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triangle global health annual conference

September 27, 2018

conference speakers 

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acciavatti

Dana Acciavatti

Dana Acciavatti has over 15 years of experience working in the global health field, primarily focusing on digital health and human resources for health (HRH) to strengthen systems that support health workers. Currently she manages IntraHealth's portfolio of digital health projects including the iHRIS Foundation, which is a platform to cultivate the continued growth of the iHRIS open-source software suite (used in over 20 countries to manage health workforce information), and engage with the broader global community to set future direction for resources and tools.

Fatima Adamu

​Fatima Adamu Ph.D. is a sociologist by training with particular expertise in gender, poverty, and equity issues in northern Nigeria and an expert in qualitative research. As the National Programme Manager for Women for Health since 2012, she has worked to establish and maintain effective relationships with key stakeholders from the Ministry of Health, parastatals, regulatory training bodies, midwifery training institutions, and donors. Before working on Women for Health, Fatima was a Professor of Sociology at Usmanu Danfodiyo University and later a Director of Planning and Research at the National Centre for Women’s Development in Nigeria.

Julia Agudogo

​Julia received a BSe in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Religion from Duke University in May 2017. She began working at GWHT in August 2015 on designing and optimizing a novel cervical visualization device, called a Callascope inserter, for use in low-resource settings. After graduation, she was employed at GWHT as an Associate in Research. She is thrilled to continue developing low-cost, patient-centered, effective, and sustainable medical devices tailored for women in the developing world. Julia started at Duke’s school of medicine in the Fall of 2018.

Mercy Asiedu

Mercy received a BSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Rochester, NY. As a summer research fellow at the Mayo Clinic, she developed a Matlab based guide user interface to process clinical elastography data from breast and thyroid cancers. This generated an interest in the applications of the biomedical imaging to cancer. At Duke, Mercy works on developing imaging tools and algorithms for speculum-free and automated cervical cancer screening, with interests in global health application.

Juan Bergelund

Mr. Juan Bergelund is the Flying Labs Coordinator of WeRobotics’ Peru Flying Labs. He has worked in the information industry for more than 25 years and has held technical and managerial positions for various Fortune 100 companies. In 2005 he founded UAV of Peru, which currently leads the use and implementation of unmanned aircraft in emergency and disaster situations.

Stephanie Bogdewic

Stephanie Bogdewic, MPH, is a doctoral student in the Maternal and Child Health Department at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and she is currently a Public Health Fellow at FHI 360 within the Behavioral, Epidemiological & Clinical Sciences Division. Ms. Bogdewic has seven years of experience designing and conducting public health research and evaluation efforts, particularly focused on global family planning, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, and maternal and child health utilizing an implementation science lens. She is interested in increasing application of innovative, design thinking to traditional research methods.

Lisa Bourget

​Lisa brings years of experience in the start-up, growth, and profitable leadership of dynamic enterprises within the pharmaceutical, biotech, and health care industries. Prior to joining Duke, Lisa was Senior Manager of Portfolio Analysis for Talecris Biotherapeutics, where she was responsible for defining research and development strategies by evaluating business cases for several new product and lifecycle management opportunities. She has collaborated on several start-up companies in senior housing, and health and wellness, and co-founded Clinexus, a start-up clinical research company. Her experience also includes senior roles in health care investing and divestiture, consulting for Accenture and managing physician practices.

Munkhtsetseg Byambaa

Munkhtsetseg Byambaa works for Mongolia’s Ministry of Health in the Department of Policy and Planning. She is currently the officer in charge of health economics and financing policy; prior to this position she was the officer in charge of policy and planning of foreign loans and grant aid. Before joining Mongolia’s Ministry of Health, she conducted public health research at the University of Queensland, Australia, where she received her masters in health economics. She has a BA in linguistics from the University of the Humanities, Mongolia, and a bachelor of business economics and management from the Euro-Asia Institute, Mongolia.

Molly Chen

Molly Chen M.A, is a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning and Adapting (MERLA) Specialist in RTI International’s Global Health Division’s, supporting a technical portfolio in HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Health Systems Strengthening (HSS).  She previously served as M&E Specialist for the USAID Mobile Solutions Technical Assistance and Research (mSTAR) project at FHI 360. Ms. Chen holds a master’s degree in international development with a concentration in evaluation from the School of International Service at American University and a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld

Chesca first became interested in clubfoot while working at The University of Iowa. Drawn to the opportunity to have an impact on children's lives in some of the countries in which she had grown up, she joined a group of parents and surgeons interested in creating an organization to address the issue of untreated clubfoot. In 2010, she quit her job and dedicated herself full-time to launching MiracleFeet, working closely with the Board to develop and implement the current approach of partnering with local doctors. She became ED in 2012 and has grown the organization to where it is today.

