Speakers

Keynote

Dorothy Leab
CEO/Managing Director & Public Health Specialist
GaneshAID
Dorothy Leab

Dorothy Leab is the CEO of GaneshAID, a women-owned and -led public health consulting company which combines need-based innovations and health system strengthening expertise to ensure people’s equitable access to medicines, vaccines and technologies, thus saving more lives around the world. Dorothy has over 20 year-experience in shaping resilient health and immunization supply chain strategies, designing leadership and coordination frameworks, and developing workforce learning and performance management models.

Leab manages international interdisciplinary expertise to drive new approaches for sustainable impact in global health and promote Government’s leadership and ownership, multi-sectoral approaches for health systems transformation and integrated, people-centered primary health care re-engineering.

In 2014, Dorothy received the Gates Vaccine Innovation Award in recognition of her engagement in EPIVAC, an on-the-job blended training program for district medical officers to improve immunization program performance in 11 Francophone African countries.

Speaking September 21 focusing on Asia

Dr. Analía Porras
Unit Chief, Medicines and Health Technologies
Pan American Health Organisation
Dr. Analía Porras

Dr. Porrás is the Unit Chief of Medicines and Health Technologies Unit, Department of Health Systems and Services (HSS/MT) at PAHO/WHO. She leads the team responsible for providing technical cooperation to Latin America and the Caribbean to improve equitable access to quality, safe and effective medicines, and other health technologies. HSS/MT provides support to member states in a vast array of areas, from supply chain management, regulation to rational use of medicines and other health technologies, pharmaceutical policies, innovation and manufacturing, safe blood and radiological services, among others. In addition, the team plays a critical role in ensuring the quality of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and in vitro diagnostics procured through PAHO’s revolving funds. 

Dr. Porrás, a national of Argentina, has held several clinical, research and academic positions before joining PAHO in 2007. She received her Medical Degree (1989) from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology (1997) from Northwestern University, Illinois, USA, and a master’s in science in Health Economics, Policy and Management (2013) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom.

Speaking September 22 focusing on Americas

Pamela Steele
Supply Chain Transformation Director
PSA
Pamela Steele

Pamela is the Supply Chain Transformation Director for PSA, a management consultancy specializing in supply chain transformation and workforce capacity development in the health sector in low- and middle-income countries.

A strategic thinker, Pamela is a strong communicator with a deep passion for this field. She has an outstanding track record of end-to-end supply chain management from source of supply to consumer, as well as of strategic project leadership.   

She oversees supply chain transformation programmes for donors, leading efforts to implement sustainable supply chains, improve health service delivery, and scale up innovative approaches in developing countries in Nigeria and now Ethiopia. She's deeply passionate about strengthening human resource for supply chain and was the supply chain expert in an Evaluability Assessment team that developed a theory of change around HR capacity building for supply chain management in developing countries.  

Prior to that she worked as Chief Executive Officer of PSA for 7 years. Previous positions include Capacity Development Specialist for UNICEF, Humanitarian Logistics Specialist for UNFPA, and Head of Humanitarian Logistics for Oxfam GB.

She has a keen interest in mainstreaming gender and co-founded WISE, the Women’s Initiative for Supply Chain Excellence, to promote gender issues in the humanitarian supply chain community.

Speaking September 20 focusing on Africa/Middle East

Panelists

Mojisola Adeyeye
Director-General, NAFDAC Nigeria
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
Mojisola Adeyeye

Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye is a pharmacist and professor. She was appointed the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in November 2017. Prior to this she was the founding Chair of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and a Professor of Pharmaceutics, Manufacturing Science and Drug Product Evaluation at the College of Pharmacy, Roosevelt University in Schaumburg, Illinois for 7 years. She was also a Professor of Pharmaceutics and Manufacturing for 21 years at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She is Senior Fulbright Scholar and Specialist and 2008 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Fellow (the first African woman fellow). She is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science and Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy.

Susan Bornstein
Global Director, Institutional Partnerships & Influence
World Bicycle Relief
Susan Bornstein

Susan Bornstein is passionate about business solutions to poverty. She currently helps World Bicycle Relief to grow its impact by leading its global institutional partnerships and influence strategy. Prior to that she served as Deputy Director at The BOMA Project, supporting its efforts to end extreme poverty in Africa’s drylands though a “poverty graduation” approach. Susan formerly led strategic partnerships and technical practices areas at Land O’ Lakes International Development, helping entrepreneurial people in the developing world thrive through enterprise. For 17 years in the US and Kenya she helped TechnoServe grow its agriculture and enterprise development programs and partnerships, including leading innovative partnerships with emerging farmers and agribusinesses. Susan also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal. 

Juliet Bvekwa
Supply Chain Manager
UN International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Juliet Bvekwa

Juliet Bvekwa, is a Supply Chain Manager with UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) and her current duty station is Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh. She has 21 years experience in Supply Chain and Logistics and has worked with various organizations in Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. She holds a Master in Humanitarian Logistics and Management (MASHLM) from the University of Lugano (USI), Switzerland. Juliet has been working in Bangladesh since 2018 to date.

Irineu de Brito Junior
Professor of Risk Management
Sao Paulo State University (Unesp), São José dos Campos, Brazil
Irineu de Brito Junior

Dr. Irineu de Brito Junior is a professor of Risk Management at Sao Paulo State University (Unesp), São José dos Campos, Brazil, Invited Professor of Humanitarian Logistics at São Paulo University (USP), and Humanitarian Logistics Instructor at Civil Defense and United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). He received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering; M.Sc. in Logistics Engineering, and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of São Paulo, USP. Actually, is POMS Latin America & Caribbean Board Member and a researcher at the Center for Disaster Studies at USP and Università della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland). His humanitarian research interests are in facility location, food security, donations management and social impacts of Covid 19.

