Our team consists of highly-skilled professionals who are dedicated to improving health outcomes. For us, healthcare is not just about providing a quick fix. It’s about generational impact—investing in people—for the long term. We plant the seed for brighter, healthier futures and transform “what if” into “what is.”
Vanessa Kerry, MD, MSc
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Kerry is the co-founder and CEO of Seed Global Health, a non-profit organization focused on health systems strengthening and transformation through long-term investments and training of the health workforce. Under her leadership, Seed has helped educate more than 34,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives in seven countries, helping to improve health care for more than 73 million people.
In June 2023, Dr. Kerry was appointed WHO Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health. She has spoken and written about the effects of climate change on human health and health systems and the need to integrate a health-centered response into climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. Dr. Kerry supported the UAE COP28 Presidency to shape the first-ever COP Day of Health on December 3, 2023 and continues to lead efforts globally to build advocacy around the impact of climate change on health and ensure equitable and just climate action.
As co-chair of a workstream on the World Health Organization’s Public Health and Emergency Health Workforce Roadmap, she is helping to galvanize consensus for investment in surveillance, detection, and treatment for the next pandemic.
She is a critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and serves as the associate director of partnerships and global initiatives at the MGH Center for Global Health. She directs the Global Public Policy and Social Change program at Harvard Medical School where she has focused on links between security and health. She is the mother of two children.
Andrew C. Musoke, MSc
Chief Operating Officer
Andrew leads strategy, operations, and programming for Seed Global Health, ensuring the organization achieves its impact, growth, and performance goals.
Previously, Andrew served in leadership roles at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), including managing global financial operations and leading a multi-disciplinary team of experts to support Uganda’s Ministry of Health to introduce new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics into the public and private sectors, conduct market shaping for essential medicines, optimize health supply chains, and design health policy and strategy.
Andrew is a public health and management systems specialist with extensive experience leading evidence-based public health initiatives, corporate finance transformations, and organizational systems strengthening in several countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2020, Andrew was elected board chair of Uganda’s Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism, overseeing a budget of more than $800 million to support the fight to end HIV, TB, malaria, and COVID-19. Previously he served as chair of AIDS Development Partners in Uganda.
Andrew has a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Macalester College.
Sara Adelman
Senior Measurement and Learning Manager
Sara Adelman supports the monitoring, evaluation, and learning team in designing and implementing systems to rigorously evaluate Seed’s work and facilitate learning across the organization. She also manages the organization-wide knowledge management initiatives at Seed.
Sara believes that building resilient health systems, those that are equitable and responsive to the needs of the most marginalized and to global pandemics, requires substantial investment in health care workers. She’s thrilled to support Seed’s work towards this mission. Sara’s prior experience in global health and development spans health workforce development, family planning and reproductive health, and gender equity. She’s held various roles encompassing program management, research, monitoring, evaluation, and health informatics working in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia for non-profits, in consulting, and for a start-up social enterprise.
Sara received a Bachelor’s degree in International Development from UC Berkeley and a Master’s degree in Public Health for Development from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Rose Adem
Director of Finance
Rose is accountable for planning, management, and guiding the financial operations at Seed’s financial headquarters in the US as well as all Seed’s operating countries. Collaborating with colleagues across the organization, her role is to ensure the financial operations continue to evolve to meet the needs of the organization and its strategic objectives.
Previously, Rose was the director of finance and operations at Lwala community Alliance, where she led the growth, advancement, sustainability, and efficiency of Lwala’s financial systems for over five years. Prior to that she worked at ICW Global Secretariat as the finance and grants manager and at HJF Medical Research Inc. as the finance and administration manager.
She has more than 18 years of experience developing financial systems and strategies, grants, and fund portfolio management for both international and local NGOs, and donor-funded programs.
Rose is a certified public accountant, holds an MBA in strategic management and a BBA in finance and accounting.
Brian Agaba MBcHB, MMed
Clinical Advisor, Uganda
Brian will provide clinical and technical support to seed educators, partner sites, clinical, program and development teams. Brian is passionate about maternal, neonatal and child health, strengthening health education and quality improvement in health practice. His goal is to eliminate health inequities and he hopes to dedicate his career in service of this. Driven by the desire to impact the health of Ugandans at population level, Brian joined Seed in 2023.
Brian has a decade of experience ranging from clinical care, health education, health service leadership, quality improvement, disease outbreak investigation and response. Brian began his career as a medical officer at Uganda Martyr’s Hospital, Lubaga. He rose through the ranks to become head of obstetrics/ gynecology. He has mentored hundreds of health professionals and provided care to thousands of patients. He has been involved in quality improvement efforts of several health facilities across the country. Additionally, Brian has been involved in response to public health emergencies like outbreaks of COVID-19, Scabies, Anthrax and Ebola. Brian has done volunteer work with Wakisa Ministries, a teenage pregnancy crisis center in Uganda.
Brian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery from Makerere University and a Master of Medicine degree in Obstetrics and Gynecology from Uganda Martyrs University. He is pursuing a Master of Public Health degree and a fellowship in Field Epidemiology at Makerere University.
Bonaventure Ahaisibwe, MBChB, MPH
Special Advisor
Bonaventure Ahaisibwe provides regional and global representation for Seed and key guidance on innovation and strategy.
Driven by a deep belief that every life should be lived with dignity, Bonaventure has served in different capacities in the humanitarian and development contexts. He holds over a dozen years of progressive experience in public health and education project management. Prior to joining Seed, Bonaventure worked with the US mission in Uganda where he helped set a firm foundation for the Global Health Service Partnership as the inaugural program manager. He also served as the backup director of programming and training for the Uganda post. Bonaventure had the honor to serve in a voluntary capacity as the inaugural sexual assault response liaison for the US Peace Corps upon establishment under the Kate Puzey Act. He was also a backup medical officer for two years advocating for and providing support to survivors of sexual assault.
Bonaventure has led teams through various stages of the entire project cycle including scoping, feasibility assessment, project design, fundraising, implementation, evaluation, and closure of multi-stakeholder donor-funded health system strengthening programs in Africa. He has worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees/German Technical Cooperation partnership, University Research Co. LLC, the US Peace Corps, the Government of Uganda, and Kampala International University. In all his roles, he consistently brought a pro-equity voice to decision making.
He serves on a number of nonprofit boards and technical working groups in Uganda including the project advisory committee for the US Peace Corps, the virtual mentorship pilot committee at the University of Manchester, and the case management pillar of the Uganda National COVID19 Task Force.
Bonaventure is a trained physician, public health specialist, and public administrator having graduated from Makerere University, University of Manchester, and Uganda Management Institute respectively.
Irene Atuhairwe, RN, MPH
Country Director, Uganda
Irene Atuhairwe leads the Uganda team, ensuring country program, administrative, and operational integrity and represents the organization with key stakeholders.
Irene is passionate about strengthening the nursing and midwifery profession; health systems strengthening; maternal, neonatal, and child health, as well as, serving marginalized populations. She has 15 years’ experience in health programming.
Irene joined Seed in 2019. She previously worked with Peace Corps, Uganda as the program specialist for the Global Health Service Partnership and later as the program manager. She led volunteer support and placement site development initiatives, maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and partner institutions. Prior to that, Irene was at the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau where she helped kick start the AIDS Care and treatment program for all catholic faith-based facilities in the country.
In 2005, Irene began working at Catholic Relief Services (CRS) where she initiated and aided patient support systems at the clinic and community level for the AIDS Relief Program. While at CRS, she worked on community-based programs for vulnerable children and pregnant women. Irene was the CRS lead for all nurse supported initiatives in HIV care in the western region and later for the whole country.
Her career started as a volunteer at the Reach Out Mbuya Project, an initiative that provided HIV care, treatment, and support. Irene was responsible for providing continuous care for people living with HIV/AIDS. This included the provision of antiretroviral therapy as part of the task shifting initiative in HIV care for Uganda.
Irene holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in public health from Makerere University.
Marian Baindu Bangura, MSc
Program Manager, Sierra Leone
Marian is the program manager for Seed Global Health in Sierra Leone. She has over fourteen years of experience in public health and nutrition program development, management, and evaluation. Before joining Seed, Marian coordinated a nutrition partnership program for the UN and worked closely with the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Secretariat in the Office of the Vice President.
Marian has also managed primary health care and nutrition programs in under-resourced communities and served as a consultant on program evaluations and food distribution programs. She has also worked as a research assistant designing recipes and training women in the appropriate use of the food they grow to enhance good health and nutrition security. Prior to this, Marian worked in the teaching profession for almost ten years.
Marian is interested in working to solve the global burden of health and malnutrition in developing countries, especially for children under the age of two years, and pregnant and lactating women. As such, she has a special interest in managing programs to improve the health and nutritional status of women and children. She has worked in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, and South Sudan.
Marian holds a Master of Science degree in public health nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a postgraduate diploma in international food and nutrition with a focus on food and nutrition security from the International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands, and a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics education from the Njala University College, University of Sierra Leone.
Erin Barr, MPA
Chief Finance and Administration Officer
Erin Barr leads Seed’s finance, administration, and human resources team responsible for implementing the infrastructure and systems needed to support the strategic objectives of the organization.
Erin joined Seed in 2016 and has spent her professional career in global development, with a focus on management systems. Prior to joining Seed, she worked for John Snow, Inc. (JSI) supporting finance, administration, human resources, and new business development for various project offices in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. At JSI, Erin spent several months of each year based in project offices. Her early career was in Costa Rica where she ran the field office for WorldTeach which implemented programs in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
Erin earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and theology at Boston College and a master’s degree in public administration and nonprofit management at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.
Erin is passionate about building systems and solutions to enable her colleagues’ success. When she is not working, you can likely find her deep in a forest or climbing a mountain.
Bassim Birkland, MD, MPH
Country Director, Zambia
Bassim Birkland leads Seed’s programming in Zambia.
A champion of primary care, you will find Bassim rounding the medical wards at a government hospital with students and residents as a physician educator, at his office at the University of Zambia where he lectures, or carrying out work related to Seed. He is a resident of Zambia, his wife’s home, where he has worked for years as a primary care physician and as a global health consultant to both public and private institutions.
Bassim’s professional interests include medical education and training. He has been involved in establishing new health professional training programs in Zambia. Bassim has years of experience with clinical teaching of health professionals in low-resource settings. He has held a faculty position at the University of Zambia since 2017 and currently coordinates the only family medicine training program in the country.
Outside of professional pursuits, Bassim serves on two community development boards. He has a Bachelor of Art in Psychology and a Master in Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. He holds a Medical Doctorate from the Medical University of South Carolina.
He enjoys spending time with his wife and toddler twins at their farm outside of Lusaka.
Courtney Bridgeo
Director of Partnerships
Courtney Bridgeo works on the development team at Seed Global Health, supporting the organization in expanding its network of supporters, partners and ultimately, Seed’s impact.
