleagues and other international partners in Europe. She’s part of seven different working groups. Most of these groups include up to a dozen people from different institutions discussing policies, communications and various aspects of the Global Platform operation. 

“I feel very privileged to be part of this,” Liu said. “It’s amazing to have this opportunity and contribute to such an important moment in our institution’s history.”