NEWS & EVENTS
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LATEST NEWS
AND EVENTS
Newsletter – March 2023
March 2023
Newsletter from March 2023.
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Independent Consultant
Dr. Pritika Kumar is a senior public health leader with an extensive background of over 25 years, dedicating her expertise to programs, research, and policy initiatives across domains such as HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health, social and behavioral change, as well as harm reduction strategies related to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, alongside a focus on mental health advocacy. Her journey in public health commenced as a school psychologist in New Delhi, India, and evolved into a commitment to the advancement of public health practices and support for marginalized communities.
Dr. Kumar is an alumna of both the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her career path has been diverse, encompassing roles in civil society, as well as pivotal engagements with multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and World Bank. Across these diverse settings, her primary emphasis has been on crafting and managing programs that address social determinants of health, champion health equity, foster youth development, advocate for social justice, and enhance patient experiences within healthcare systems.
Driven by a passion for integrating behavior theories, leveraging social capital, and social norms to ensure equitable access, Dr. Kumar’s recent role as a senior fellow in integrated harm reduction policy has significantly broadened her reach, allowing her to influence health policies on a broader scale. Dr. Kumar’s dedication to public health and her breadth of experience uniquely positions her as an invaluable asset, committed to leveraging her expertise for the betterment of communities and the advancement of inclusive health policies.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Medic
Dr. Krishna Jafa is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Medic. Medic’s mission is to advance good health, human flourishing, and equitable care for and with the hardest-to-reach communities. Medic serves as the technical steward and a core contributor to the Community Health Toolkit (CHT), an open-source platform that supports health workers as they provide essential care in their communities.
A physician and epidemiologist with 25 years of experience, Dr. Jafa previously held key leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Population Services International, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where she oversaw financing, fundraising, design, management, delivery, monitoring, and evaluation of health programs and research across the donor, private, non-governmental, and public sectors globally.
As a board member, Dr. Jafa brings deep expertise in health systems strengthening, digital health innovation, and building and steering global partnerships and teams toward achieving universal health care. A deeply committed advocate for women’s and girls’ empowerment, health, and reproductive rights, Krishna holds a Medical degree from Rajasthan University (India), an MPH from Harvard University (USA), is an alumna of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, and is on the Board of the Washington Center for Bleeding Disorders.
Global Health Research Analyst
Maxwell supports Metrics for Management’s research and technical assistance activities as a Global Health Research Analyst. Prior to joining Metrics for Management, Maxwell worked as a Graduate Researcher in the Department of Geography at George Washington University. He also served as a Researcher at the University of Twente, where he focused on population, health, deprivation and poverty analysis and mapping.
Maxwell has conducted research and published articles on population, poverty and deprivation analysis. He holds a master’s degree in Geography from George Washington University, a master’s degree in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation from University of Twente, Netherlands and a bachelor’s in Human Settlement Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
Please click here to see Maxwell’s publications.
Global Health Research Analyst
Claire supports Metrics for Management’s research and technical assistance activities as a Global Health Research Analyst. Prior to joining Metrics for Management, she was a graduate researcher and instructor in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Fulbright-Hays Fellow in Brazil. She also previously worked on the finance and operations team at Management Sciences for Health.
Claire has conducted and published research on the politics of poverty and inequality. In this work, she has examined how politics impact policy design and public investment in social policies such as healthcare. She is fluent in Portuguese and proficient in Spanish. She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Please click here to see a list of Claire’s publications.
Director, Health Systems, Population Services International (PSI)
Alex Ergo is the Director, Health Systems at Population Services International (PSI), where he is currently shaping and leading PSI’s youngest department, the Health Systems Accelerator. He has over 25 years of experience in developing more efficient health systems and tackling health inequities in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) around the world.
He has worked with several multilateral, bilateral and international nongovernmental organizations during his career. He started with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a remote part of Chad, where he helped to rebuild a health system that had collapsed as a result of decades of conflict. Since then, he has worked with the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and bilateral donors such as USAID and DANIDA. He has advised Ministries of Health in various countries, such as Bhutan, Malawi and Senegal, and influenced policy at both global and national levels. For example, he shaped global thinking around universal health coverage by introducing the concept of “progressive universalism” in a Lancet article co-authored with Dave Gwatkin. In Myanmar, he led efforts to first formulate and then orchestrate implementation of the National Health Plan that aimed to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage in a pro-poor way.