Courtney’s career has been spent managing international programs and engagement in global health. Previous to Seed, she served as the Assistant Director of Strategy & Outreach at the Harvard Global Health Institute where she was positioned on the leadership team to provide strategic and creative planning across external relations, events, education initiatives, organizational strategy, and governance. Prior to this, she worked at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in global health research and academic administration, gaining experience managing major international research projects, organizing global trainings and high-level events, and building long-term relationships with international partners in academia, government, and the non-profit and private sector.
Courtney earned a BSc in biology and business administration from Suffolk University. Courtney’s academic interests continue to weave a thread through her career, with global health now serving as a passion for her.
Kelly Carpenter, MPH
Senior Program Manager, Quality & Innovation
Kelly is dedicated to the support, coordination, and management of program operations in Malawi and Zambia as part of Seed’s program quality and management team.
Kelly is passionate about and values community, equity, and relationship building in all facets of life. She brings over a decade of experience across disciplines. Kelly has spent her postgraduate career in the design and management of asset-based community development programs in Latin America. Before joining Seed in 2019, she spent four years in South and Central America spearheading local program initiatives in partnership with grassroots organizations, community cooperatives, and health facilities in rural and semi-urban settings. Most recently, Kelly served as a regional director. She was responsible for leading teams in building partnerships, establishing infrastructure, and overseeing operational expansion into Guatemala while closing out the same in Nicaragua.
She holds an MPH in Global Health Practice and Latin American and Caribbean Studies from the University of South Florida.
Meaghan Carroll
Chief of Staff
Meaghan Carroll supports the CEO with diverse administrative, strategic, and organizational functions essential to Seed’s mission. She also manages special projects related to Seed’s needs and priorities as requested by senior leadership.
Meaghan joined Seed in 2016 and has helped the organization through a rapid period of growth. She started her career in public service as both a congressional intern in Washington, DC and Boston. This led to her work as the MA Scheduler and Assistant to the State Director for Senator John Kerry for many years. She took her skill set from the public sector and applied it to the private sector during her tenure with The Kraft Group, where she worked as the Executive Assistant to the Chairman and CEO. After that, Meaghan transitioned to higher education, where she worked as an Executive Assistant within Harvard University. Her depth of experience in the public sector, private sector, and higher education has given her a broad spectrum of knowledge to assist in all facets of Seed’s reach.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Bridgewater State University.
In her downtime, Meaghan enjoys spending time with her growing family, checking out new restaurants, and exploring local hiking trails.
Gerald Maxi Chibwana
Finance and Administration Manager, Malawi
Gerald Maxi Chibwana supports the Malawi team with finance and administration related matters to facilitate effective implementation of the country strategy.
Prior to joining Seed in 2019, Gerald spent 15 years in the hospitality industry. Most recently, he worked at Umodzi Park and Resorts where he held various management roles ranging from banqueting manager to group and convention manager to sales manager. Gerald was part of the core team involved in the opening of Umodzi Park and tasked with developing the company’s systems, processes, and procedures. He also worked for Sunbird Hotels, Protea Ryalls Hotel, and Crossroads Hotel, three of the leading hotels in Malawi.
Gerald has vast experience working with clients like UNDP, US Embassy, IMF, and Standard Bank. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Cyprus Institute of Marketing.
Gerald spends his free time with his girls and plays social football. He loves sightseeing and takes every opportunity to travel.
Chilekwa K. Chilekwa
MEL Manager
Chilekwa K. Chilekwa II, is a seasoned and accomplished research, monitoring, evaluation and learning expert. He supports the management of the research, monitoring, evaluation and learning activities and systems for the Zambia country team, oversees the collection, analysis, and management of all partnership monitoring data, leads data-driven learning and knowledge sharing, reporting and communications, and provides the training and support to key stakeholders.
Prior to joining SEED Health Global, Chilekwa served as director – monitoring, evaluation and learning for the USAID Scaling Up Nutrition Technical Project in Zambia and prior to that, he had served as the senior research manager for the BBC Media Action Zambia office.
Chilekwa holds a post- graduate diploma in M&E, Master of Arts in population studies (Demography), a Bachelor of Arts degree in demography, all obtained at the University of Zambia and a Post- Graduate Certificate in project management from the Association for Project Management (APM) Group in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.
Outside of professional pursuits, Chilekwa plays lead guitar in a band called ‘Midlife Crises’ composed of individuals in the medical field. He is the only non-medical person in the band. The band plays different music genres, including roots reggae, Congolese Rumba & Soukous, Zambian Kalindula music, highlife, jazz, neo- soul, blues, country, R&B, pop & rock and, other popular genres from the old school.
Martina Dhliwayo
Climate and Health Manager
Martina works closely with Seed partner countries to support their climate change and health-focused strategies and initiatives, especially with regards to adaptation and resilience efforts.
She is a global health specialist with extensive experience working with international organizations at both country and regional levels. Martina specializes in public health, climate change and health, health systems strengthening, and humanitarian aid.
Previously, Martina served as emergency health officer for the WHO Foundation, a Geneva-based organization that supports the World Health Organization (WHO). Prior to that, she was a public health officer and program manager with the WHO in Fiji and Zimbabwe. In these roles, Martina supported governments in their COVID-19 response efforts.
Martina was also a health program manager with the UK Department for International Development, now known as the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). She worked in FCDO country offices in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
Martina holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Africa and a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University School of Public Health.
Andrea Dickson, MALD
Senior Director of Communications
Andrea leads strategic communications for Seed Global Health, working with colleagues across the organization to tell the story of Seed’s impact to policymakers, governments, donors, and partners.
Previously, Andrea was associate director of communications at JSI, where she led strategic communications for a global health portfolio worth almost $1 billion and spanning 16 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Previously, she led public affairs for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Georgia and Azerbaijan.
She has more than 15 years of experience developing communications strategies, including branding, messaging, and storytelling, for a wide range of international and local NGOs, government agencies, and donor-funded programs in more than 20 countries.
Andrea has a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tufts.
In her free time, she loves to travel with her family, read novels, and fix up her old house.
Laura Euller, MALD
Measurement Analyst
Laura supports Seed’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning team & program teams with best practices in program design, data collection & management, utilization-focused evaluation, and organizational learning.
Prior to joining Seed, Laura supported women’s small business development programs in Minnesota in a series of roles, most recently as a loan officer. Laura has also supported cross-cutting gender research at a variety of INGOs including Better Work, UN ESCAP, and Tufts/USAID in the areas of the post-Covid care economy, remittance practices, and zoonotic disease spillover in Africa, Asia, and the Levant.
Laura holds a Master’s degree in International Development from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy where she specialized in Design, Monitoring, & Evaluation.
Randall Ellis
Associate Director of Emergency Medicine
Randall leads emergency medicine programming for Seed, focusing on recruiting, supporting educators, and advising and supporting partner institutions.
Over the past 15 years, Randall has had extensive international experiences in clinical care, teaching and supporting emergency medicine development in Haiti, Malawi, Ghana, Guyana, Zambia and Uganda. Randall has been involved in EM development in Uganda since 2018. He served as a Seed educator in Mbarara, and continued teaching remotely throughout the Covid pandemic. In 2022 he assisted with HCW training in response to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
Randall is a practicing emergency physician who has worked at a number of community teaching hospitals in TN and KY, and soon will be working at the San Carlos Apache hospital in AZ.
Elana Evenden
Partnerships Coordinator
Outside of her professional life, Elana enjoys cooking, reading, traveling, art museums, and spending time with her partner and dog.
Helen Ewing, DHSc, MN, RN
Senior Director of Clinical Education
Helen Ewing designs, leads, and supports the clinical and training strategies and activities in nursing, medicine and midwifery across education, practice and policy.
Helen has over 35 years of experience in healthcare and has spent the past thirty years in leadership, academic administration, and health profession education. She has experience in various leadership, academic, and clinical roles in Canada and the United States. Helen has also worked in resource-limited countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Kenya, Liberia, and Rwanda.
Her research interests include issues affecting global health, quality of life of nurses, healthcare leadership, promoting evidence-based healthcare, online education, and academic integrity. Helen has a passion for quality student and faculty centered education and advancing healthcare professions and health systems locally and internationally.
She holds diplomas in nursing and business management and bachelor and master’s degrees in nursing, specializing in management and quality improvement. Helen earned her doctorate of health science from Nova Southeastern University specializing in international healthcare, proposing a model for the delivery of primary healthcare in rural India.
Tom Fairchild
Director of Advocacy and Media
As director of advocacy and media, Tom drives Seed’s advocacy, media, and communications efforts to advance Seed’s policy positions and influence decision-makers, both at global and national levels.
Before joining Seed, Tom was associate director at freuds, a leading UK communications agency, leading global public health campaigns that shifted the dial on climate change and health, overcoming vaccine hesitancy in countries across Africa, and driving behavior change for those needing help for gambling addiction. He also led media and advocacy around the introduction of the R21 malaria vaccine.
Previously, Tom worked in communications in UK politics for over a decade, leading external communications for governmental departments including the Department of Health and Social Care, Ministry for Housing, and the Cabinet Office. In these roles, Tom advised secretaries of state, ministers, and senior civil servants on health and social issues including the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, pay and retention for doctors and nurses in the NHS, and housing and homelessness.
Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations and European politics from the University of Westminster in London. In his spare time, Tom is a devoted bookworm – preferring hard science fiction – and can often be found exploring the world, especially to escape the grim British winter.
Augustine Juma Fannah, MPA
Regional Operations Manager, Sierra Leone
Augustine Juma Fannah provides finance and administration support to all our partner country teams.
Juma has over 12 years of experience working in finance and administration. Prior to joining Seed in 2019, he was a finance coordinator for MSF in Myanmar. Juma has worked in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and South Sudan as a finance and administration manager. In this capacity, he oversaw the implementation of policy and procedure.
Juma has an Associate of Science in Business Administration, a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems, and an Master of Public Administration in Public Management.
He enjoys cooking with his girls and loves listening to gospel and country music.
Leigh Forbush, MPH
Senior Program Manager, Operations & Standards
Leigh Forbush manages program operations, administration, finances and logistics for Eswatini and Uganda as part of Seed’s program quality and management team.
Leigh has spent her career designing and implementing global and domestic health workforce development initiatives. Her work, specializing in human resource for health capacity building, has taken her to Haiti, Liberia, Mexico, and Uganda. Leigh has experience creating and managing programming for a wide variety of health professionals and institutions. These include children’s health quality improvement collaboratives for public health professionals, psychosocial interventions for mental health providers, and community health initiatives for community health workers.
She has a background in health education, community mobilization, and program management. Her interest in global healthcare delivery developed during her Peace Corps service in the Dominican Republic. Leigh has pursued this passion through positions at Partners In Health, Boston Medical Center, and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, among others.
Leigh received her Bachelor of Art from Vanderbilt University and her Master of Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health.
Kidist Gebre
Director of Human Resources
Kidist Gebre provides strategic guidance and leadership in the development of human resource policies that promote maximum effectiveness at Seed and support our mission.
As the director of human resources, Kidist oversees all aspects of the human resources function and establishes the direction for the full complement of core human capital programs, policies, and services. Before joining Seed in 2020, Kidist was a human resources manager at a global architecture software company. She was responsible for all aspects of human resources including the alignment of the broader employee base with corporate strategy for North America.
