About the Authors

Jody Heymann is the Founding Director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy, the WORLD Global Data Centre, and the Project on Global Working Families. An internationally renowned researcher on health and social policy, Dr. Heymann holds a Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Social Policy. She has authored and edited over 150 publications, including Raising the Global Floor (Stanford University Press, 2010), Trade and Health (McGill Queens University Press, 2007), Forgotten Families (Oxford University Press, 2006), Healthier Societies (Oxford University Press, 2006), Unfinished Work (New Press, 2005), Global Inequalities at Work (Oxford University Press, 2003), and The Widening Gap (Basic Books, 2000).

Heymann established and leads the first global initiative to examine policy affecting the public and private sector in all 192 UN nations. Deeply committed to translating research into action that will improve population health and economic outcomes, Heymann has worked with leaders in the public and private sectors in North America, Europe, Africa, and Latin America as well as a wide range of intergovernmental organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, UNICEF, and UNESCO. Heymann’s research has been presented to heads of state and senior policymakers around the world and has been widely featured on internationally and nationally syndicated media.

Magda Barrera grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received her BA in Economics from Williams College and her MA in International Affairs from Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. For the past four years she has been working at McGill University’s Institute for Health and Social Policy conducting research and writing on working conditions, and how to effectively improve social conditions in an economically sustainable way. She has co-led a fellowship program designed to examine policies and programs in countries around the world on topics such as working conditions and sustainable development.