From the Bench: How Research Can Help Us Build a Future-Ready Global Healthcare Workforce
The Care Anywhere podcast is taking listeners behind the scenes of global health workforce research with a brand-new series: From the Bench. In this kickoff episode, host Lea Sims talks with Dr. Lauren Herckis of TruMerit about how research can move from data to real-world impact — revealing how evidence, collaboration, and curiosity are driving solutions for a stronger, more connected healthcare workforce worldwide.
Lea is joined by Dr. Lauren Herckis, Senior Director of the Center for Global Research and Policy at TruMerit, who leads research efforts for the organization’s Global Health Workforce Development Institute. Together, they explore how evidence-based research, data synthesis, and cross-sector collaboration are helping address some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare today — from workforce shortages and skill mobility to digital readiness and equitable access to care.
Dr. Herckis shares her background as an anthropologist and researcher in education, technology, and health systems, explaining how evidence-based practice — a concept that began in medicine — is now transforming global workforce development. She and Lea discuss the importance of synthesizing fragmented regional data, the need for global research partnerships, and how TruMerit’s new institute is creating infrastructure to make healthcare data more actionable for policymakers, educators, and health leaders worldwide.
Listeners will gain a behind-the-scenes look at how TruMerit is building research capacity to support global health workforce policy and innovation — and how data-driven insights can help us build a more resilient, equitable, and future-ready healthcare ecosystem.
Tune in to the full episode on TruMerit.org/podcast or find Care Anywhere on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.