Kidist holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from University of Massachusetts. She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Personnel Management.
Senya Afi Ghamli
Global Communications Manager
Afi is global communications manager at Seed, where she leads our strategy and storytelling efforts across our four partner country programs. Afi has 10 years of experience designing and executing marketing campaigns for technology, higher education, non-profit organizations, and advertising agencies. She is passionate about building strong and successful brands, leveraging her areas of expertise in public relations, product marketing, social media management, customer experience, and event management.
Most recently at Ogilvy, Afi developed and managed campaign strategies across Africa for leading brands such as Standard Chartered Bank, PLC, Lifebuoy (Unilever), Bolt Ghana, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She played a pivotal role in the rebranding of Hubtel, where she held numerous positions including mobile campaigns manager, product marketing manager, and communications and PR manager. Afi has also held communications positions at Ohio University and the Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program (now Aspire) at Harvard University.
Afi has a bachelor’s degree in French and a master’s degree in communication and international studies.
Outside of work, Afi is an introvert and enjoys trying different kinds of food. Her speckled grey hair and singing abilities are excellent conversation starters. She is easily calmed by butterflies and loves creative writing, but at the heart of everything, she is a wanderlust storyteller who enjoys crafting impressionable campaigns that resonate with target audiences.
Samantha Gikuhi, MPH
Partnerships Officer
As business development officer, Samantha identifies and builds relationships with mission-aligned new partners who support Seed’s work. She has more than five years of experience in grants fundraising, partnership management, and program development and has helped raise millions of dollars in funding for international NGOs and social enterprises based in Africa and the United States.
Most recently, Samantha was a business development manager at Sanergy, where she was responsible for growing the organization’s pipeline, developing donor engagement strategies, and managing multi-year grants from donors including UNICEF, the French Agency for Development (AFD), and USAID. She also has held fundraising roles at Healthright International and CARE USA.
Samantha has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Queen’s University and a master’s degree in public health from Emory University.
Matthew Haldeman
Associate Director of Family Medicine
Matthew Haldeman guides family medicine programming for Seed by recruiting, supporting, and mentoring global health-minded family medicine physicians.
Matthew joined Seed as a family medicine educator from 2020-2022, helping to launch Zambia’s first-ever family medicine residency program by serving as a faculty member at University of Zambia Family Medicine. Passionate about point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) and its use in low-resource settings, Matthew nurtured the growth of POCUS in the residency program, which now uses POCUS regularly.
Matthew is also a global health faculty and assistant professor of family medicine at University of South Carolina School of Medicine, where he teaches full-spectrum family medicine. His research interests include novel applications of POCUS and the impact they can have in low-resource settings.
Matthew is also an avid hiker, climber, and gardener.
Esther Ijangolet
Administrative & Logistics Assistant, Uganda
Esther Ijangolet manages the Seed Uganda front office.
Before joining Seed, Esther worked as an Administrative Assistant with the Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders’ Initiative on Health and HIV/AIDS in Africa for 5 years.
She has over 5 years experience in office administration, procurement, and logistics. Over the course of her career, Esther has gained an invaluable skillset and expertise in navigating challenging situations.
Esther is passionate about her work. She enjoys interacting with her colleagues as well as the organization’s partners and stakeholders.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from ESLSCA International Business School, Uganda and a diploma in business studies from Makerere University Business School.
Simbisai R. Kadye, ACCA
Finance and Administration Manager, Country Operations
Simbisai supports country operations’ finance and administration functions including in-country corporate administration, financial management, and subgrants management. She also manages special projects related to organizational needs.
Before joining Seed in 2021, Simbisai worked as the Financial Management Expert for the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). While there, she supported the implementation of national and regional capacity-building projects across Africa. Prior to her time at ACBF, Simbisai worked for the Clinton Health Access Initiative and served as the Project Accountant for Crown Agents.
Simbisai holds a Masters in Financial Management from Edinburgh Business School, a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes, and completed ACCA qualifications.
When she is not working, she enjoys jogging, hiking, and gardening.
Musa Kamara, MBA
Finance Officer, Sierra Leone
Musa provides finance and administration support for our office in Sierra Leone and is responsible for financial accounting and reporting, as well as managing special projects related to organizational needs and priorities.
Musa has a decade of experience supporting international NGOs and corporate institutions in various capacities, including as payroll manager, grant financial accountant, and finance and administration coordinator.
Musa holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Makeni in Sierra Leone and a Bachelor of Science degree in applied accounting from the Institute of Public Administration and Management, University of Sierra Leone.
Thombi Kaunda, MBA
Program Officer and Educator Focal Point, Malawi
Thombi supports the Malawi team in fulfilling partner commitments and exploring new approaches and systems to support educators and meet Seed’s strategic goals.
Thombi joined Seed in 2018 and uses her energy, passion, and skills to enhance organizational operations and communication efforts in our fast-paced country office during a time of rapid growth. Prior to Seed, she worked with two international banks in Malawi, namely Standard Bank and Ecobank Plc, and one local bank in different junior and senior positions. Thombi has vast experience in the financial sector including sales and marketing, operations, administration and finance, credit and risk management, and foreign trade dealings.
She has a degree in financial services with a specialty in treasury and international trade from the University of South Africa and a master’s degree in Business Administration from UNICAF University, Cyprus.
Douglas Lungu, DBA, MBA
Operations Manager, Zambia
Douglas has more than 10 years of experience working in finance and operations, including for USAID-funded awards. Prior to joining Seed in 2021, he was a finance and administration manager for SOCHA Zambia, where he oversaw all aspects of operations, finance, procurement, HR, and administration. Before that, he worked for Zambia Law Development Commission, PACT Zambia, and John Snow, Inc. In these roles, he oversaw compliance, financial reporting, audit management, capacity management, and strategy.
Douglas has a deep passion for promoting high-quality education among under-privileged rural children. He is an educational advocate in his rural district of Lusangazi, Eastern Province, where he is championing the inclusion of adult literacy in public schools and supporting two primary schools that he attended as a child. Douglas is writing a soon-to-be published autobiography entitled Letters from my Mother in honor of his mother, who raised him as a single parent and continues to influence his life.
Douglas has Doctor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration degrees from ZCAS University in Lusaka and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from University of Lusaka. He also has a post-graduate diploma in teaching/lecturing methodology, and a diploma from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the Association of Accounting Technicians (MAAT).
He enjoys reading books, traveling, and watching documentaries and boxing. He also is learning to play the guitar and keyboard.
Anthony Mafabi
Driver, Uganda
Anthony Mafabi is a driver and supports the administration and logistics function for Seed Global Health in Uganda.
Before joining Seed, he worked with the U.S. Peace Corps in Kampala, supporting communities in the areas of agriculture, education, economic development, and health. He also served as a logistics officer at Matrix Uganda Limited, a pharmaceutical company.
Anthony has a certificate in defensive driving from Smith System and Uganda Standard Driving Agency.
He enjoys farming, loves spending time with family, listening to music, and reading.
Richard Malirakwenda
Midwifery Technical Advisor, Malawi
As midwifery technical advisor at Seed Global Health, Richard works with our partners to improve midwifery education and practice in Malawi.
He is a public health specialist with more than 10 years of experience in health systems strengthening, monitoring and evaluation, implementation research, and project management. He has led quality improvement projects, contributed to the development and alignment of the monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) framework for the midwifery-led ward model, and leads all the MEL efforts including data analysis, related to Seed’s midwifery-led ward partnership.
Richard holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Midwifery.
Julie Mann, CNM
Associate Director of Midwifery
Julie Mann guides midwifery programming at Seed. In addition to recruiting midwifery educators, she advocates and supports maternal health initiatives within our partner institutions.
Julie’s journey in maternal health began in Burkina Faso while in the Peace Corps. It is there that she witnessed her first maternal death and subsequently discovered her passion, her vocation. She promised herself that she would devote her career to delivering high-quality maternal health care and addressing the disparities in care that exist for women in maternal and reproductive health.
She has worked as the co-director of women’s health for Partners in Health in Haiti and as a MGH Global Health Nursing Fellow at Lira University in Uganda. Julie has also practiced midwifery in the rural southwest while living on Navajo Reservation in New Mexico.
Julie practices midwifery at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she serves as the assistant director of midwifery and project manager of quality improvement on the labor and delivery unit.
She received her master’s in midwifery from Yale University. Julie has been recognized as a Fellow in Medical Education at Harvard Medical School and Mount Auburn Hospital and is currently pursuing her MPH at Johns Hopkins University.
Pacharo Matchere
Deputy Country Director, Malawi
Pacharo supports the Malawi country team to deliver impactful outcomes, providing thought leadership and Seed policy outreach. She ensures seamless implementation of seed partnerships that are aligned with strategic national goals and serves as the primary liaison with institutional leadership, adeptly identifying and nurturing innovation opportunities.
Before joining Seed Global Health, Pacharo was the acting director of health programs at Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM), where she led the health services, training and programs team. Previously, she was the training manager responsible for coordinating all the 11 pre-service training institutions within the CHAM network.
She has 18 years of experience in project management, strategic partnership development and healthcare leadership gained through her tenure with the ministry of health and various non-governmental organizations in Malawi.
Pacharo holds a Master of Public Health in global health from the University of Melbourne, Australia, a University Certificate in midwifery and a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Malawi.
In her free time she loves to travel with her family and read novels.
Fola May, MD, PhD, MPhil
Associate Director of Internal Medicine
Fola May directs internal medicine programming at Seed and is focused on connecting internists around the globe.
Fola has participated in global health programs in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa. She has been part of the Seed team since 2012. In addition to her role at Seed, Fola is an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA and a co-director of the UCLA Center Global Health Program. She oversees a research team that conducts studies to understand and address health care disparities domestically and internationally.
Fola graduated from Yale University with a degree in biology. She attended the University of Cambridge to study international systems of health care delivery before matriculating to Harvard Medical School. She trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Fola then joined the UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program, completing a fellowship in gastroenterology at UCLA and a PhD in health policy and management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Kiran Mitha Masood, MD
Associate Director of Pediatrics
Kiran Mitha Masood guides pediatric programming for Seed, focused on recruiting, supporting, and connecting pediatricians around the globe.
Kiran has spent her professional career focusing on vulnerable children, particularly in under-resourced areas of Africa and South America. Her early career concentrated on caring for underserved children domestically.
Kiran’s first role with Seed was in 2013 as a pediatric educator teaching at Gulu University’s Faculty of Medicine. After completing her service, she transitioned into the role of regional director of programs and partnerships, overseeing all Seed operations in sub-Saharan Africa. Since returning to the US, Kiran has led Seed’s engagement in global child health. In addition to her role at Seed, Kiran is a faculty member at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and leads the UCLA partnership in Peru. She also serves as a mentor to trainees interested in careers in global health. She has also previously worked in Ethiopia and Guatemala.
She completed her medical education at the University of California, San Diego, where she helped serve the local uninsured population, persons living with HIV, and the immigrant Ethiopian community. This emphasis continued during her pediatric residency at UCLA within the community health and advocacy track and a fellowship in community medicine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center.
