Trained as a physician and development economist, Dr. Neil Buddy Shah is an award-winning social entrepreneur, CEO, and global health funder who is passionate about making global health efforts as impactful as possible.

Dr. Shah was previously the Managing Director of GiveWell, a research and funding organization that directs hundreds of millions of dollars per year to programs in global health and development. GiveWell seeks to identify and fund the most cost-effective ways to save lives, and has recently emerged as one of the world’s largest private funders in global health.

Dr. Shah was previously co-founder, CEO and now Board Chair of IDinsight, a global development data analytics and advisory firm with offices across Africa, Asia, and the US. At IDinsight, he helped pioneer the practical application of cutting-edge data and impact measurement tools such as randomized controlled trials, machine learning and results-based financing mechanisms to improve the impact of life-saving and antipoverty programs across Africa and Asia. Buddy worked previously at the World Bank and MIT’s Jameel Poverty Action Lab.

Buddy holds an AB in economics from Harvard, an MD with special distinction in global health policy from Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and an MPA in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School.

Dr. Shah serves on the Boards of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Private Foundations Board Constituency); the Institute to End Mass Incarceration at Harvard Law School; Educate Girls; Giving Green; and IDinsight. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has served as guest faculty at Harvard Kennedy School and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and is a former Echoing Green Fellow and Forbes’ 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur. He has lived and worked in India, Cambodia, Uganda and the United States.

Rasha Hibri is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc (CHAI). She joined CHAI in 2020 and oversees CHAI’s global finance strategy and global financial operations including Budgets and Reporting, Business System Applications, Contracts, the International Controller’s Office (including Accounting, Payroll, and Accounts Payable), Internal Audit and Risk Management, Treasury, and Office Administration.

Prior to joining CHAI, Ms. Hibri was the CFO for India, Middle East and Africa for Allergan. In 2019, she was assigned as Acting Country Manager for India. From 2015 to 2018, Ms. Hibri was the CFO for the Middle East and North Africa region at British Telecoms Global Services. She has also worked as CFO for Eli Lilly and Company in the region and as Finance Director for Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), where she led growth initiatives and assessed customer needs, in addition to optimizing resource efficiency and effectiveness.

Joshua Chu is Chief Operating Officer at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). In this capacity, he spearheads efforts to enhance immunization coverage, widen access to non-communicable disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment and expand the use of assistive technologies for individuals with disabilities. Joshua has played a pivotal role in the inception and development of these critical global programs at CHAI.

Mr. Chu joined CHAI in 2009. Joshua’s journey at CHAI began as the Deputy Country Director in Nigeria, where he orchestrated an impressive expansion of vital program in vaccines, sexual and reproductive health, essential treatments for diarrhea, and human resources for health. Subsequently, he assumed the position of Regional Director for Southeast Asia, where he successfully facilitated the development of new programs across multiple countries, including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, and Vietnam.

Prior to his tenure at CHAI, Joshua held various key roles, including the management of Singapore Airlines’ multi-billion dollar investment and fuel hedging portfolio. His extensive professional experience includes working in China, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, and Zambia.

Mr. Chu obtained his BS in Economics and BA in Middle Eastern and Asian studies (summa cum laude) from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He later obtained a Mphil in Development Studies (with distinction) from St Johns’ College, University of Cambridge, as a Maxis scholar.

Samantha Diamond oversees CHAI’s work in health systems strengthening as well as non-communicable diseases. Ms. Diamond joined CHAI in 2011 to work with the Ministry of Health in Haiti on aid coordination and systems strengthening. She went on to play a key role in the expansion of CHAI’s work from HIV financing to sustainable health financing. She most recently served as Senior Director, Health Financing, working with CHAI offices, governments, and partners across Africa and Asia to address financial barriers to the availability and affordability of essential health services. Samantha holds an MPH and is an advanced DrPH candidate in health systems.

In her role as Vice President, Integration, Dr. Olufunke Fasawe plays a crucial role in the strategic alignment and coordination of various health programs and initiatives to ensure cohesive and efficient delivery of services in response to Governments’ priorities. In this role, she manages cross-functional teams, fosters partnerships to ensure that program objectives are met in line with CHAI’s mission and guiding principles to maximize impact.

