Board of Directors
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Jeffrey L. Sturchio is past Chairman and CEO at Rabin Martin, a global health strategy consulting firm, and former President and CEO of the Global Health Council. Before joining the Council in 2009, Dr. Sturchio was vice president of Corporate Responsibility at Merck & Co. Inc., and president of The Merck Company Foundation.
He is currently also chairman of the U.S. Corporate Council on Africa, chairman of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, TB and Malaria, chairman of the BroadReach Institute for Training and Education, and a member of the boards of ACHAP and the Science History Institute. Dr. Sturchio is also a visiting scholar at the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise at The Johns Hopkins University; Senior Associate at the Global Health Policy Center of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; a principal of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Arthur W. Page Society; and an advisor to amfAR, the Center for Health and Well-Being at Princeton University, he Partnership for Quality Medical Donations, the Rutgers Global Health Institute, and the TB Alliance. He received an AB in history from Princeton University and a PhD in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania. His publications include The Road to Universal Health Coverage: Innovation, Equity and the New Health Economy (edited with I. Kickbusch and L. Galambos, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019).
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Dr. Boufford is immediate past President of The New York Academy of Medicine. Since January 1, 2018, she is Clinical Professor of Global Public Health at the College of Global Public Health at New York University where she is also Professor of Public Service, Health Policy and Management at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine. She served as Dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University from June 1997 to November 2002. Prior to that, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from November 1993 to January 1997, and as Acting Assistant Secretary from January 1997 to May 1997. While at HHS, she was the U.S. representative on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1994–1997. She served in a variety of senior positions and as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the largest municipal system in the United States, from December 1985 until October 1989. Dr. Boufford was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship at the Institute of Medicine in Washington, DC for 1979–1980. She currently serves on the boards of the United Hospital Fund and the Health Effects Institute. She was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1992 and served on its Board on Global Health and Board on African Science Academy Development. She served two four year terms as the Foreign Secretary of the IOM between 2010 and 2014 and was elected to membership for the National Academy of Public Administration in 2015. She received Honorary Doctorate of Science degrees from the State University of New York, Brooklyn, (1992), New York Medical College, (2007), Pace University, (2011) and Toledo University, (2012). She has been a Fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine since 1988 and a Trustee since 2004. Dr. Boufford attended Wellesley College for two years and received her BA (Psychology) magna cum laude from the University of Michigan, and her MD, with distinction, from the University of Michigan Medical School. She is Board Certified in pediatrics.
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Dr. Carlos Dora has a distinguished career in global public health and environment. Until recently, he coordinated the WHO’s global work on health impacts of sector policies (energy, transport, housing, extractive industry) and on articulating a global response to air pollution. He led the development of a new Urban Health Initiative to strengthen health systems capacity in cities to support health, climate and air quality benefits from urban policies, which is under pilot implementation in Africa and Asia. He also led the development of a framework for how public health can contribute to Habitat III objectives and the New Urban Agenda. He previously led knowledge synthesis about the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation policies, in a “Health in a Green Economy” series and contributed to the development of health indicators for post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. He has worked to include health into strategic environment assessments and into Development Banks Safeguards. He contributed to establishment of an inter-ministerial process for transport health and environment in Europe (THE PEP), led a health task force in the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, and earlier engaged in health risk assessments in the ex-Soviet Union. He has worked in academia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and as a visiting professor at Columbia University School of Public Health. He worked at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, with the World Bank, and in the organization and innovation of primary care systems in Brazil, where he also practiced clinical medicine. He has served in many science/policy committees at national and international levels and is engaged in many global partnerships.