Madalitso Mbewe, MPH
Program Manager, Zambia
Madalitso works with Seed partners and colleagues to support the planning, management, and success of Seed’s work in Zambia.
Madalitso brings deep experience in public health and social science research, with expertise in qualitative and quantitative analysis and partnership management. Previously, she helped plan and manage research studies at Zambart (a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine-affiliated research institution in Zambia), working closely with international researchers from the University of Toronto, SHM Foundation, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and other institutions. She also has experience in grant proposal development and post-award management.
She is passionate about adolescent health and has contributed to published research focused on adolescent mental health, sexual and reproductive health, HIV, and digital health.
Madalitso holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies from the University of Zambia.
Madalitso loves to travel and sing. She enjoys baking on weekends with her two children.
Gaspar Mbita
Director of Measurement, Evaluation, & Learning
As director of measurement evaluation and learning (MEL), Gaspar is responsible for developing a strategic vision and measurement frameworks for Seed’s programs.
With more than 14 years of experience in global health, Gaspar specializes in monitoring, evaluation, learning, adaptive management, and research. His expereinces encompasses reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health, family planning, malaria, HIV, capacity development, and health system strengthening.
Before joining Seed, Gaspar served as the monitoring evaluation and adaptive management director for Jhpiego in Liberia. In this role, he supported capacity strengthening at Liberia’s Ministry of Health, specifically in health information systems, data quality assurance, and training. Previously, Gaspar worked in Tanzania, where he held director roles overseeing monitoring, evaluation, and research for various international organizations including Jhpiego and Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Gaspar is a Ph.D. candidate in implementation science at Vrije University Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in epidemiology and applied biostatistics. Throughout his career, Gaspar has led more than 20 operations research studies as a principal investigator and has published more than 12 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.
In his free time, Gaspar enjoys running and swimming. He values spending quality time with his wife and their three children.
Lauren McKown
Chief Partnerships Officer
Lauren McKown is Seed Global Health’s Chief Partnerships Officer. At Seed, Lauren works with global health NGOs, private sector partners, leading international foundations, government leaders, and bilateral and multilateral financing institutions to advance the global health workforce, championing support for strong health systems that improve patient care and save lives.
Lauren has over a decade of experience forging strategic partnerships and building innovative programs that advance social impact and equity, both domestically and internationally. She has coached, advised, and supported both large global organizations as well as dozens of emerging social enterprises and nonprofits over her career, from her time collaborating with global development innovators and entrepreneurs at MIT, to forging new national philanthropic pathways for local news at The GroundTruth Project, through its award-winning Report for America program. Lauren began her career at Pathfinder International, managing communications for multi-million-dollar USAID-supported health systems strengthening projects spanning over a dozen countries globally.
Lauren has been a featured speaker at MIT, Ashesi University, the New England News & Philanthropy Summit, OECD NetFWD’s Annual Conference, and as part of the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change competition. Her work has been featured by Inside Philanthropy, Poynter, MacArthur Foundation, USAID, Rewire News Group, and more.
Lauren has served on multiple nonprofit boards, from a Boston-based hunger relief organization ensuring fresh nutrition for those who need it most, to a national nonprofit fighting to protect local journalism and our democracy.
Peter Miller
Director of Information Systems
As director of information systems, Peter leads the planning, management, and guidance of all information systems and processes at Seed Global Health, including ERP, CRM, HRIS, survey tools, communication, program management, and collaboration platforms. Peter has decades of experience in the not-for-profit and nongovernmental organization (NGO) space with deep knowledge of systems, cybersecurity, and service management.
Prior to joining Seed in 2023, Peter led the IT department at Pathfinder International, an international NGO specializing in sexual and reproductive health and rights. During his early career, Peter worked in engineering, television production, theater, and music.
Peter has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and applied science from Harvard University.
Fauve Morse
Digital Content Manager
Fauve manages Seed’s digital content strategy and online presence across our website, social media platforms, and digital publications.
She has more than seven years of experience in communications and social media. Previously, Fauve worked in the UK Parliament as the digital communications manager for the Speaker of the House of Commons, creating and sharing social media content for the Speaker.
Previously, Fauve worked in the UK civil service in press, media, and social media roles, and for the U.S. embassy in London, developing and creating content for the U.S. ambassador and corporate social media accounts. Her work included supporting U.S. cabinet-level and presidential visits to the UK.
Fauve has a bachelor’s degree in politics and international studies and a master’s degree in international security from the University of Warwick.
Outside of work, Fauve enjoys running, cooking, and exploring new places at home and abroad.
Ernest Moya
Research Manager
Ernest leads Seed’s engagement with the Ministry of Health in Malawi to support integration of health service delivery at the primary and secondary levels of care.
Ernest joined the Seed team from the Training and Research Unit of Excellence (TRUE) at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS). At KUHeS, he managed the Zomba Research Site, supervising multiple studies, drafting manuscripts for publication, and serving as a liaison officer between TRUE and its partners.
Ernest also coordinated a joint funded WHO/UNICEF project through the Paediatric and Child Health Association (PACHA), where he was part of a team that conducted a neonatal care situation analysis with the Malawi Ministry of Health, donors, and partners.
He is a fellow at the Consortium for Advanced Research and Training in Africa (CARTA) and Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH). Ernest holds a master’s degree in public health from the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) and just completed a doctorate in public health at the same institution.
Ernest enjoys playing volleyball and watching soccer in his spare time.
Thomas Chiverapi Msiska, MSc
Program & MEL Manager, Malawi
Thomas Msiska supports the Malawi team in the development of strategic partnerships to advance medical, nursing, and midwifery education, practice, and policy in the country.
Thomas currently oversees Seed Malawi’s medical and mental health partnerships. He has collaborated with teams across the organization to develop key partnership documents including long-term partnership plans, annual partnership plans, annual budgets, monitoring, evaluation, and learning frameworks, and output trackers. Thomas also supported the country director in the development of memorandums of understanding for Malawi partnerships.
Before joining Seed, he worked with a number of international and local nonprofits. Thomas focused on partnership development, program implementation and monitoring, tracking work plans and budgets, and assessing progress towards achievement of goals. He also has experience in coordinating external evaluations for projects.
Thomas has a Master of Science in Management Studies with a focus on health systems organisation and management.
Martin Msukwa
Chief Program and Innovation Officer
Martin Msukwa leads the design, development, and implementation of programs at Seed Global Health.
Previously, Martin was a project director at ICAP at Columbia University in Pretoria, South Africa, where he led 12 complex public health projects in eight countries. He also served as a regional clinical advisor on the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation project (a learning network of more than 21 countries), leading the quality management community of practice and playing an important liaison role to network partner countries.
Martin is a public health professional with 20 years of experience in HIV program planning, development, implementation, and management, ten of which were in senior management roles in various countries in Africa. He is a skilled program implementer with an inquisitive mind and a passion for building quality health systems and improving the lives of individuals, families, and communities.
Martin’s technical expertise in HIV; maternal, newborn, and child health; sexual and reproductive health; quality improvement; and systems strengthening and his management skills and constructive problem-solving approach have contributed to project excellence, stakeholder engagement, systems strengthening, and lasting impact to the populations he has served.
Martin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and a Master of Public Health degree. He is certified in project management for development professionals at levels 1 and 2.
Prossy Nakattudde
Program Officer, Uganda
Prossy Nakattudde supports the Uganda Team across a range of program and partnership activities in service of Seed’s strategic goals.
Prossy joined Seed with over 10 years of experience in health facilities and community-focused programs and has a long excellent record in health systems strengthening and stakeholder engagement. She previously worked with Johanniter International Assistance, Uganda as the Country Projects Coordinator for Emergency Health, WASH, and Nutrition. Prossy was responsible for developing and maintaining collaborative partnerships with the projects implementing partners, health institutions, and other stakeholders while managing donor and partner relationships at all levels. She also supported exchange medical, public health, and nutrition fellows; intern students; and volunteers as an identified way of improving human resource in emergency/ refugee settlements. Prossy previously worked with Plan International-Uganda and Lutheran World Federation in closely related roles.
She is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Public Health at Clarke International University. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from Kyambogo University, a post graduate diploma in project planning and management, a certificate in monitoring and evaluation from Uganda Management Institute, and is a certified community development and leadership professional who majored in women and gender issues at George Mason University.
Jackie Norah Nanteza
Partnerships and Grants Officer
As partnership and grants officer, Jackie is an integral member of the Seed development team. She works collaboratively with internal teams and external partners to support Seed’s mission while maintaining compliance with philanthropic partner and organizational requirements.
Jackie is a passionate and experienced professional with expertise in grants management, partnership management, and public health. Jackie comes to Seed with a wealth of experience working with national and international partners and has managed large-scale, multinational projects funded by different donors.
Jackie has a Bachelor of Science in environmental health science, a Master of Business Administration, and a Master of Science in population and reproductive health.
Outside of work, Jackie loves to mentor women and young people and enjoys cooking up a storm in her kitchen.
Sarah Nyirongo Ngoma RM, MPH, MBA, PhD
Clinical Education Advisor, Zambia
Sarah Ngoma works closely with Seed educators, clinical site staff, and midwifery faculty to facilitate the implementation of midwifery activities and advocates for better midwifery practice in Zambia. She leads in data collection, management, tracking progress, and reporting for regular learning and sharing.
Sarah has over 20 years of experience working in capacity building for health providers in sexual reproductive, maternal, child, newborn, and adolescent health. She has worked with local and international NGOs providing technical support and capacity development for individuals and organizations. She has experience developing tools and conducting organizational performance self-assessments.
Prior to joining Seed, Sarah worked with Pact Zambia for six years as a Capacity Development Specialist where she facilitated individual and organizational performance assessments, developed institutional strengthening plans, and monitored implementation of activities until they improved their performance to graduate to prime recipients of USAID funding.
She is a public health activist and an advocate for better midwifery education and practice in Zambia. While working in the NGO space she has been a passionate midwife. Sarah volunteers in the Midwives Association of Zambia where she currently holds the position of Association President. She is a trainer in essential midwifery competences.
Sarah holds an MPH from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and an MBA-Management from Assam Don Bosco University in India. She graduated with a PhD in Public Health and Health Promotion in August 2022. Her thesis was: Midwifery: a public health agenda.
Anda Nindi Nyondo
Country Director, Malawi
Anda Nyondo provides technical and clinical support to all partnerships and educators in Malawi. This includes providing thought leadership on interdisciplinary collaboration between medicine, nursing, midwifery and other disciplines in the health sector, assisting in identifying areas of most meaningful impact on country priorities, and development of strategic partners for education, practice and policy.
Prior to joining Seed, Anda worked as the District Nursing and Midwifery Officer for Neno District Health Office. Her roles included leading planning and implementation of nursing and midwifery services, supporting quality improvement, leading reproductive, maternal and new-born health programs in the district, mentoring and coaching health care workers and leading integrated supportive supervision program.