Dr. Fasawe is committed to health equity and women’s and girls’ empowerment and is deeply passionate about improving healthcare services in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, where she led the CHAI’s SRMNH portfolio for almost a decade, also doubling as Director of Programs for the Nigeria office. Before joining CHAI in 2012, she worked as a health economics consultant at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Geneva.

Dr. Fasawe holds a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, a Master’s degree in International Health Management, Economics, and Policy from Bocconi University, Milan, Italy, and a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She also earned a professional certificate in Leadership, Engagement, Acceleration, and Disruption (LEAD) from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Dr. David Ripin leads efforts at CHAI to improve access to medicines and diagnostics for diseases like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, through sustainable market interventions. Under his leadership, CHAI has implemented agreements with pharmaceutical companies reducing prices of key drugs and diagnostics by up to 80 percent.

Joining CHAI in 2007, Dr. Ripin initially led the Pharmaceutical Sciences team, which was focused on reducing the cost of key drugs through recommending formulation, manufacturing process, and sourcing improvements, as well as conducting the transfer of these processes to manufacturing partners. Before joining CHAI, he worked at Pfizer, Inc., contributing to drug commercialization and manufacturing.

Dr. Ripin holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Asian Studies from Washington University in St. Louis and earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University.

Dr. Owens Wiwa is an Executive Vice President, Regional Director of West and Central Africa and the Country Director in Nigeria for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). He joined CHAI in 2007. Dr. Wiwa heads CHAI’s Nigeria office and plays a leadership role in health policy development and implementation at the Federal and State levels.

From 1998 to 2007, Dr. Wiwa worked with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, designing and leading research projects that focused on infectious diseases (especially HIV), and community and mental health in Africa and Nigeria. Prior to CHAI, Dr Wiwa worked extensively as a physician in rural Nigeria and as a human and environmental rights activist with organizations such as Sierra Club and Amnesty International.

Dr. Wiwa has an MPH from Johns Hopkins University and an MB BCH from the University of Calabar.

Carolyn has been at CHAI for 13 years, and prior to her current role she also worked in global market intelligence and led the country support team, while based in South Africa. A major focus of Carolyn’s career at CHAI is accelerating access to and uptake of drug and diagnostic innovations for people living with or at risk of HIV in low- and middle-income countries around the world.

Dr. Akudo Anyanwu, an award-winning global health expert with over 20 years’ experience, joins CHAI from Texas Biomedical Research Institute, where she served as Vice President of Development. At Texas Biomedical, she led fundraising, forged strategic partnerships, and implemented a new advisory board and annual global health conference. Prior roles include Associate Dean of Development at Johns Hopkins University and Director of Partnerships at Emory University. She has a decade of experience in in Rwanda, Nigeria, and South Africa focusing on HIV, TB, and malaria programs. Dr. Anyanwu has also served on the boards of Roll Back Malaria, the Global Health Council, and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Dr. Anyanwu holds a doctorate in medicine from Tufts University, a master of public health from Harvard University’s School of Public Health, and a bachelor of science molecular biology from Lehigh University.

Rahel Belete is the Country Director of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) Ethiopia who is responsible to lead and manage the Ethiopia office, strategically aligning the country’s programs with the overall CHAI program strategy, programmatic and financial planning/reporting, fundraising, and monitoring and evaluation efforts for all work areas. She manages relationships across all stakeholders ranging from Government leadership, Ministry technical experts, in country partners, to global counterparts within CHAI and donors.

Rahel joined CHAI in 2012 and prior to assuming her current role, she served as Senior Deputy Country Director in Ethiopia. During her tenure she diversified the donor mix, expanded programs scope to include new thematic areas such as essential treatment for diarrhea, oxygen and breast cancer. She has developed systems, procedures, protocols, provided leadership and management to the organization and align the strategic direction along with the government strategic priorities.

Prior to joining CHAI, she worked for Marie Stopes International- Tanzania for five years as a Deputy Country Director and spent eight years with DKT Ethiopia, leading the marketing and communication innovations of the varied social marketing programs and products.

Rahel holds a PhD from Bulacan State University of the Philippines in Business Administration, Masters in Organizational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University, California, MBA and BA from Pune University in India.

Dr. Justin Cohen leads the malaria and neglected tropical disease program. Justin is an infectious disease epidemiologist who earned his doctorate in Epidemiological Science and MPH in International Health from the University of Michigan and studied Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University. He serves on the advisory board of the Malaria Atlas Project, was on the steering committee of the Gates Foundation’s Malaria Modeling Consortium, and co-authored WHO’s Framework for Malaria Elimination and Manual for Elimination Scenario Planning, amongst other guidance documents. He has published over 50 peer reviewed articles related to the theory and practice of malaria elimination and program optimization.