Libby Dotson

Libby Dotson is an associate in research in the Center for Global Women's Health Technologies at Duke University. She studied international comparative studies and environmental science as an undergraduate at Duke University where she graduated in May of 2018.

Joanna Drazdzewska

Joanna Drazdzewska is a Grant Manager with Women and Children First, specialising in Participatory Learning and Action, a methodology which activates communities to learn about health issues and implement local solutions to them. She has experience in health systems strengthening programmes in Africa and South Asia, specifically in Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health. Her area of focus is role of communities in the health system: increasing demand for services, advocating for quality care, and ensuring accountability of providers and decision-makers. Joanna holds a master’s degree in Development Studies from SOAS, University of London.

Talia Dweck

Talia is an ICT Specialist in DAI’s Center for Digital Acceleration (CDA), where she conducts digital strategic analyses, manages digital-focused projects and supports CDA’s digital innovation work, for example through managing the implementation of digital prizes and challenges. She has conducted in-country research on the technology sector and its growth potential in countries such as Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Uzbekistan. Throughout her work with CDA, Talia has focused on the integration of user-centered design in digital development. Talia has a Masters in Global Human Development from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she specialized in global health and innovation.

Margaret Eichleay

Margaret Eichleay, MPH has 12 years of experience in global health research and improving access to health services. She works as a Research Associate in the Program Sciences & Technical Support department and leads the UAV Team at FHI 360. She uses her background in Anthropology and Epidemiology to understand the behavioral, structural and financial aspects of health care.

Bobby Jefferson

Bobby Jefferson, Chief Technology Officer, DAI Global Health,focuses on tech-enabled services for global health programs. Bobby has a relentless entrepreneurial passion for using mobile solutions for social development, and community health. He serves as tech reviewer and judge on early stage health tech funds, Innovation to Action Challenge, Human Development Innovation, GHIC Innovation Prize, Aetna Foundation Prizes for Health Equity Innovation Advisory Board and mentors health tech startups

Manish Kumar

Manish  Kumar is  a  public  health  professional  with  more  than  15  years  of  global  experience  in  design, implementation and scale up, and institutionalization of health innovations. He specializes in health systems strengthening, global digital health, health information systems (HIS), and health informatics projects and programs. Kumar is Senior Technical Specialist - Health Systems Strengthening in the  MEASURE  Evaluation- a USAID funded project- of  the  University  of  North Carolina at Chapel Hill. MEASURE Evaluation focuses on strengthening  HIS  in  low-and  middle-income  countries. Kumar leads HIS implementation and research activities and collaborates with academic institutions and international  organizations.

Anna Lawton

Anna Lawton, MA, is a cultural analyst and ethnographer with over nine years’ experience conducting qualitative research in both private and nonprofit sectors. At FHI 360, her work is primarily focused on socio-behavioral research and project management for various studies across the organization; she has expertise within the content areas of contraceptive technologies, economic strengthening, malaria control strategies and HIV prevention/treatment. With a background in marketing research, Ms. Lawton brings a great deal of experience with acceptability studies and market assessments and is currently spearheading an initiative to develop FHI 360’s organizational capacity in social innovation and HCD.

Carl Leitner

Carl Leitner, PhD, brings more than 15 years of experience in informatics, information technology, software development, and education including more than eight years designing and adapting open-source interoperable digital health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Leitner is the Acting Director for Digital Square, a USAID and  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiated partnership, hosted at PATH, to coordinate investments in proven digital technologies which leverage the world’s leading digital health experts from over forty organizations to strengthen digital health systems in emerging economies.

Rachel Lenzi

Rachel Lenzi, MPH, is a Research Associate in the Behavioral, Epidemiological & Clinical Sciences Division at FHI 360. She supports applied research and evaluation for a variety of health and development programs. Some of her recent projects have focused on adapting data collection methods to meet the research needs of projects with rapid timelines and resource constraints, such as using projective techniques to uncover emotional drivers of behavior; applying random digit dialing and interactive voice response technology to conduct mobile phone surveys; and conducting participatory evaluation using the Most Significant Change technique.