Having worked in the public health system for over 14 years, Anda has experience working in hard-to-reach areas with limited resources, which has helped her understand the health inequalities that exists among vulnerable populations. This exposure has ignited her passion to contribute to increasing availability of quality health services that are accessible and acceptable to everyone including the marginalized and vulnerable populations.
Anda holds a BSc in Nursing, University Certificate in Midwifery and a MSc in Reproductive Health from the University of Malawi, Kamuzu College of Nursing.
Dr. Vincent Oketcho
Director of Policy
As director of policy, Dr. Oketcho work across Seed and our partner countries to advocate for strong health workforce policy initiatives nationally, regionally and globally.
He is a public health specialist with decades of expertise in human resources planning and management. As chief of party for the USAID Human Resources for Health (HRH) project in Uganda, Dr. Oketcho was instrumental in supporting strategic, evidence-based HRH policy, planning, and management at the Ministry of Health and various districts in Uganda between 2007 and 2019.
Previously, Dr. Oketcho worked with the EU-funded Developing Human Resources for Health project as a senior human resources for health advisor; served as country director for AMREF in Uganda; and also worked as assistant commissioner of health services heading the department for human resources development at the Uganda Ministry of Health.
Dr. Oketcho is a medical doctor trained at Makerere University, with a master’s degree in community health and a postgraduate diploma in public health.
Eric Otim
Global Finance & Operations Manager
Eric Otim provides finance and operations support to all the country offices in the areas of financial accounting & reporting oversight, ERP system deployment and maintenance, budgeting & budgetary processes, policy review, development & implementation as well as training teams in the various areas around finance & operations.
Eric has over ten years of invaluable experience in corporate finance, accounting, and administration. He has worked in both for profit and nonprofit organizations as well as a pro bono consultant for small and medium-sized enterprises. Prior to joining Seed in 2018, he was the country finance and administration officer for Farm Radio International, a communication for development organization with headquarters in Ottawa, Canada, and country offices in East and West Africa. In this role, he was responsible for financial accounting and reporting, budgeting and budget tracking, development and review of policies and procedures, payroll management, statutory compliance, and administration and logistics. He supported the implementation of multi-donor funded projects from funders such as DFID, FAO, Irish Aid, GAC, and Rockefeller Foundation. Eric also had intermittent temporary assignments to the regional office in Arusha, Tanzania to support quarterly, annual planning, and audit exercises.
Eric has a Bachelor of Commerce with a finance and accounting concentration from Makerere University Business School.
He is a team player, outgoing, detail-oriented, and proficient in building and maintaining professional relationships. Eric loves traveling and enjoys playing basketball and beach volleyball.
Leandra Furtado Rivera
Senior Global Strategic Initiatives Officer
Leandra Furtado Rivera supports Seed’s development strategy in the US and globally.
Leandra has spent most of her professional career working in higher education development, most recently at Harvard University and Boston University. Her dedication to advocacy and international development has led her to serve in a variety of settings across the world.
Leandra is passionate about her Azorean heritage and volunteers as director of the NextGen Leadership Fellowship of the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States, an organization which advocates for the interests of Portuguese-Americans.
Leandra holds a BS in Psychology and an MA in Human Services from Southeastern University. She most recently completed a master’s degree in international relations at Harvard University.
Isha Beckie Sesay
Clinical Advisor, Sierra Leone
Isha Beckie Sesay provides support to Seed Educators and faculty at clinical sites. She is also responsible for data collection and analysis.
Beckie has over fifteen years of clinical and community health experience, working as a clinician in the capacity of a community health officer. Prior to joining Seed, she worked with the National AIDS Control Program as a community health officer in charge of the HIV unit attached to the Holy Spirit Hospital in Makeni, Sierra Leone. Beckie was responsible for providing care to people living with HIV and collecting, collating, and analyzing data for reporting.
She has worked in several districts in Sierra Leone as an in-charge of various health centers, providing health care services and mentorship. Beckie has also worked in health care facilities in The Gambia.
Beckie is a graduate of the Paramedical School in Sierra Leone (now School of Community and Clinical Sciences). She holds a certificate and diploma in public health and is awaiting convocation for a bachelor’s degree in public health in March 2022.
Ruhi Sharma
Human Resources Generalist
As Human Resources Generalist, Ruhi works cross-functionally with Seed’s clinical and country teams to monitor, manage, and support the employee lifecycle for Seed educators.
Prior to Seed, Ruhi worked in operations and human resources management. She spent six years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), most recently as a Senior HR Representative in the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science and prior to that at MIT Housing and Residential Services.
Ruhi graduated from Northeastern University with a Master’s degree in nonprofit management and she has a Bachelor’s degree from Bemidji State University in Minnesota.
Caroline Snyder
Senior Administrative Coordinator
Caroline Snyder supports Seed’s administrative functions in the US and globally.
Caroline has spent her professional career focused on political engagement and advocacy. She most recently worked on Democratic Campaigns through the 2020 election season at Blueprint Interactive.
Her prior experience related to global health and policy includes internships with Cornerstone Government Affairs, the Office of Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA), and Fidelity Investments, conducting research on health policy, political engagement, and advocacy.
Caroline holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government & Politics and Communication Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Helen Solomon, MBA
Finance Manager
As finance manager, Helen is responsible for expense claims, vendor transactions, U.S. payroll, and other finance projects.
Helen’s accounting expertise spans across the medical, academic, and private sectors. Prior to Seed, she was the grants financial administrator at LifeBridge Health, a multi-hospital company in Baltimore, Maryland, where she was responsible for system-wide grants management and audits.
Before moving to Maryland, Helen worked at Harvard University where she was the associate director of finance and accounting at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. In her role, she managed grant compliance for a multi-year USAID-funded project dedicated to decentralizing Ethiopia’s financial systems.
Helen has a master’s degree in business administration from Suffolk University, and is a certified public accountant.
Mustapha Sonnie, MSPH
Country Director, Sierra Leone
Mustapha Sonnie leads the Sierra Leone team and Seed’s programming in the country.
Mustapha has spent his professional career as a public health specialist focusing on control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases. For over 13 years, he managed the USAID-funded End Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa and Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases program in Sierra Leone with an emphasis on sustainability and national ownership. Mustapha worked directly with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, the national neglected tropical diseases program, and partners. He has also provided technical support to neglected tropical diseases programs in Northern Nigeria and Zambia.
Early in his career, Mustapha worked as a sexually transmitted infections control officer, designing and managing health promotion efforts. He was also as a health trainer, organizing trainings on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections prevention among vulnerable groups.
Mustapha holds a Master of Science in Public Health from Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.
Dan Spearman
Program Manager
Dan Spearman coordinates efforts for recruiting and hiring physicians, nurses, and midwives as Seed Educators and orchestrates orientation prior to their departure to our partner countries.
Dan joined Seed in 2018, transitioning into global health after starting his professional career in higher education. His dedication to international development, relations, and advocacy resulted in his interning with the United Nations Association of Greater Boston, conducting sustainable development research in Cuba, and serving twice as a delegate with Humanitarian Affairs Asia at the United Nations in Thailand.
Prior to Seed, Dan worked at Plymouth State University as the global engagement study away specialist. He managed institutional partnerships, academic field study programs, and advised students on study abroad opportunities. Dan holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in biology and peace and social justice studies from Plymouth State University.
Andrew Twineamatsiko
Program Manager, Uganda
Andrew is a medical doctor and public health specialist. He brings more than five years of experience in global health, health systems strengthening, and health economics and policy to his role as research program manager.
Most recently, Andrew led a team from Uganda and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in London to conduct an emergency care needs assessment in six of Uganda’s regional referral hospitals. The assessment focused on health financing, workforce, equipment, infrastructure, and data collection and use tools. Previously, Andrew worked for Uganda’s Ministry of Health, supporting safe motherhood initiatives to reduce maternal and newborn mortality.
Andrew has also served as a cluster coordinator in Uganda’s North and Eastern regions for Reproductive Health Uganda, where he supported districts and health facilities with mentorships, capacity building, research, and data use in sexual and reproductive health.
Andrew has a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from Gulu University and a master’s degree in public health from Uganda Martyrs University. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in health economics and policy from Brunel University in London.
Editor Twongirwe
Finance Associate, Uganda
Editor Twongirwe plays a crucial role in enhancing financial operations in Uganda.
Before joining Seed, Editor worked as a finance and administration assistant with Christian Blind Mission, an international Christian development organization, that is committed to improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities in the poorest communities of the world. Editor previously worked as a finance officer with Inter-aid Uganda, a UNHCR-funded program committed to improving the lives of refugees and host communities in Uganda and as a trainee associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers. She has more than four years of experience in financial management, financial reporting, and budgeting and forecasting. She is passionate about her work in not-for-profit settings and proud of the contributions that NGOs make towards positively impacting the lives of under-resourced communities.
Editor holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Kyambogo University, Kampala and is currently on the path to earning a Certified Public Accountant (CPA license) from the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda.
Brittney van de Water, PhD, RN, CPNP
Associate Director of Nursing, Pediatrics
Brittney van de Water guides pediatric nursing at Seed, recruiting and supporting pediatric nurse educators for our partner institutions.
Over the past decade, Brittney has focused her career on providing care to children and families in low resource settings with high burdens of disease. She joined Seed in 2016 after serving as faculty at Mzuzu University in Malawi as part of the Global Health Service Partnership. In addition to her role with Seed, Brittney is an instructor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In this capacity, she conducts tuberculosis research with a focus on implementation science and translating evidence to practice for TB programs in rural South Africa.
Brittney is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and works clinically at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, Massachusetts. She received her PhD from Duke University School of Nursing in 2017 and completed a doctoral certificate in global health through the Duke Global Health Institute.
She is from Ipswich, Massachusetts and splits her time with her husband and two young children between the U.S. and South Africa.
Kate York, PhD, RN, FNP
Associate Director of Primary Health Care and Community Health Nursing
Kate York guides primary health care and community health nursing at Seed, recruiting and supporting nurse educators for our partner institutions.
Kate proudly joined the nursing team at Seed in 2016 and has expanded her role from community health nursing to include primary health care and mental health nursing. She was a faculty member at Hubert Kairuki Memorial University in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania during the 2014/2015 academic year as part of the Global Health Service Partnership, her first interaction with Seed. During this time of teaching nursing students in Tanzania, she was a Fellow in Global Clinical Education through Massachusetts General Hospital.
Kate is also the director of Global Health Nursing and an assistant professor of clinical nursing at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Nursing along with being a certified family nurse practitioner. She works in global community health and primary health care settings and teaches community/public health nursing and global health. Kate works to create academic partnerships with schools and colleges of nursing at higher education institutions internationally and sustains these relationships through mutually beneficial activities.
Her interest in global health developed during her doctoral studies when she researched community-based programming for a neglected tropical disease. This experience, coupled with her time living and working in Tanzania, shaped her philosophy of global study abroad for nursing students – one that requires interaction with student nurses and nurses in host countries in a meaningful and sustainable way.
