Search

Hailu Zelelew is an economist with 30 years of experience in health financing/economics, health insurance, health policy processes, health systems strengthening and economic development. He has worked on development planning and economic cooperation; policy analysis and development; rural development; program design and management; maternal, newborn and child health; family planning and reproductive health; HIV/AIDS; and capacity building. His financial expertise includes health program costing, resource tracking, health financing policy, health insurance, public financial management, and governance. He also has extensive experience with monitoring, evaluation and research.

Leisa Gibson, the Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) senior advisor and practice lead for Abt in Britain, has more than 20 years of international experience working for governments, the United Nations, and civil society organisations. Her expertise includes strategic and operational planning, program formulation and delivery, change management, coordination and partnerships, quality assurance, and targeted interventions. She works on such issues as disability, development, inclusive leadership, gender and gender-based violence (GBV) in humanitarian action, child marriage, women’s economic empowerment, and organisational capacity development.

Shelly Spoeth brings more than 25 years of strategic communication and social marketing experience to tackling complex health and social issues.  She  worked for a decade with pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients while at public relations firms including Ketchum, FleishmanHillard and Cohn & Wolfe. She then worked as a consultant for government and nonprofit clients, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on behavioral change challenges ranging from HIV/AIDS to COVID-19. Spoeth has implemented, evaluated, and managed dozens of projects that improved health outcomes. Her capabilities include formative research and digital outreach.

Dr. Fiona Mactaggart is a multi-disciplinary technical advisor with more than 10 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL); infectious disease control; and public health. As a co-lead of Abt's MERL portfolio, she draws on complexity theory and scientific methods to help clients test what works, discover why it works, and provide timely evidence-based recommendations to inform important decisions about policy and practice. Mactaggart contributes to business development, programme delivery, and thought leadership. She works in five key areas: monitoring (e.g., design of digital tools and visualisation platforms) research (e.g., cross-sectional survey design), evaluation methodologies (e.g., contribution analysis), learning (e.g., portfolio level evidence-informed strategic decision making), and cross-cutting MERL capabilities (e.g., adaptive management and GEDSI). Mactaggart has worked extensively in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Paulina Giusti is a pediatrician with over 30 years of managerial and clinical experience in the public health sector in Peru. She has been Vice Minister of Health, Chief of Staff for the MoH, Head of a government public health project to improve maternal and child health, among other positions. She has deep experience in health systems strengthening, being part of the design and initial implementation of a health sector reform in Peru between 2012-14. She has worked with high and mid-level authorities, international cooperation and with local healthcare providers.

Nassim Díaz Casado is the chief of party for the USAID Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS) in the Dominican Republic (DR). He is an expert in project management with extensive experience in health systems, strategic management, and international development programs in the health sector. Diaz has more than 15 years of experience working as a project director for multilateral organizations, including the World Bank and International Development Bank. He has been chief of party of the USAID- Health Finance and Governance (HFG) project in the Dominican Republic and country program manager for the USAID-SHOPS Plus project, in addition to consulting with international organizations and public and private entities on health and social security systems.

Jodi Anthony, ScD, is a social epidemiologist with over two decades of mixed-methods evaluation, strategic consulting, and technical assistance experience focused on improving health for women, children, and families. Dr. Anthony brings expertise from her work with a variety of federal agencies, including Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and Office of Population Affairs. She also has worked with health systems, foundations, city and state governments, universities, and community coalitions.

Dr. Jennifer Bronson is a medical sociologist with 16 years of experience conducting complex quantitative, qualitative, and evaluation studies designed to improve the health and safety of individuals and communities. She focuses on criminal justice and behavioral health research. Her research findings have provided support for correctional and community-based health programming and policy change. Her research also helps reimagine law enforcement and behavioral health crisis responses. Bronson has worked closely with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); the  Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); and various state government agencies and community groups. She helps them develop, manage, and implement tailored surveys, research studies, and program evaluations.

Kelly Wagner has over 25 years of experience designing and delivering technical assistance, training, and capacity building. A skilled public health professional trained in epidemiology, she has developed and led more than 10 national TA programs for federal awardees from various agencies including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and offices within the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). Wagner has worked with community-based organizations, health centers, academic institutions, and state/local health agencies, reaching target audiences with unique and diverse public health needs across the lifespan. 

Jane Pepperall is a senior health professional with over 30 years of experience in global health policy development and in supporting national health sector development in the Pacific, Asia, and Africa. She has focused on strategy and investments to strengthen health systems and health financing. Jane worked for the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) (now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) for 20 years, including health adviser postings in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Pakistan, and the Pacific. More recently she has been providing health strategy, policy, and technical advice to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).