Caitlin Glover leads the Women’s and Newborn Health cluster, which strives to end preventable maternal and newborn mortality and increase access to contraception and high-quality reproductive health care. Caitlin is a public health leader with 15 years of experience developing and executing programs to improve the health of women and infants across more than 15 countries in Africa and Asia. Prior to joining CHAI, Caitlin spent extensive time in rural Kenya to help establish the Lwala Community Alliance, a community-led organization that aims to unlock the potential of communities to advance their own comprehensive well-being. Caitlin is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University. She is an active volunteer at Feeding Tampa Bay.

Zachary Katz is the Vice President of Child Health, leading CHAI’s efforts to prevent childhood mortality from preventable causes through its programming on diarrhea, pneumonia, vaccines, and nutrition. Zach also leads CHAI’s portfolio on access to oxygen. He joined CHAI in 2006, establishing its Papua New Guinea office and supporting the launch of the national pediatric HIV treatment program. Zach later managed CHAI’s programs in Cambodia and Southeast Asia, and later led the Laboratory Services team, expanding access to key HIV and tuberculosis diagnostics. From 2016 to 2020, he was the Chief Access Officer at the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND). Zach holds a BA in Geology from Carleton College and a Master’s in Public Administration from NYU. He is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Neel Lakhani has over a decade of experience propelling strategic innovation across the global health organization. During his 13-year CHAI tenure, Neel has been a leader in the Global Markets Team, negotiating agreements to accelerate access to top pharmaceutical products and developing innovative pricing that dramatically reduced the costs of essential health commodities. He currently leads CHAI’s Maximum Impact Incubator, which aims to scale the most highly cost-effective evidence-based interventions in public health. Neel is a Cornell University alumnus, holding an MBA and Master’s in Industrial and Labor Relations.

Marie Chantale Lépine is a lawyer and former biopharmaceutical company executive. She joined CHAI’s Global Markets Team in 2015 as Special Advisor, spearheading various high impact market shaping initiatives. She now leads CHAI’s strategic market shaping undertakings across program areas, accelerating the development and market introduction of health products optimized for low- and middle-income country settings and creating sustainable marketplaces to increase equitable access to safe and efficacious health products in those settings.

Gerald Macharia joined CHAI in 2005 to establish the organization’s Kenya office and now leads operations across Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Previously, he served as CEO of Faulu Kenya, transforming the small NGO program into one of East Africa’s leading microfinance institutions. His innovative work with the Vodafone Group helped pioneer the award-winning M-Pesa money transfer system. Mr. Macharia has held key roles in various microfinance associations and currently serves on the board of Kenya’s Micro Enterprise Support Program Trust. He holds degrees from Kenyatta University, the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK), Edinburgh Business School, Moi University School of Business & Economics, and has completed Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Program of Strategy & Organization.

Dang Ngo is the Vice President for Asia Pacific, overseeing operations and strategic priorities in Cambodia, China, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, and Vietnam, and covering initiatives including hypertension, diabetes, cancer, HIV, TB, malaria, hepatitis, vaccines, sexual and reproductive health, assistive technologies, laboratory system, primary health care, and health information systems. Mr. Ngo is also CHAI’s Country Director in Vietnam, leading a high-performing team to significant successes including scaling up of HIV treatment coverage for children from 9 percent in 2006 to 86 percent in 2015, screening over 1.2 million presumptive TB cases and referring thousands to treatment via the CHAI-developed ACIS mobile platform, adding hepatitis C treatment to the social health insurance, accelerating malaria elimination from 15,752 cases in 2014 to 448 cases in 2023, among others.

Mr. Ngo joined CHAI in 2008 as a Program Coordinator in Vietnam and assumed the Deputy Country Director and Country Director roles in 2010 and 2011, respectively. He is also a member of CHAI’s Leadership Council.

Prior to joining CHAI, Mr. Ngo developed a landmine risk prediction model using statistical tools that changed the UN Mine Action Centre’s approach to reducing landmine incidences in Afghanistan. Additionally, he led the development of market-leading enterprise-level educational tools and websites to link students to universities. He is also an award-winning photographer.