Board Chair, Consultant, Egon Zehnder Health
Dede Orraca Cecil, based in Boston, is a trusted advisor to CEOs, boards and senior executives across the world of health, including life sciences, health services, global health and digital health organizations. As the work of these companies and institutions converge, they are experiencing dynamic challenges to their business models, but also opportunities for robust growth. To help meet these challenges, Dede consults on a wide range of talent acquisition and leadership solutions, including executive search and recruitment, transformative leadership, management appraisals, board diversity and digital board leadership.
Venture Advisor
Tom has over 25 years of professional experience as an operator, investor and advisor in both the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds. His current advisory work includes advising institutions and families on optimizing their resources for impact; working with social enterprises on building sustainable/impactful organizations; and advancing the field of social entrepreneurship. Tom currently serves on the boards of Genesys Works, Out Teach, Seed Global Health, Strive Together, Raising The Village, and Knowledge Works Foundation. He has served on over 20 non-profit boards. Tom received his MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and holds a BA in Philosophy and Economics from Boston College. Tom lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Anu, and enjoys trail-running, cooking, yoga, and international travel.
Chief Executive Officer, Seed Global Health
As the co-founder and CEO of Seed, Dr. Kerry leads the organization in fulfillment of our mission—to help strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes for all. Her work stems from her interest in capacity-building to strengthen public sector health systems and communities in resource poor settings. She believes deeply that health is fundamental to economic, social wellbeing, and national security. Concurrent with her role as CEO, Dr. Kerry is a critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and helps lead educational activities at the hospital’s Center for Global Health. Academically, she spearheads the program in Global Public Policy and Social Change in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her work has included innovative research in the nexus of national security, crisis response, and health including a two-year project with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. She has taught courses on the intersection of health, economy, politics, and security at the Kennedy School of Government and Yale University. Dr. Kerry graduated from Yale University summa cum laude and Harvard Medical School cum laude, completing her Internal Medicine residency and Critical Care fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She earned her Master’s in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing from the London Schools of Economics and of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Kerry is a Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneur, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and has been published in numerous academic journals and media outlets including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, The New York Times, and Huffington Post.
Former President, John Snow, Inc.
Joel Lamstein is the former president of John Snow, Inc. (JSI) and World Education. He is an adjunct lecturer at Harvard School of Public Health and the Boston University School of Public Health. Joel is on the boards of Seed, Partnership for Supply Chain Management and the advisory boards of University of Michigan School of Public Health, Boston University School of Public Health, and FXB Center at Harvard. He is also a Red Sox fan.
Global Head of Corporate Affairs, Government Relations & Strategic Partnerships
Patty O’Hayer is a Communications and Public Affairs professional with over 20 years’ experience in change, policy and partnerships with UN organisations. She is an international politics graduate from the George Washington University, and has been Reckitt’s Global Head of Corporate Affairs, Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships since 2013. Prior to this, she worked as Director Communications and Campaigns at Plan International, and as Vice-President, Global Communications, for Unilever. She has also implemented issues and crisis management systems in major companies such as Tetra Pak, Baxter and Dow Corning. Patty is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group to the WHO Foundation, is a Trustee and Board Member at Seed Global Health and sits on the Health Innovation Exchange Advisory Board.
Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa
As Founder-President of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA), Her Excellency Mrs. Toyin Ojora Saraki is a global advocate for women’s and children’s health and empowerment, with two decades of advocacy covering reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health; ending gender-based discrimination and violence; and improving education, socio-economic empowerment, and community livelihoods in sub- Saharan Africa.
Mrs. Saraki is the Inaugural and Emeritus Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM); special adviser and member of the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), was named by Devex as UHC Global Champion, is the UNFPA Nigeria Family Planning Champion, is the Save the Children Newborn Health Champion for Nigeria; and is a Global Champion for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, and member of the International Steering Committee ICPD25. Mrs Saraki has recently been appointed the inaugural WHO Foundation Global Health Ambassador.
Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit Sierra Leone
Ndeye Fatu Sesay is a policy and data expert with over 12 years of experience in various public sector and non-governmental roles in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire. She holds a Master’s degree in development studies with a concentration in Human Security and Conflict Resolution from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Prior to taking the lead to develop and implement Sierra Leone’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grants, she has worked for Human Rights Watch and several UN agencies in New York, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire. Her public sector experience includes serving as a Policy Analyst in the Strategy and Policy Unit, Office of the President- Sierra Leone providing monitoring and evaluation support and strategic advice to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security and the Ministry of Education. She was later appointed as Policy Benchmarking Coordinator in the former Office of the Chief of Staff- Sierra Leone, Office of the President to support the management of data collection for international benchmarks and provide policy advice to improve performance on critical indicators such as education and health expenditure, and governance including control of corruption. Ndeye later transitioned to Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit (MCCU) where she continued to serve as Policy Benchmarking Coordinator also supporting key governance initiatives like the Open Government Partnership, the Pay No Bribe Campaign and combatting Trafficking in Persons. She then took up the role of Program Manager of the MCCU and later Chief Executive Officer, leading the implementation of the $ 44.4 million MCC funded Threshold program that sought to improve the financial viability of the water and electricity sectors in Sierra Leone. Following the successful completion of the Threshold Program in 2021, Ndeye is now leading the development of Sierra Leone’s multiple hundred million Compact after selection by MCC’s Board of Directors in 2020 that seeks to address the most binding constraints to growth.
Executive Director, Child Relief International
Kara Weiss is the Executive Director of CRI Foundation, a strategic philanthropic foundation focused on cost-effective, high impact interventions geared to those living in poverty in low- and middle-income countries. Kara oversees CRI’s three programs: CRI Health, CRI-DIV, and CRI Research, and works with the Directors to establish CRI’s strategy. Kara has served as an “expert” for the Aspen Ideas Incubator, and as a Director or Trustee on the boards of Gardens for Health International, Spark MicroGrants, Seed Global Health, the Center for Development Economics at Williams College, AMP Health, CRI Foundation, as well as the allocation committee of the WAM Foundation.
Advisory Board Chair; Managing Partner, Brookfield Private Equity; former US Ambassador to the European Union
Anthony (Tony) Gardner, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, has devoted more than 27 years of his distinguished career to U.S.-European affairs as a government official and lawyer. During his service as U.S. Ambassador until 2017, he played a pivotal role in some of the most challenging issues in the U.S.-EU relationship, including the negotiations to conclude a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP), the Privacy Shield Agreement facilitating the transatlantic transfer of personal data by companies based in Europe and the Umbrella Agreement facilitating the transatlantic transfer of data between law enforcement authorities. He was also instrumental in U.S.-EU coordination of sanctions against Russia following its annexation of Crimea and the facilitation of U.S. participation in EU-funded research programs. Most recently, Tony has also been advising clients on various aspects of the legal and policy implications of Brexit.
Prior to his role as U.S. Ambassador to the EU, Tony served as managing director of a London-based private equity firm and as an Executive Director at GE Capital. He also served as Director for European Affairs on the U.S. National Security Council, where he was responsible for U.S. relations with the EU.
Public Service Advocate & Non-Profit Board Member
Teresita Alvarez-Bjelland brings her energy and passion for public service to supporting partners in education, cultural exchange, and human rights through her not-for-profit university advisory service and by serving on several international boards. Her affiliations include tenures on the boards of the Norwegian American Foundation, Freedom Now, the Nordic Council of the United World College, and Harvard’s Global Advisory Council. Prior to this chapter in her life, Alvarez-Bjelland carried out a successful career in business. She in parallel, served Harvard for over four decades and has been recognized for her commitment to the University, including receiving the Radcliffe Distinguished Service Award in 2001; the Hiram S. Hunn Award from the Harvard College’s Office of Admissions in 2003; the Harvard Alumni Association Award in 2012; and the Harvard Medal in 2019. As both the first female Harvard MBA and the first international woman to lead the Harvard Alumni Association, Alvarez-Bjelland’s tenure as president of the HAA focused on the theme of “Harvard Serves.” Her leadership spearheaded public service initiatives, including the “Global Month of Service.” Her involvement at Harvard continues today as a member of the University’s Global Advisory Council, Co-Chair of the Cuban Study Program Advisory Group (DRCLAS), and President Emeritus of the Harvard Club of Norway. Alvarez-Bjelland is based in Oslo, Norway where she lives with her husband, Christian. They have two children, Tracy and Christian.
Chief Executive Officer and President, Boston Private & Trust Company
Mr. DeChellis is the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company and the Bank. He joined the Company and was elected to the Board in November 2018. Mr. DeChellis has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining the Company, he was the President of OurCrowd Venture Capital from 2014 to 2016, where he developed the firm’s business strategy for an equity capital crowdfunding platform, established a deal flow process to review hundreds of company investment opportunities each year and initiated the development of a new website to engage and manage client relationships.
From 2006 to 2013, Mr. DeChellis was the CEO of Credit Suisse Private Banking – Americas. In this role, he provided executive leadership for Credit Suisse’s Private Banking & Wealth Management businesses in North and South America and served as a member of the CS Global Private Banking Management Committee, the Board of Directors for Credit Suisse Securities USA, LLC, the firm’s Private Banking Global Risk Management Committee, the firm’s Global Diversity Committee and the CS Global Investment Banking Management Committee. From 2003 to 2006, Mr. DeChellis was the Head of UBS Private Wealth Management. During his tenure at UBS, Mr. DeChellis launched the Private Wealth Management business for UBS in the United States and oversaw the expansion of services catering to ultra-high net worth clients. He was a member of the UBS Americas Management Council and the UBS Global Private Banking Leadership Group.
Prior to joining UBS, from 1987 to 2003, Mr. DeChellis held various positions at Merrill Lynch, including Head of International Private Banking for Merrill Lynch Europe. Mr. DeChellis is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Berkshire School, the Board of Directors of The Open Door Homeless Shelter and the President’s Leadership Council of Rollins College. He serves as a member of the board of directors of each of the Company’s operating subsidiaries.
Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact, Georgetown University
The Honorable Mark Dybul, MD, is the Co-Director of the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact, and Professor in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. He is also a Chair and Fellow with the Joep Lange Institute. A well-recognized global health expert and humanitarian, Dr. Dybul served as Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, overseeing the implementation of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Dr. Dybul served as a HIV research fellow at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under director Dr. Anthony Fauci in the late 1990s. He conducted basic and clinical HIV research at NIAID, and eventually conducted the first randomized, controlled trial with combination antiretroviral therapy with HIV patients in Africa. He went on to lead President George W. Bush’s International Prevention of Mother and Child HIV initiative for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and in 2006 was named U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. As U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, he led the implementation of PEPFAR, a health initiative Dr. Dybul helped create. He later became the inaugural Global Health Fellow of the George W. Bush Institute.
Chairwoman, Rubicon Carbon
Anne M. Finucane is the chairwoman at Rubicon Carbon. Finucane previously served as vice chair of Bank of America and Chair of the Board of Bank of America Europe. She led the bank’s socially responsible investing, global public policy, and environmental, social and corporate governance committee, and was the co-chair of the Sustainable Markets Committee. Anne also helped establish and steward Bank of America’s $1 trillion environmental business initiative, which deployed capital to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy.
