Taylor Williamson

Taylor Williamson has nearly 20 years of experience leading business development efforts, managing programs, developing strategy, and researching ways to strengthen health systems. That includes more than a decade of supervisory experience as a project manager or technical lead for five U.S. Agency for International Development-funded projects. He focuses on governance, information systems, health financing and insurance design, public policy, and capacity development. He has provided technical direction and leadership for a variety of health systems challenges, including improving data quality and use at national and sub-national levels; reducing service barriers for HIV, neglected tropical diseases, and family planning; improving civil society capacity; strengthening decentralization; and assessing health systems. He has also published several manuscripts and working papers on civil society capacity, advocacy, HIV, evidence use, decentralization, and human rights. 

Williamson is the client account director for health systems strengthening. He is responsible for managing the health systems strengthening business development pipeline, identifying and leading opportunities, and ensuring the technical quality of capture and proposal products.

Before coming to Abt, Williamson served in several roles of increasing responsibility at RTI International. He started out as a health governance specialist, then was a manager of health systems and then senior manager for health systems. He led the Rwanda Integrated Health Services Activity (RIHSA) and Country Health Information Systems and Data Use (CHISU) projects. Before RTI, Williamson was CHF International’s (now Global Communities) HIV capacity building technical advisor in Rwanda.  

Expertise

• Health Systems Strengthening
• Capacity Development
• Local Governance
• Social Accountability
• Health Financing

Key Projects

• Country Health Information Systems and Data Use (CHISU)
• Rwanda Integrated Health Systems Activity (RIHSA)
• Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East 
• Health Policy Project and Health Policy Plus 
• Health Systems 20/20

Publications

• Jessani N.S., Williamson R.T., Choonara S., Gautier L., Hoe C., Jafar S.K., Khalid F.A., Rodríguez Salas I., Turcotte-Tremblay A.M., & Rodríguez. D.C. (2022) Evidence attack in public health: Diverse actors’ experiences with translating controversial or misrepresented evidence in health policy and systems research, Global Public Health, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2021.2020319 
• Brinkerhoff D.W., Cross H., Sharma, S., & Williamson R.T. (2019). Stewardship and Health Systems Strengthening: An Overview. Public Administration and Development, 2019(39), 4–10. doi: 10.1002/pad.1846
• Williamson R.T. & Fiscian, V., Olson, R.U., Poku, F.N., and Whittal, J. (2017). A reporting system to protect the human rights of people living with HIV and key populations. Health and Human Rights Journal, 2(16), 211–221
• Williamson, R.T., & Rodd, J. (2016). Civil society advocacy in Nigeria: Promoting democratic norms or donor demands? BMC International Health and Human Rights, 16(19), e1–e10. doi: 10.1186/s12914-016-0093-z
• Williamson, R.T., Wondergem, P., & Amenyah, R. N. (2014). Using a reporting system to protect the human rights of people living with HIV and key populations: A conceptual framework. Health and Human Rights Journal, 1(16), 148–156.