Alex combines a deep understanding of the global health landscape and its key players with an appreciation of the realities and challenges faced in LMICs. He received his master’s degree in Health Economics from the University of York in the UK and his PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US.
Health Insurance Executive/Health Economist
Tryphine Zulu is a Health Insurance Executive based in South Africa. She is a health economist, with extensive experience in using data for improved population health outcomes, provider contracting and utilization risk management in the context of private health insurance. She also serves on the World Health Organization’s advisory committee on governance of the private sector for universal health coverage.
She has a keen interest in the analysis and the understanding of social determinants of health as drivers of socio-economic inequalities and inequities in the effective coverage of healthcare services for both insured and uninsured populations.
She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) from the University of Zimbabwe, an MSc (Med) in Pharmacotherapy from the University of the Witwatersrand, an MPH (Health Economics) and a PhD in Public Health (Health Economics) from the University of Cape Town.
Senior Global Director, MNCH/FP, IntraHealth International
Dr. Onikepe Owolabi is currently the Senior Global Director of MNCH/FP at IntraHealth International, where she and her team provide technical input to a wide suite of projects in multiple countries that work on women’s and children’s health, immunization, nutrition, and non-communicable diseases.
Prior to joining IntraHealth, she was a Senior Research Scientist at the Guttmacher Institute where she used her training in epidemiological methods and her clinical background to focus her research on measuring the burden of unsafe abortion, maternal morbidity, and the delivery of maternal and reproductive health services in low- and middle-income countries.
She has also worked as a research fellow in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). She earned a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, an MSc in global health science from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in epidemiology and population health at LSHTM.
Global Health Professional
Alix Faddoul is a global health professional with a background in improving access to essential services in fragile and conflict-affected areas, and a focus on the Middle East. She is interested in strategies to mitigate the health impacts of climate change in low- and-middle income countries, especially on young children.
Alix currently serves as a consultant for the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) at the World Bank. She provides technical assistance to country governments on private sector engagement for health system strengthening.
She holds a MSc in Management from the ESSEC Business School and an MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Project Analyst
Lara supports all aspects of Metrics for Management’s business development lifecycle, from lead generation to contract monitoring. Lara draws on her diverse professional background in anthropological research, urban education administration, and project management to enable the organization to successfully and sustainably grow and manage its project portfolio.
Born and raised in Houston, TX, Lara studied Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania where she developed a strong passion for gender equity and reproductive health access.
Global Health Research Associate
Waiwai supports Metrics for Management’s research and technical assistance activities. Prior to joining Metrics for Management, Waiwai worked as a senior consultant at Salient Advisory and Impact for Health. She also previously completed the ASPPH/CDC Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellowship in Guyana and worked on monitoring and evaluation of health programs for the International Medical Corps in Iraq.
Waiwai has conducted research and published articles on health services utilization, injury epidemiology, injury surveillance, engagement with the private health sector, and mental health. She is fluent in Chinese. Waiwai received her PhD in International Health, with a concentration in Health Systems, and her MHS with a concentration in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Please click here to see a list of Waiwai’s publications.
Global Health Research Associate
Andrew supports Metrics for Management’s research and technical assistance activities. Prior to joining Metrics for Management, Andrew worked as a registered nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Benin ‘08-’10), is fluent in French, and has experience in facilitating grassroots health, economic, and gender empowerment programs.
Andrew has conducted and published on research related to humanitarian health, gender norms, food security, and adolescent health. He received his PhD in Nursing from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Andrew also holds a Master of Science in Nursing and Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Schools of Nursing and Public Health.
Click here to see Andrew’s publications
Partnerships & Business Development
Mary Kante supports Metrics for Management to build strong partnerships with global health service technical, financial, and implementing partners and further expand our performance measurement tools and services. Mary draws on more than fifteen years of field experience, technical expertise, and business development track record to build strategic, logical, and practical project designs to support strong teaming with partners seeking to innovate and strengthen any aspect of their monitoring, evaluation, or learning (MEL) portfolios and donor MEL planning and proposals.