Active in the community, Finucane serves on a variety of corporate and nonprofit boards of directors including Carnegie Hall, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the World Bank Group’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), CVS Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Mass General Brigham Healthcare, Special Olympics, the (RED) advisory board, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and The Ireland Funds. She served on the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy board and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Finucane has received numerous professional and public service accolades. She has regularly been named to Forbes’ and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women lists, along with American Banker’s 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking. In 2019, Finucane was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Ad Hall of Fame, as well as the CMO Hall of Fame, and received the Edward M. Kennedy Institute Award for Inspired Leadership. In March 2018, Finucane was honored with the Leadership Award by The Ireland Funds.
President of the Mayo Clinic Platform, Mayo Clinic
Dr. John Halamka, M.D., is the president of Mayo Clinic Platform. In his new role at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Halamka will oversee the future direction of the Mayo Clinic Platform that will help establish Mayo Clinic as a global leader in digital healthcare.
Prior to the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Halamka served as the executive director of the Health Technology Exploration Center for Beth Israel Lahey Health in Massachusetts. During his tenure at Beth Israel Lahey Health, Dr. Halamka oversaw digital health relationships with industry, academia, and government worldwide. Previously, he was chief information officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for more than 20 years. In his role at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dr. Halamka was responsible for all clinical, financial, administrative and academic IT.
As a Harvard Medical School professor, he served the George W. Bush administration, the Obama administration and governments around the world planning their health care information (IT) strategies. In addition, he also was the International Healthcare Innovation Professor at Harvard Medical School. He remains chairman of New England Healthcare Exchange Network Inc. and is a practicing emergency medicine physician. Dr. Halamka has written a dozen books about technology-related issues, hundreds of articles and thousands of posts on the Geekdoctor blog.
Chief Executive Officer, Seed Global Health
As the co-founder and CEO of Seed, Dr. Kerry leads the organization in fulfillment of our mission—to help strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes for all. Her work stems from her interest in capacity-building to strengthen public sector health systems and communities in resource poor settings. She believes deeply that health is fundamental to economic, social wellbeing, and national security. Concurrent with her role as CEO, Dr. Kerry is a critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and helps lead educational activities at the hospital’s Center for Global Health. Academically, she spearheads the program in Global Public Policy and Social Change in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her work has included innovative research in the nexus of national security, crisis response, and health including a two-year project with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. She has taught courses on the intersection of health, economy, politics, and security at the Kennedy School of Government and Yale University. Dr. Kerry graduated from Yale University summa cum laude and Harvard Medical School cum laude, completing her Internal Medicine residency and Critical Care fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She earned her Master’s in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing from the London Schools of Economics and of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Kerry is a Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneur, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and has been published in numerous academic journals and media outlets including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, The New York Times, and Huffington Post.
Chairman, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group
As Chairman, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG), Donna Langley is responsible for the global creative strategy and business operations for the motion picture group. In this role, she oversees the production, marketing and distribution for film and television content across Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation (DWA), Focus Features, Universal Pictures International and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Prior to being named sole Chairman, UFEG, in 2019, Langley served as Chairman of Universal Pictures since 2013 where she engineered a strategic slate of all-audience tentpoles, breakthrough comedies, and pop-culture hit horror films that resulted in four years of record global profit, and the two most profitable years in the studio’s 107-year history. During her tenure, Langley led Focus Features’ global realignment with Universal Pictures International; oversaw the studio’s successful integration of DreamWorks Animation; and launched the Global Talent Development & Inclusion group, making Universal the first major feature studio to have a department working with both production and workforce to build on the company’s commitment to progressing diversity and inclusion. She first joined Universal in 2001 as Senior Vice President of Production, and subsequently served as President of Production, Co-Chairman, Universal Pictures. She began her career at New Line Cinema, where she worked on hit Austin Powers franchise, as well as The Cell and Drop Dead Gorgeous.
Over the years, Langley has been recognized for her impact on the film and entertainment industry. A native of the United Kingdom, she is the first British female to run a major Hollywood studio, and was recently awarded a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) title by the Queen in her 2020 New Year’s Honour List. The honour recognizes Langley’s many accomplishments in redefining popular culture and her efforts to expand networks and opportunities for women and people of color in the entertainment industry, while also championing organizations dedicated to providing access, networks and pathways to success, for all people. She is also a recipient of 2018 Producers Guild of America’s Milestone Award; the 2016 Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation Pioneer of the Year Award; and the 2014 Women in Film’s Crystal Award for Excellence in Film.
A passionate advocate for mentorship and female empowerment, Langley is an Ambassador for Vital Voices Global Ambassadors Program and has served on the organization’s Board of Directors since 2013. She was also a key founder of The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Film Mentorship program.
A voting member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Langley serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Film Institute, Motion Picture Association (MPA), USC’s School of Cinematic Arts Board of Councilors, and SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Entertainment Industry Council.
Senior Vice President for CVS Health & Chief Medical Officer for Aetna
Dr. Kyu Rhee is Senior Vice President for CVS Health and Chief Medical Officer for Aetna. He oversees all clinical capabilities at Aetna with a focus on enhancing the quality of services provided for members and plan sponsors. In this role, he and his team lead the innovative design and implementation of new integrated health care management strategies and population health solutions. He also focuses on better integrating evidence-based medicine into key medical and personalized management strategies.
Dr. Rhee joined CVS Health from IBM, where he served for a decade as Vice President and Chief Health Officer, and was the lead physician, public health and clinical executive leader for IBM’s global workforce of over 350,000 in 170 countries. He had global responsibilities for IBM’s efforts to transform health through the use of data, analytics, artificial intelligence, and services for hospitals, health systems, providers, health plans, employers, governments, and life science companies. Most recently, he and his team led many of IBM’s global COVID-19 and Culture of Health initiatives.
Before joining IBM, Dr. Rhee served in the federal government as Chief Public Health Officer at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and Director of Innovation at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While at HRSA and NIH, he led numerous national initiatives related to prevention, health care quality, research, health equity and public health.
Dr. Rhee earned his dual medical residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in Healthcare Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. Earlier in his career, Dr. Rhee worked as a National Health Services Corps primary care physician and Chief Medical Officer in diverse community health settings in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. He also taught and mentored clinical and public health students at George Washington University’s Schools of Public Health and Medicine.
amfAR Board Member; former Chairman and CEO of MTV Networks International
Bill Roedy has pursued a lifetime of global service in both the private and public sectors. His multiple careers have revolved around Defense, Diplomacy and Development, dedicating his life to uniting cultures, freedom for all and improving wellbeing worldwide.
Upon graduation from West Point in 1970 as a 2nd Lieutenant, Bill qualified as an Airborne Ranger, volunteering for duty in Vietnam. Following a year in combat operations along the DMZ, he then commanded three Nuclear Missile bases in Italy as part of NATO during the Cold War. For his distinguished military service, he was awarded the Bronze Star, Air Medal, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (with Silver Star) and Meritorious Service Medal.
After the military, and graduating from Harvard Business School, Bill embarked on a 33-year career in media. He joined HBO in 1979, as part of a new television cable revolution and rose to Vice President, overseeing offices in L.A and Philadelphia, negotiating distribution and marketing partnerships and launching HBO across the US. He was later honored as a Cable TV Pioneer.
Moving to London in 1989, he led the start-up MTV Europe, bringing a new form of television to viewers on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Over the next 22 years, he built from scratch a global operation of 200 channels, 20 brands (including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central), in 200 countries, reaching an audience of 2 Billion people, launching the most channels in the history of television. His strategy centered on 1) creative, relentless distribution, 2) ground-breaking content that was reflective and respectful of local cultures and 3) social responsibility, highlighted by the largest multi-media initiative to fight the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS. Through diplomacy and entrepreneurship, he successfully navigated the complexity of diverse cultures, regulatory and geopolitical challenges, while at the same time pioneering a strategy of localization with global scale. He was recognized in 2015 with his induction into the Cable Hall of Fame. During this time, he was appointed the first Ambassador of UNAIDS, addressing the UN General Assembly on several occasions regarding the pandemic.
He was a founding member and Chair of the Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV/AIDS, galvanizing the business response to AIDS, TB and Malaria. In 2005, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him founding chair of the Global Media AIDS Initiative, negotiating airtime commitments to fight AIDS.
He is the Founding Chair of the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which provides young people with resources at the grassroots level in combination with MTV’s award-winning HIV/AIDS programming. In 2011, Bill expanded on his HIV/AIDS work by building a portfolio of Global Health initiatives, reaching the far corners of the world. All have added COVID-19 to their missions.
He became the Chair of AmfAR, joining in 2010, in its scientific research for a cure to AIDS. amfAR has invested over $500m in prevention, treatment and care, helping to save lives affected by HIV/AIDS. Its recent support includes ground-breaking gene therapy and multiple clinical trials in the road to find a cure. In parallel, he was appointed the first Envoy for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI), founded by Bill and Melinda Gates, rising to Vice Chair in 2018. GAVI has provided multiple vaccinations to over 700 million children, saving millions of lives and improving overall health care systems. Through the Covax Facility, Gavi has launched an all-out effort to ensure equitable global access and help end the Covid 19 pandemic.
He works with the Global Health Corps (founded by Barbara Bush) and Seed Global Health (founded by Vanessa Kerry), bringing health care executives and medical staff to Africa. He also works with Goldie Hawn with her MindUp initiative, targeting children in primary schools.
Geopolitically, he supports Seeds of Peace, is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and advises the State Department. He has also been appointed a Churchill Fellow, delivering the Green lecture known as Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech. His education roles include the boards of the American School of London (20 years) and the Berlin School of Creative leadership. His business roles include Senior Advisor to two private equity firms, Lionsgate Motion Pictures and several tech start-ups.
His awards include an Emmy Founders Award, the Leadership Business Award presented by US President Bill Clinton, amfAR’s Award of Courage, Doctors of the World Leadership Award and the UN Correspondents Association Global Citizen of the Year Award presented by UN Secretary-General Ban–Ki-Moon. He has also given numerous commencement addresses with two honorary doctorate degrees. In 2020 he was selected as a ‘Distinguished Graduate of West Point’.
He is an Exec Producer of the film documentary ‘Battle of amfAR’, and the author of ‘What Makes Business Rock’, a CNBC Best Book of summer 2011.
Philanthropist & Advisor
Alexandra lives in London and has been heavily involved in advising family philanthropic endeavors.
Director, Schooner Africa Fund
Cynthia Ryan is a Director of the Schooner Africa Fund, an impact investment fund based in Nairobi, Kenya that focuses on the agricultural sector in East Africa. She also is a Trustee and Senior Advisor to the Schooner Foundation. Cynthia started the foundation with her father in 1998 and ran it until 2013 when she moved from Washington D.C. to Nairobi, Kenya. The foundation works internationally in human rights, peace & security and economic opportunity. It has multiple funding partners in a wide array of thematic and geographic areas throughout the African.
Cynthia has vast non-profit board experience including: the Fund for Global Human Rights, the Wangari Maathai Foundation, Women for Women International, SHOFCO (Shining Hope for Communities), the Nature Conservancy’s Africa Advisory Council, and the Democracy Alliance. She is also deeply involved in the global philanthropic and investment communities as a member of the African Philanthropy Forum, ANDE-Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, TED, the African Grantmaker’s Network, the Global Philanthropy Forum, MIE-Mission Investors Exchange, and the International Human Rights Funders Group.