Greg Maly

Greg Maly, Data Scientist at DAI’s Center for Digital Acceleration, working at the intersection of global development and diplomacy, technology, and the arts. Previously he conducted data driven conflict analysis research at the U.S. Department of State, designed data analytics tools for the University of Denver’s Global Health Affairs Program, and developed some of the first distance learning courses at the US Institute of Peace. He holds an MA in International Studies from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and a BA in Policy, Ethics, and Conflict from St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Mary Nambao

Dr Mary Nambao is a Public Health specialist working as a Child Health and Immunisation Advisor with JSI. She received her undergraduate degree in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Zambia then later her MPH at Cardiff University in the UK. Before joining JSI she worked as a Deputy Director of Maternal Health in the Zambian Ministry of Health where she was an advisor to senior management in Adolescent Health, Family planning, Safe Motherhood, Sexual & Gender based Violence, Cervical Cancer and Fistula Management. She facilitated the establishment of the Safe Motherhood Community groups through the Government system.

Emily Nicholson

​Emily Nicholson is a public health professional with over a decade of experience supporting health system strengthening programs in Africa and Latin America. Emily is involved in the design and implementation of digital tools and solutions including the Global Open Facility Registry (GOFR), electronic patient management systems (EPMR), iHRIS, mHero, and several country-specific implementations of the OpenHIE architecture including systems for vaccine management and integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR). Emily provides technical assistance and program management support to IntraHealth’s portfolio, strengthening capacity at facility, community and government levels. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia.

Steve Ollis

Steve serves as Senior Digital Health Advisor for John Snow Inc. and for USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program.  He is currently serving as co-chair of the Global Digital Health Network, a 3000+ member convening organization, dedicated to improving the sharing of best practices in digital health to ministries of health, donors and health implementing partners.  Prior to joining JSI, Steve served as COO of D-tree International, developing digital health solutions aimed at improving the quality of care provided by frontline healthworkers.

Wellington Pak

Prior to joining FHI 360, Wellington served as Senior Director of Corporate Strategy at ICF International, where he led corporate strategic planning, developing strategies across a portfolio including international development, global energy, health care and government. While at Booz Allen Hamilton, Pak was a leader in the international development practice, and established a competitive strategy group that supported corporate planning. He also served as a Principal in CSC’s strategy group. Pak began his career as a management consultant at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Pak earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.

Caleb Parker

Caleb Parker, MA, is a Research Associate at FHI 360. He has supported international research and programs in health and human development for over 10 years as a GIS Analyst, providing maps and spatial analyses to enhance evidence-based decision-making. His work includes creating spatial models of access to emergency health services, building interactive web-based maps for program data, and building capacity of staff to use GIS for project needs.

Nick Pearson

Nick Pearson is Founder and Executive Director of Jacaranda Health. Nick has worked at the intersection of business and global health in East Africa, Vietnam, and India. Prior to founding Jacaranda, he worked in Kenya for the Acumen Fund, providing management support to businesses serving the urban poor. Nick is married to an obstetrician, and spent most of his childhood outside of the US.

Neil Prose

Dr. Neil Prose is Professor of Pediatrics and Dermatology at Duke University Medical Center and Research Professor at Duke Global Health Institute. His main research interest is provider-patient communication in low and middle income countries. He has aided in the development of communication skills curricula at medical schools  in Botswana, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Dr Prose is currently working with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement on the creation of educational videos and learning sessions in compassionate care for midwives and health extension workers in Ethiopia. He also teaches a course in empathic communication skills to midwifery students  at the University of Aysen, located in a small city in Chilean Patagonia.

Nimmi Ramanujam

Dr. Ramanujam is the Robert W. Carr Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and also a faculty member in the Duke Global Health Institute and Pharmacology. She directs the center for Global Women’s Health Technologies, a partnership between the Pratt School of Engineering and the Duke Global Health Institute. The center’s mission is to train students to create impactful solutions for women’s health and empowerment.  Prof. Ramanujam has received several awards for her work in cancer research and technology development for women's health. She received the TR100 Young Innovator Award from MIT in 2003, the Global Indus Technovator award from MIT in 2005, Era of Hope Scholar awards from the DOD in 2005 and 2009, the Stasnell Family award from the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke in 2011 and the Emerging Leader in Global Health Award from the Consortium of Universities in Global Health (CUGH) in 2018. She is a fellow of several optical and biomedical engineering societies including OSA, SPIE AIMBE. She has also been elected to the National Academy of Inventors - Class of 2018. She is co-editor of the Handbook of Biomedical Optics (publisher Taylor and Francis). 