Thomas E. Fernandez, PhD
Supply Chain and Logistics Practitioner and Consultant
University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, International School of Management (Bangkok, Thailand)
Thomas E. Fernandez

Dr. Fernandez is originally from Germany where he learned the trade of freight forwarding and logistics. In 1990 he came to Thailand, and he now covers the Indo-Pacific region.

He completed an MBA in International Business in Thailand and a Master of Science in Computing for Commerce and Industry in the UK. In 2016, he completed his Ph.D. in Logistics with a dissertation about the humanitarian logistics for the relief efforts after the Nepal earthquakes that happened in 2015.

Dr. Fernandez has been teaching at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok and Myanmar since 2005 and has been invited as a guest lecturer, panelist and keynote speaker in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. He also regularly holds lectures in Germany. He has published several academic papers in reputable journals and at international conferences and conducts research in humanitarian logistics on an ongoing basis.

He also owns a logistics company which is specialised in humanitarian logistics, and he has collected extensive practical experience for over 20 years in providing humanitarian logistics to UN agencies, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and international NGOs. He has been involved in delivering PPE to countries in Asia since early in the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Dr. Fernandez is also the Southeast Asia Representative of the Humanitarian Logistics Association (HLA). The HLA is a UK-based non-profit organisation of academics and practitioners in humanitarian logistics.

The combination of academic knowledge and practical experience gives Dr. Fernandez a unique vantage point in humanitarian logistics and what has changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Edward O' Connor
Programmes Support Manager
Transaid
Edward O' Connor

Edward O’ Connor is a transport and logistics specialist with over 20 years of experience in both the private and international development sectors. Edward has a background of working in the private sector in transport and logistics in Ireland and the UK before transitioning into international development. Having worked on many Patient Referral Systems, Fleet Management and Medical Supply Chain projects, Edward has worked across a range of sub-Saharan countries.

Edward has been with Transaid for over 12 years and during this time has worked on a multitude of access to health and road safety projects including: Emergency Transport Schemes (ETS), projects focusing on community’s access to health care in urban, peri urban and rural areas, in Madagascar, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia using a range of vehicles including motorcycles; Transport Management System (TMS) training that focuses on efficient, effective and safe fleets in Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique and Uganda as well as providing shorter technical inputs on road safety and motorcycle safety. Edward is currently part of the GCRF research programme which investigates the challenges that women encounter as users of public transport and has designed pilots over three countries to address these challenges as well as the MAMaZ Against Malaria (MAM) project in Zambia which aims to reduce severe malaria mortality in children under six as well as providing technical support to other ongoing projects.

Kat Sellers
Global COVID-19 Program Manager
Field Ready
Kat Sellers

Program Manager, HGC COVID-19 Response: Kat has served as a program/project manager for 10 years, working across the public and charitable sectors, including social housing, health, disability and assistive technology, international development, employability and research. She holds her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sussex, is certified as a Prince2 Practitioner and is a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language. Before joining Field Ready, Kat managed a wheelchair factory in Kenya and ran a global youth employment program.

Sema Sgaier
Co-Founder and CEO
Surgo Ventures
Sema Sgaier

As co-founder and CEO, Dr. Sema Sgaier leads Surgo Ventures’ strategy, operations, and partner relations. She works at the intersection of behavior, data, and technology, drawing on her experience in policy, strategy and management of global health and development programs.

Before establishing Surgo, Sema worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she managed large-scale public health programs in India and Africa. She led a portfolio on HIV prevention across eastern and southern Africa. As part of the Foundation’s India Country Office, Sema led the scale-up of its HIV prevention program (Avahan) in several states, managed its transition to the government of India, and developed data platforms for decision-making. She served on the board of the Foundation’s alumni network.

Sema is also an assistant adjunct professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an Affiliate Assistant Professor, Global Health at the University of Washington.

Sema has a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology/neuroscience from New York University, an M.A. in neuroscience from Brown University, and a BSc in molecular biology from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. She was selected as a Rising Talent by the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society.

Rawinkhan Srinon, PhD
Lecturer and Consultant in Logistics and Health Supply Chain Management
Mahidol University, Cluster of Logistics and Rail Engineering (CLARE)
Rawinkhan Srinon

Rawinkhan Srinon is currently a fulltime faculty at The Cluster of Logistics and Rail Engineering (CLARE), faculty of Engineering at Mahidol University, Thailand. Her interdisciplinary background allows her to proficiently implement logistics and supply chain to both healthcare and industrial. As experienced lecturer, researcher, and consultant to both private and government organizations, she recognizes different supply chain structures and pathways to strengthen capability. Her main research interests are healthcare logistics and operations management, supply chain management, healthcare delivery system, logistics business process assessment and design, and the applications of data analytics in logistics and supply chain management.

Rolando Tomasini
Head of the Regional Office in Mexico
UNOPS
Rolando Tomasini

Dr. Tomasini is both an academic and a practitioner on the topic today. He is the author of several award winning case studies (INSEAD) and book chapters on humanitarian logistics and public procurement, as well as lecturer for several universities on this topic. In parallel he has worked for leading multinationals in supply chain and procurement but most relevant today he has held several leadership roles in the UN including Head of Global Outreach at UNOPS, ad interim Director of Partnerships and most recently he heads the Regional Director Unit in Mexico for UNOPS where the organization implements one of the largest health procurement project in the UN, the consolidate purchase of the national demand of medicines and medical aid supplies. He holds a PhD in Humanitarian Logistics and a Specialized Masters in International Procurement.

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About the Conference Series

The Health & Humanitarian Conference series is organized each year by the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems (CHHS) at Georgia Tech in partnership with INSEAD, MIT, and Northeastern University, with generous support from corporate and other organizational sponsors.

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