Cynthia received her Bachelor of Arts from the New School for Social Research in New York and a Masters of Arts from the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London in England. She was a contributing author to the book “Women, Philanthropy and Social Change: Visions for a Just Society.”
Senior Advisor Emeritus, RTI International; former Director of the Peace Corps
As a Senior Advisor for Government Relations at RTI International, Aaron Williams provides expertise and support for efforts to strengthen RTI’s relationship with federal and state government agencies, policymakers, and elected officials. In this role, he draws on his extensive experience with both RTI and the federal government.
Mr. Williams joined RTI in 2003, as vice president of international business development, and held that position until 2009. He served as executive vice president of RTI’s international development group from 2012-2015, then stepped in as executive vice president for government relations and corporate communications. His long and distinguished career in public service and the private sector began with three years of service as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. He served as a senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where he reached the rank of career minister in the Senior Foreign Service. His awards include the USAID Distinguished Career Service Award and the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service. In 2009 he was appointed by President Barack Obama as Director of the U.S. Peace Corps, serving in that role through 2012.
Mr. Williams has extensive experience in the strategic design and management of assistance programs in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He is a frequent lecturer and panelist on international development topics at universities, research and policy institutes, and at US and global conferences.
Mr. Williams is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the Board of Directors of the Ron Brown Scholar Program, Seed Global Health, ChildFund International, George Washington University – Elliott School of International Affairs’ Advisory Board, and is a board member of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign. He has also served on the boards of directors of CARE, the National Peace Corps Association, and the Institute for Sustainable Communities.
Mr. Williams served on the Obama-Biden transition team. In 2015, he was appointed by President Barack Obama as the U.S. Alternative Representative to the executive board of the United Nations children’s fund (UNICEF). He is a frequent lecturer and panelist on international development topics at universities, research and policy institutes, and U.S. and global conferences. During his tenure as Peace Corps director, he led White House delegations to the 2012 presidential inauguration in Guatemala and to the bicentennial celebration of the independence of Paraguay in 2011.
Former US Ambassador to the United Kingdom
Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader
US Ambassador to Brazil
Board Chair and Commissioner, Emergency Medical Services, Ministry of Health
Dr. John Baptist Waniaye is a registered medical practitioner with 17 years of experience. He has held roles ranging from Assistant District Health Officer to Commissioner of Emergency Medical Services. At the Ministry of Health, Dr. Waniaye has worked with partners to initiate capacity building for health workers in emergency care and develop an emergency medical services policy and strategic plan as well as ambulance norms and standards. He is a board member at Butabika National Referral Hospital. He has also served on the board of the Mbale Regional Referral Hospital. Dr. Waniaye is currently the chairperson of the Delegated Contract Committee. He holds a MBChB from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, a master’s degree from Uganda Martyrs University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management of Education from Uganda Management Institute, and a Commonwealth Fellowship from University of Liverpool. Dr. Waniaye is a Makerere University School of Public Health Governance Leadership and Management Fellow.
Registrar, Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council
Christine Nimwesiga is an AfyaBora Fellow and currently the Acting Registrar of the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council. She is a Nurse by profession with a diploma in nursing and midwifery, Degree and Masters in Nursing. She holds a master in public health from International Health Sciences University, Uganda, and holds Diploma in health services management. She has worked in the health system as Assistant District Health Officer/Maternal and Child Health Nursing (ADHO/MCH), Principal Nursing Officer, and a Nursing Officer. She is an experienced nurse practitioner, educator, researcher and leader who has worked for 19 years.
Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, Lira University
Professor Edward Kumakech is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Lira University. Professor Kumakech has over 17 years of experience in university level nursing and midwifery education in Uganda. He is an investigator on five currently ongoing research studies and an author on 16 peer-reviewed journal publications and three books and book chapters. Professor Kumakech’s mainstay field has been biomedical, epidemiological, and qualitative research on maternal, newborn, child, and women’s health from infectious diseases and cancers particularly HIV, HPV, cervical, and breast cancers through prophylaxis, screening, vaccination, behavior change communication, and health system strengthening. Recently, Professor Kumakech has increasingly gotten involved in global health leadership, health professional education, Ebola viral disease preparedness research, and quality improvement projects. He is a holder of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Makerere University, Master of Science in Nursing from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, a Master of Public Health from Lund University, and a PhD in Medical Sciences from Orebro University.
Assistant Commissioner, Reproductive Health, Ministry of Health
Dr. Richard Mugahi is a public health specialist. He has 15 years of experience working in decentralised health systems as a primary health physician and district health officer. Dr. Mugahi has been resourceful in building strong district health teams focused on reducing maternal and newborn mortality. He currently works in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Ministry of Health as the Assistant Commissioner, Reproductive Health.
Senior Lecturer, Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Makerere University
Dr. Rose Chalo Nabirye is a registered nurse/midwife. A former Dean of the School of Health Sciences, Makerere College of Health Sciences, she is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences at Makerere University. As a lecturer, she has supervised and mentored many undergraduate and graduate medical and nursing students.
Before joining academia in 2003, Dr. Nabirye was a clinical nurse/midwife in a variety of settings, including Mulago National Referral and Teaching Hospital. She also served as a Manager in Masaka district from 2000 to 2003 under the Early Childhood Development Project, a national programme that enabled her to gain experience working with communities and local governments. Throughout her career, Dr. Nabirye has actively engaged in research to contribute towards improvement of nursing/midwifery care and healthcare delivery. Her training and experience as a nurse/midwife in various positions has enabled her to gain managerial skills, working in interdisciplinary teams and with communities. In addition, she has previously served on several boards/governing councils including Mulago Health Tutors College, Mulago School of Nursing and Midwifery, Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council, and Peace Corps Uganda Project Advisory Committee. She is a council member of the African Forum for Research and Education in Health (AFREhealth) and a fellow of the Uganda Academy of Sciences. At AFREhealth, she is focused on building the capacity of nurses and midwives to conduct research to improve nursing and midwifery services. She also raises the profile of nurses and midwives through her participation in the National Steering Committee of “Nursing Now Campaign” among others.
Dr. Nabirye has a BSN, an advanced diploma in health services management, an MPH, and a PhD in Nursing.
Chief of Party, Strengthening Human Resources for Health Project - IntraHealth International
Vincent Oketcho is a public health specialist with extensive expertise in human resources planning and management. He is the Chief of Party of the Strengthening Human Resources for Health Project implemented by IntraHealth International, supporting strategic data-based HRH policy, planning, and management at the Ministry of Health and in the districts. Prior to joining IntraHealth, Dr. Oketcho worked with the EU-funded Developing Human Resources for Health Project as a Senior Human Resources Advisor based at the Ministry of Health (MOH). Working with other international consultants, he supported the MOH to develop HRH policy and long-term strategic plan which now provide a framework for systematic HRH development and management. In collaboration with consultants from Keele University and Uganda Martyrs’ University, he facilitated the introduction of Workload Indicators of Staffing Needs methodology in Uganda as a tool for HRH planning and management. He initiated and nurtured a culture of needs driven training cycles and built capacity for training needs assessment at the MOH as well as at the district level. Dr. Oketcho introduced digitalized absenteeism tracking in Uganda to improve attendance to duty by health workers, e-recruitment to improve efficiency in the recruitment of health workers, and e-libraries to improve availability and access to learning resources for health workers in remote districts. He professionalized human resource management and strengthened capacity for HRH planning and management at national and sub-national levels. Dr. Oketcho also served as Primary Health Care Training Programme Coordinator and Country Director for the African Medical and Research Foundation from 1999 to 2004. Before then, he worked as an Assistant Commissioner of Health Services for Human Resources Development at the MOH for nine years. Dr. Oketcho is a medical graduate of Makerere University. He has a master’s degree in community health and a postgraduate diploma in public health.
Director of Education, Ministry of Education and Sports
Dr. Jane Egau Okou is a teacher and currently the Director of Education in charge of Higher Education, Teacher Education, and Technical Vocational Education and Training in the Ministry of Education and Sports. She has over 30 years’ experience in the education sector and has led several education initiatives and projects nationally and internationally.
Dr. Okou holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Makerere University and a PhD in Workforce Education and Development from Pennsylvania State University.
Executive Director, African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation
Professor Francis Omaswa is the Executive Director of the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation, an initiative incorporated in Uganda and promoted by a network of African and international leaders in health and development. Until May 2008, he was a Special Adviser to the WHO Director General and founding Executive Director of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). Before joining GHWA, he was the Director General for Health Services in the Ministry of Health in Uganda. Professor Omaswa was responsible for coordinating and implementing major reforms in the health sector in Uganda which included the introduction of a SWAP, quality assurance, and decentralization. Among his many accomplishments and leadership roles in the global health community, he was founding chair, and later served as Vice Chairman, of the Global Stop TB Partnership; was one of the architects of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, and served as Chair of the Portfolio and Procurement Committee of the Global Fund Board; was a member of the steering committee of the High Level Forum on Health-Related MDGs; and, he participated in the drafting the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Professor Omaswa is a graduate of Makerere Medical School, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Founding President of the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa, and is a Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also the Chancellor of Busitema University.
Professor of Internal Medicine, Makerere University
Professor Nelson K. Sewankambo is a physician and clinical epidemiologist. He is the former Dean of Makerere University Medical School and immediate past principal of Makerere University College of Health Sciences. He is the President of Uganda National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences and of the African Academy of Sciences, and external affiliate of the US National Academy of Medicine. He is the Ugandan Principal Investigator for NIHR Global Health Research Group on Developing Psychosocial Interventions funds.
Over the last 21 years, Professor Sewankambo has focused on advancement of medical education and research capacity development. He is committed to creating sustainable north-south and south-south equitable partnerships. He leads NURTURE, a research training and mentoring program for career development of junior and mid-level faculty at Makerere University College of Health Sciences and PI for Training Health Researchers into Vocational Education in East Africa consortium of 7 African institutions and two UK universities. He is the founding Principal Investigator in Uganda of the internationally renowned Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP). He continues to be an active RHSP researcher/investigator in HIV/AIDS and has contributed to the large volume of scientific publications in peer reviewed journals.
Professor Sewankambo steered the development of an East African effort that led to an internationally acclaimed institutional brokerage mechanism for linking research to policy and action, “The REACH Policy Initiative” under the East African Community. He continues to spearhead initiatives for research on knowledge translation to advance the use of evidence based policies and practice in sub-Saharan Africa.
Acting Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, Busitema University and Professor, Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Dr. Julius Wandabwa is a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Busitema University. He has been the Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Busitema and Makerere University. Dr. Wandabwa was the site principal investigator on the novel device for management of hypertension in pregnancy in low resource settings. He was involved in the Cochrane reviews with Liverpool Women’s Hospital and reviewed mechanical and surgical management of postpartum haemorrhage. Dr. Wandabwa is a trainer on the essential training in operative obstetrics course in Uganda, supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
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