Mary leads a global consultancy group with a mission to support non-profits, businesses, and governments in deepening their impact to transform the world for the better. Born and raised in Wisconsin to a farming family, Mary’s work in global health reflects her deeply rooted integrity, hard work ethic, and passion to collaborate with a broad group of stakeholders to create clear and quality solutions that meet their priority needs.
Director of Research & Technical Assistance
Nirali Chakraborty leads our research and technical assistance activities. She formerly oversaw the quality and dissemination of Population Services International’s reproductive health related research internationally.
Nirali also previously worked as a consultant for the World Bank and Broad Branch Associates, specializing in health systems and performance based financing, and has expertise in quantitative research methods.
Nirali has conducted research in, and published articles on, social franchising, health equity, health workforce performance and maternal health. She is fluent in English and French, and proficient in 3 Indian sub-continent languages, Gujarati, Hindi and Bengali.Nirali received her PhD in International Health, with a concentration in Health Systems, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Please click Here to see Nirali’s publications.
Chief Operating Officer
Andrea Sprockett oversees all programmatic and day-to-day operations for Metrics for Management, ensuring a systematic approach to project development, financial and strategic planning, advocacy efforts, and partnership development.
Andrea brings expertise in the management of large cross-cultural teams and community engagement initiatives, having previously served as the Director of Global Health Education at Stanford University and as an analyst of social franchising initiatives and health metric development at the University of California, San Francisco. Additionally, Andrea has worked as a program director for AmeriCorps’ Northeast Ohio Literacy Corps and a project manager for One Planet.
She holds a master’s degree in International Public Health from the University of Sydney, a master’s degree in Translation from Kent State University, and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and in International Studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Please click here to see Andrea‘s publications.
CEO and Founder
Dominic’s guidance of Metrics for Management’s mission and approach draws on years of diverse experience in LMICs that includes both academic research and management of development INGO health initiatives. Dominic’s work is focused on the private delivery of health services in developing countries and on measuring and improving health service quality for maternal and reproductive services. He has worked and taught in over 30 countries around the world.
In addition to his role as M4M CEO, Dominic is a Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics of UCSF. His current research projects are focused on maternal and neonatal health and social and reproductive health quality in a range of public and private facilities in Kenya and Uttar Pradesh, India.
Click Here to see Dominic’s publications.
Private Sector Engagement Advisor
Barbara O’Hanlon is a recognized leader in international health policy design and implementation with over 38 years’ experience. Ms. O’Hanlon is a pioneer in the areas of private sector policy reforms, public-private dialogue, and health public-private partnerships. Recently, she was a member of the World Health Organization’s Private Sector Advisory group charged to develop guidance for government ministries on how to effectively steward mixed health systems.
In the last 17 years, she has worked with several low- and middle-income health ministries to conduct private health sector assessments, analyze key health markets for private sector opportunities, formulate private sector policies, and establish health PPP Units. Ms. O’Hanlon has also supported several African health ministries to engage the private sector using a variety of policy instruments such as policy dialogue, contracting and other financial mechanisms, and public-private partnerships.
She also supports African healthcare federations to become viable membership organizations and strengthens their technical capacity to represent the private sector voice in policy design and implementation. As one of the co-authors of the MM4H course, Ms. O’Hanlon has trained health ministry officials from over 15 countries and development partner public health staff in the managing health markets approach. Ms. O’Hanlon’s firm consults for a wide range of clients active in global health policy including the World Bank Group, UK Aid, USAID, World Health Organization, among others. Ms. O’Hanlon has a M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Public Policy at Harvard University.
Professor emerita Dr. Sibley is a certified Nurse Midwife and Medical Anthropologist, with a more than 20 year career at Emory University. She has focused on advancing midwifery education and improving care delivery and health outcomes for mothers and newborns around the world. During her career, Dr. Sibley has developed and tested community-based strategies to reduce maternal and newborn morbidity in developing countries.
Global Health Research Analyst
Lana Feras Aldos supports Metrics for Management’s work as a Global Health Research Analyst. Lana’s research interests primarily focus on health in humanitarian emergencies, trauma and acute care, and improving access to healthcare services in conflict regions. Prior to joining M4M, Lana was an AmeriCorps fellow at the Maryland Department of Health where she participated in community grant evaluations and community-centered research.
