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Donna DeMarco has more than 30 years of experience successfully designing and managing research studies on a variety of federal, state, and local programs targeted to lower income individuals and families. She has experience with program evaluation and policy analysis in a wide variety of fields, including asset building, community and economic development, housing, family development, education, job training, and community services. She has expertise in the implementation of qualitative research and data collection for large-scale, multi-modal, experimental research projects.

Ramakrishnan Ganesan is an expert in health markets with more than 20 years of experience working in market development across Asia and Africa, including managing projects in fragile and conflict states. Ganesan has worked with health ministry officials to strengthen private sector participation in reproductive health, HIV, and maternal, newborn, and child health on projects for USAID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has strengthened the capacity of local social marketing organizations to enhance their impact and sustainability, facilitated introduction and scaling-up of commercial pharmaceutical businesses in low- and middle-income countries, supported social enterprises to launch health products and services, and conducted assessments to understand barriers and opportunities for greater private- sector engagement.

Eduardo Castellon has two decades of experience helping public sector clients—from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to the Department of Housing and Urban Development—grow and refine their operations and impact. He has extensive experience delivering consulting expertise focused on artificial intelligence (AI), supply chain, procurement, financial management, and advanced analytics. His technological, consultative, and entrepreneurial skills help clients find new ways to address challenges ranging from affordable housing to homelessness to guaranteed income. He also has extensive expertise in technical assistance and implementation (TA&I) approaches. And his management experience includes developing high-performing teams through skills and career development and succession planning.

Dereje Dengela is an epidemiologist and entomologist with more than 25 years of experience in planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of malaria control programs. He has extensive managerial experience, having supervised as many as 94 professionals. He has held senior positions with the government of Ethiopia, worked on projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) as national malaria program officer in Ethiopia. While at the WHO, he supported the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia in mobilization of financial resources from donors, particularly the Global Fund. Dengela has authored or co-authored more than 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Bolanle Olusola-Faleye has over two decades of experience leading and managing diverse health programs. She specializes in strategic direction, technical leadership, and implementation of interventions to strengthen health systems, particularly in tuberculosis (TB) control and public-private partnerships. Her methodological expertise encompasses rigorous epidemiological and biostatistical approaches, health policy and management strategies, and the application of innovative programmatic and public health methodologies. Her clients have included the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Nigeria, development partners, and other key stakeholders in the field of public health and TB control.

Meghan Hendricksen, Ph.D., MPH has more than a decade of healthcare research and project management experience, with expertise in gerontology, long-term care, and discrimination in health care settings. She has extensive experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research for federal, state, and nonprofit clients, ranging from interviewing nursing home staff and residents to conducting complex quantitative analyses of large datasets like the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Her skills include data and team management across multiple complex projects, developing data collection instruments, as well as the production of research protocols and training research teams.

Hadiza Soumaila is a medical entomologist, biologist, and scientist with more than 15 years of global experience in the field entomological surveillance for diseases such as malaria, Rift Valley fever, and yellow fever. She has substantial experience in vector-borne diseases and served as head of the Vector Control Unit of Niger’s National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) for more than 13 years. She has taught biological sciences, hematology, parasitology, and entomology at the Niger National School of Public Health for more than 20 years.

Jules Nahimana is a health program manager with almost two decades of experience working in the public health sector. He has worked extensively on malaria vector control programs, especially those implementing indoor residual spraying (IRS), in countries including Burkina Faso, Malawi, Mozambique, and Rwanda. In these roles, he has worked with many high-level organizations including the Ministries of Health (MOH) and the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI).

Marianne El-Khoury is a seasoned manager of global health programs. At Abt, she has held senior management and technical roles on USAID-funded projects in health systems strengthening and private sector health. She has also led research and evaluation studies in family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, and health financing.El-Khoury is currently the Deputy Director of the $209 million Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) Project, USAID’s flagship project in integrated health systems strengthening. She provides overall leadership, management, and oversight of project activities across more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. She also serves as the Global Development representative for Abt’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Katharine Witgert is a health policy researcher with 20 years of public health and health care policy experience. Witgert manages research and analysis of health system innovations, conducting program evaluations for federal clients, including design, implementation, and reporting of findings. She provides technical assistance to state officials, primarily in the areas of Medicaid reforms and building Medicaid agency partnerships with public health, behavioral health, and social services programs.