Elizabeth Regan

Elizabeth Regan is a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning, and Adapting Specialist at RTI International. Ms. Regan has over 10 years of experience working in global public health and works with project teams to design and implement monitoring and evaluation systems and operations research. She leads the development of project learning agendas and facilitates Pause and Reflect sessions to design adaptations to activity implementation. Ms. Regan has a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Richard Reithinger

Richard Reithinger, PhD, is Vice President for Global Health for RTI International. In this capacity, Dr Reithinger oversees a $450+ million project portfolio implemented by 375+ headquarter and overseas staff, ensuring that projects are implemented to a high quality standard, meet their goals and targets, and are in line with host government and global strategies and policies. Dr. Reithinger has a Master of Science degree in Medical Entomology and a doctorate in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; he also holds a postgraduate diploma in Economics from the University of Sussex.

Eileen Reynolds

Eileen Reynolds is a project manager at RTI International with more than 18 years of experience in international digital health project implementation.  Eileen is currently Surveillance and Information Systems coordinator for the Global Health Security Agenda project in Guinea funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She works with a team of local and international information technology and public health specialists and the Ministry of Health (MOH) to develop and implement strategies to strengthen the disease surveillance information system.  Eileen also serves as technical advisor for the Global Open Facility Registry Connect project in Guinea.

Heidi Reynolds

Heidi W. Reynolds is the Project Deputy Director and Director of Evaluation for the MEASURE Evaluation project based at the Carolina Population Center and a clinical associate professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Reynolds plan, manages, conducts all aspects of applied research and evaluation studies and ensures the use of results to improve planning and implementation of health systems and programs. She also leads the project’s Learning Agenda. Her areas of expertise include evaluation, health information systems, health services research, and health service integration.

Malcom C. Riley III

Malcom serves as Senior Manager of Business Development for Innovations in Healthcare where he builds strategic partnerships with Investors, Corporations, Foundations, and NGOs that strengthens support for innovators and enables research that deepens the evidence base for global health innovation. Prior to this role, Malcom served as Sector Director for Technology at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business where he cultivated corporate relationships and supported global strategy and growth initiatives. Outside of Duke, Malcom served as a consultant to technology companies and international development organizations, building strategic corporate partnerships and developing strategies to launch new products and services in variety of countries including Ghana, Indonesia, Zambia, and the US. Malcom earned a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication and Master’s degree in Human Service Administration from Bradley University in Peoria, IL.  He also earned an M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in Durham, NC.

Molly Rosett

Molly Rosett is a program officer supporting IntraHealth International's West Africa regional portfolio. She supports initiatives targeting youth, civil society, and government at the local, national, and regional levels to increase access to family planning and reproductive health services across the nine Ouagadougou Partnership member countries. She is a former Peace Corps volunteer and holds a master’s degree in food security from the University of Edinburgh.

Robert Salerno

Robert Salerno is a global health and development practitioner with 15years of experience working on complex development projects for a variety of bilateral and multilateral clients. Robert currently serves as Manager of Technical Integration with the USAID Preparedness and Response project team, designing interdisciplinary interventions that support institutionalization of the One Heath approach. Throughout his career, Robert has performed assignments in over 20 countries across Southeast Asia, East and Central Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Robert holds a BA in Psychology from Providence College and a graduate degree in Global Health from the University of California, San Francisco.

Susan Scribner

Susan Scribner, VP of DAI Global Health / Director of the USAID-funded Preparedness and Response project (P&R).  P&R works in 16 countries across Africa and Asia to strengthen multisectoral collaboration.  These multisectoral coordination mechanisms enhance countries’ abilities to prevent, detect and respond to disease events. Susan also has extensive field experience - as the Project Director for a health security program in Vietnam and Laos targeting Avian Influenza. She also led a health systems strengthening project in Uganda. Susan holds an MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School with expertise in health policy, financing and governance, infectious diseases, and private sector health. 

Paolo Sison

Paolo Sison is director for Innovative Finance at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Gavi is a leading force in innovative finance for health, having developed the International Finance Facility for Immunization, the Pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment and the Gavi Matching Fund. Before joining Gavi, Sison spent ten years in investment banking in London, most recently as director, Global Banking and Markets at HSBC. Sison holds an MSc in Finance from London Business School, an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management and an AB Theology (magna cum laude) from the Asian Seminary of Christian Ministries.

Andrea Stowell

Andrea works with RTI Innovation Advisors' clients to identify and evaluate new technologies and markets. With a focus on emerging economies, she supports a range of sectors, including water and sanitation, solid waste and agriculture. Andrea leads innovation-based efforts for the Sanitation Technology Platform, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative to bring to market new technologies in the sanitation sector. Much of this work has focused on customer insights and prototype testing in rural India and has reinforced the importance of local insights in the design and delivery of new innovations. Andrea’s expertise is transferrable across sectors, specifically healthcare and her work informs how we successfully scale emerging innovations.  Andrea received a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University and was previously a professional ballet dancer with American Ballet Theater.