Lana holds a Master’s of Science in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a concentration on population, family, and reproductive health, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology & Society from Cornell University.
Please click here to see Lana’s publications.
Principal Health Specialist in the Southeast Asia Regional Department (SERD) of the Asian Development Bank
Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon, or Dodo Banzon, champions universal health coverage and has long provided technical support to countries in Asia and the Pacific in their pursuit of this goal.
He is a Principal Health Specialist in the Southeast Asia Regional Department (SERD) of the Asian Development Bank. Prior to that he was with the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department of ADB. Before joining ADB in 2014, he was President and CEO of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, World Health Organization (WHO) regional adviser for health financing for the Eastern Mediterranean region and WHO health economist in Bangladesh, and World Bank senior health specialist for the East Asia and Pacific region. He is also a former faculty member of the University of the Philippines’ College of Medicine and Ateneo Graduate School of Business.
He completed BS Biology in University of the Philippines Diliman and MD Medicine in the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, and an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award for Medicine and Health Systems Development by the University of the Philippines in 2015.
Global Health Research Associate
Bianca Jackson supports research, technical assistance, and evaluation activities. She has knowledge and expertise in public health research, monitoring and evaluation, and project management. She previously worked as a Research Associate at the Institute for International Programs (IIP) within Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. There, she worked on the Real Accountability: Data Analysis for Results (RADAR) Project and the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) Project. Both projects related to the development, testing and refinement of tools to facilitate the use of rigorous approaches for evaluation of reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health and nutrition programs.
Bianca Jackson holds a Master of Science in Public Health degree in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control, with a Certificate in Vaccine Science and Policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from the University of Victoria, Canada.
Nonprofit Management and Resource Mobilization Leader
Chris has delivered more than 30 years of superior nonprofit management and philanthropy leadership through organizations as varied as foundations led by two former U.S. presidents; prosocial organizations improving global health and livelihood development; a social justice NGO proving the value of cash versus in-kind aid for the extreme poor; the world’s largest conservation organization; and more. In the first half of his career he designed and executed successful capital campaigns for an array of cultural institutions. Through consulting engagements he is now committed to combating climate change; protecting democracy and a free press; and improving equity, health, and economic opportunity around the globe.
Lecturer, School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Australia
Research Fellow, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Nigeria
Seye Abimbola is a medically qualified public health specialist with expertise in health policy and systems research. He has worked as both a health care provider and researcher primarily in low- and middle-income countries. He is a Research Fellow at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency in Abuja, Nigeria where he works on health and community systems strengthening, as well as a Lecturer in International Public Health at the University of Sydney. His research interests are in developing and testing conceptual tools and analytical approaches to understand and strengthen health system governance in low- and middle-income countries, with special interest in primary health care. Seye is also the Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Global Health.
Seye holds an MBChB in Medicine and Surgery from Obafemi Awolowo University, an MPhil from the University of Sydney in Public Health (Epidemiology), and a PhD from the University of Sydney in Health Policy and Systems.
Demographer & Data Scientist for Global Development
YJ Choi is a demographer with strong interest and extensive experience in interpretation and translation of research and data for various audiences. She has methodological expertise in household and health facility surveys, and monitoring and evaluation; and subject expertise in health information systems, family planning and reproductive health, and child and neonatal survival. Dr. Choi was formerly the Deputy Director for PMA2020 and Senior Technical Advisor for Population and Metrics at USAID. She earned her DrPH from Johns Hopkins University.
Co-founder & President, GlobalGiving
President, Jessie Ball duPont Fund
Mari Kuraishi, the co-founder and president of GlobalGiving, is the President of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. Prior to co-founding GlobalGiving, Kuraishi led the Corporate Strategy Group at the World Bank where she was responsible for setting corporate priorities and engendering business innovation for an international financial institution dedicated to fighting poverty worldwide; and was the country anchor and officer for the bank’s Russia program, where she coordinated a sovereign lending program at its Washington, D.C., headquarters. She is chair of the board of directors for GuideStar, USA; chair of the board of directors for DataKind; chair of the board of directors for APOPO US; and a member of the board of advisors for the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University. Mari earned her bachelor’s degree in Modern European History and master’s degree in Russian Studies from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Founder and Principal, Databoom
Dr. Kim Longfield is the founder of Databoom, a research and communication agency that believes powerful insights can shape the world. Databoom provides research counsel for organizations that want to push development boundaries and accelerate impact.