He currently advises governments, civil society and philanthropy about health as it relates to non-heath sector policies and the urban environment. His research and publications include health impact assessment as well as perceptions and communication of science and health risks by scientists, media and politicians. He is a medical doctor and an epidemiologist with an MSc and a PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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Gerard Lebeda most recently served as Program Director of the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH) and currently, as a part of it's Board of Directors, focuses on cultivating Convention & Visitor Bureau (CVB) / destination relationships for the organization's annual International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH). Previously, Gerard was Deputy Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars, a program he led for 13 years. Mr. Lebeda served on the founding Board of Directors for the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS), a DC-based organization aimed at improving the health of populations through science and innovation. Prior to his work on the Health & Society Scholars program, Gerard worked as a Convention/Meeting Planner for Medical World Communications in Jamesburg, NJ and as an Office Coordinator at the Medical Center at Princeton in Princeton, NJ.
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Rebecca Weil brings over 20 years of international experience in strategy and operations in the healthcare industry. She is currently Chief Commercial Officer at Oculis, a Swiss biotech company focused on Ophthalmology. Previously Dr. Weil held senior executive roles spanning corporate affairs, strategy, marketing, and general management at global healthcare companies including Novartis and Shire. She has a successful track record of commercializing new products and leading cross-functional teams in the U.S., Europe, and Emerging Markets.
Dr Weil started her career at McKinsey & Company leading strategic projects for a broad range of healthcare clients. She earned her PhD in Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her BA at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
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William B. Weeks, MD, PhD, MBA, is a Physician-Economist leading the AI for Health effort within Microsoft’s Philanthropic AI for Good Research Lab There, he conducts research in concert with not-for-profit organizations and academic centers designed to improve health and health outcomes by applying AI in imaging, public health, and large language modeling.
Dr. Weeks has published two books and over 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts examining economic and business aspects of health care services utilization and delivery, physicians’ return on educational investment, health care delivery science, and healthcare value. Dr. Weeks has won numerous national and international awards for his research.
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Ms. Bassani has spent her working life dealing first hand with global equity and climate change issues in Africa, Asia, Europe, United States and the Middle East. She has been passionate advocate for children and ultra-poor and used her expertise as convener of multiple stakeholders to develop effective policies, partnerships and programs to realize child rights , eradicate poverty, find solutions to adapt climate change.
Currently she serves with a few cutting edge organizations as consultant, board member, and mentor to young idealists. She is the Vice Chair of the Advisory committee of FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. She has been a Senior Fellow and Visiting Scientist at Francois-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Health and Human Rights Center at Harvard University, Board member and chair of Governance and Nominations Committee of Turkish Philantrophy Funds, member of Turkiye WIN.
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Sarah Swift is a communications professional with 30 years of experience in global public affairs and public relations. She is recognised as a leader who builds confidence and trust among multi-disciplinary teams while providing thoughtful strategic counsel, motivating others and encouraging bold approaches, both strategically and tactically, to achieve meaningful business results.
Sarah is employed by Gilead Sciences where she is Vice President of International and Strategic Projects within Public Affairs, managing a team of approximately 70 people in countries outside of the US, with a remit that includes corporate and therapeutic area communications, patient advocacy, and corporate citizenship and employee engagement. Prior to joining Gilead in 2016, Sarah worked as Senior Director, Corporate Communications, EMEA, for Acelity, a globally diversified wound care and regenerative medicine company (now part of 3M). During her tenure at Acelity she provided strategic counsel and tactical support for mergers and acquisitions, C-suite and Board of Director communications, employee engagement and culture, corporate brand management, issues mitigation, product and regulatory communications, digital strategy and content management, philanthropy, community relations and media relations.
Prior to her in-house roles, Sarah spent 16 years working for Public Relations agencies including Porter Novelli, GCI Group, Resolute Communications and Red Door, in Australia, the US and the UK, initially, learning the craft and ultimately serving in leadership positions including Vice President at Porter Novelli in New York, Group Vice President at GCI Group in New York, and Deputy Managing Director at GCI Healthcare in London; while in these positions, she advised Fortune 500 companies, governments and NGOs.
Sarah received her BA degree from York University in 1993 and has participated in extensive communications and leadership programs to continually develop herself and her ability to influence positive change for individuals, organisations and society.