Georgia Taylor

​Georgia has worked on gender, women’s economic empowerment, private sector development and sexual and reproductive health for more than 20 years. She has experience in Latin America, Pan Africa, and Asia. She has excellent leadership skills and extensive management experience within the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and as a consultant. Much of Georgia’s recent consultancy work has been on monitoring and evaluation, programme reviews and programme scoping and design. As the Director of WISE Development and of Health Partners International since March 2014, now both incorporated into DAI, Georgia contributes to financial and strategic planning and overall accountability.

Wangeci Thuo

Wangeci Thuo is a technical advisor at RTI International currently supporting neglected tropical disease (NTD) programs in Uganda and Nigeria. Previously, she worked as a World Bank consultant leading a five country case study on NTD implementation and with the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute where she lead the institute’s advocacy and domestic resource mobilization efforts for NTD control in various African countries. Wangeci is currently completing her doctorate at the George Washington University’s Milken School of Public health with a focus on sustainability of NTD elimination and control programs.

Heather Vahdat

Heather Vahdat, MPH, is the Associate Director of the Contraceptive Technology Innovation Department at FHI 360. Dedicated to applying novel approaches to improve reproductive health outcomes, she enjoys collaborating across disciplines. She has spent a large portion of her career working on new contraceptive product development, in the pre-clinical and early clinical research stages and on regulatory innovation. With an interest in the use of new technologies and HCD for product development, Heather served as a lead for a series of international ideation events focusing on contraceptive technology and is the co-developer of the Mobile 4 Reproductive Health SMS-based application.

Wayan Vota

Wayan Vota is the Digital Health Director at IntraHealth International, with more than 20 years of experience as a digital development entrepreneur - using new and emerging technologies to accelerate social and economic development.

He has created holistic, nationwide digital development programs across sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. He is the co-founder of the Technology Salon, which brings technology and development professionals together in 12 cities, and ICTworks, the blog-of-record for the ICT4D community.

He has held senior positions in the development sector, including roles at FHI 360, Development Gateway, Inveneo, and Mercy Corps, among others.

Jennifer Wesson

Jennifer Wesson, PhD, MPA, Director of Measurement & Learning, has over 20 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, and implementation science in low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Wesson has worked with public health decision-makers to design, measure, and improve programming in FP/RH; HIV prevention, care, and treatment; and MCH. She has worked with multiple governments to improve their health information systems, build capacity on measuring performance, and foster environments that convert data to learnings. Dr. Wesson holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University.

Gavin Yamey

Gavin Yamey MD, MPH, MA is the Director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health based in the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI), Duke University. The Center is an innovative policy lab that addresses critical challenges in financing and delivering global health. He is also a Professor of Global Health at DGHI and a Professor of Public Policy at the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy. Dr Yamey trained in clinical medicine at Oxford University and University College London, medical journalism and editing at the BMJ and public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Basil Yap

Mr. Basil Yap is the UAS Program Manager for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. He leads the state’s participation in the Federal Aviation Authority’s UAS Integration Pilot Program and is responsible for implementing regulations regarding the ownership and operation of UAS systems in North Carolina. He designs, establishes, and conducts studies to make recommendations relative to the UAS policies, programs, methods and procedures currently in place.

Trinity Zan

Trinity Zan, Technical Advisor at FHI 360, has 17 years of experience working in international development in sub-Saharan and Francophone Africa.  Trinity is a key member of the team that developed Mobile for Reproductive Health (m4RH), a mobile-phone based information service that has won several awards, including from Women Deliver and the African Development Bank. She has experience in synthesizing and disseminating evidence on digital health; developing guidance documents; engaging communities of practice at the global, regional and country levels; and developing and testing sustainable financial models.  She is currently the co-chair of the Global Digital Health Network.

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Adamu
Bogdewic
Byambaa
agudogo
Asiedu
Bourget
Dotson
Eichleay
Kumar
Lawton
Lenzi
Maly
Nicholson
Nambao
Parker
Pearson
Prose
Ramanujam
Regan
Reynolds H
Riley
Salerno
Scribner
Taylor
Vahdat
Wesson
Yamey
Vota
Rosett
Chen
Sison
Pak
Reynolds E
Drazdzewska
Bergelund
Colloedo-Mansfeld
Jefferson
Leitner
Ollis
Yap
Zan
Stowell
Reithinger
Thuo
Dweck
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