Kim’s areas of expertise include translating evidence into practice, stakeholder engagement, strategic advising and communications, resource planning, and research studies fit for purpose. She has worked in social marketing, behavior change, social franchising, and market and health systems strengthening. Her research has focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, reproductive health and family planning, safe abortion, maternal and child health, malaria, tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases, gender empowerment, and governance.
Prior to founding Databoom, Kim served as Director of Strategic Research and Evaluation at Population Services International, a global health nonprofit with $600 million in annual revenues and offices in more than 60 countries around the world. Kim has a PhD in Sociology and International Health and a MPH in International Health/Health Communication and Education, both from the Tulane University. She is based in Washington, DC.
At the IKEA Foundation, Steven Chapman is the Head of Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation. He holds a PhD in population dynamics, and was previously responsible for the health and climate change grant portfolio at CIFF, and the Chief Conservation Officer at the World Wildlife Fund in the United States. Prior to WWF, he served as the Research Director and Chief Technical Officer at Population Services International, leading research, development and learning for social marketing and behavior change interventions for health programs in nearly 70 LMICs.
Dr. Chapman has also worked at the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research in health systems and technology assessment, Marie Stopes International in reproductive health service delivery, and in the Peace Corps in agricultural market development in Togo.
Senior Fellow, Results for Development
Davidson Gwatkin is a Senior Fellow at the Results for Development Institute, and a Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
He serves as an adviser on health and poverty to the World Bank, UNICEF, and other agencies.
From 2000-03, he was the World Bank’s Principal Health and Poverty Specialist. Before joining the Bank, he had directed the International Health Policy Program, a cooperative effort between two American foundations, the World Bank, and the World Health Organizations to strengthen health policy research capacity in Africa and Asia.
He had previously been with the Ford Foundation in New Delhi, New York, and Lagos; and with the Overseas Development Council in Washington, D.C.
Global Health Research Analyst
Karla supports research and technical assistance activities. Drawing on her time with non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and state and federal public health agencies, Karla brings a wide range of experience in research methodology, data collection and analysis.
She has worked previously as an epidemiologist with the Georgia Emerging Infections Program and as a public health microbiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she specialized in neglected tropical disease elimination programs.
She has also served as the Director of Research for Water Ecuador, an organization devoted to research and advocacy for improved drinking water access in South and Central America. She is a graduate of Towson University and earned her Master’s in Public Health at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA.
Global Health Research Analyst
Karen Chang supports research and technical assistance activities at Metrics for Management.
She is experienced in conducting quantitative research and program evaluation in a variety of topic areas, including newborn health and infectious diseases, specifically in low- and middle-income settings.
She previously served as an Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Tanzania, where she coordinated research and evaluation activities in the laboratory and blood safety branches.
Karen earned a Master of Health Science degree in International Health, with a focus on Global Disease Epidemiology and Control, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and holds a PhD in the same program.
CEO, Pelagius, Inc.
Dr. Hosang is CEO of Pelagius, Inc. and a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health.
He has more than 20 years of experience advising many national governments on the design of maternity health services to reduce maternal mortality and improve birth outcomes.
His work as a senior medical group administrator at a Kaiser Permanente (KP) Medical Center in Northern California for 12 years made him extremely familiar hospital operations, including vendor contracting, pharmacy operations oversight, prenatal care protocols, labor ward and operating room management, neonatal services to support high risk obstetrics and the use of the integrated electronic medical record system at Kaiser Permanente.
Nap is also familiar with the hospital accreditation system in the USA, having successfully coordinated compliance preparation of pharmacy and maternal health services for tri-annual Joint Commission Accreditation (JCAHO) exercises for more than a decade.
He retired from active clinical practice in 2010 to spend more time on public health endeavors.
Independent Consultant; Board Treasurer
Mr. Montagu is an independent consultant and small business owner in Alberta, Canada where he owns land that he leases to an organic beef producer.
He divides his time between Alberta and Montana, and has traveled widely throughout the world.
Mr. Montagu is a board member of the Alchemy Foundation and has spent significant time in Africa to provide oversight of foundation-supported programs.