Technical Advisory Committee

Olakunle Alonge

Position: Primary Investigator

Olakunle Alonge, MD, PhD, MPH is a public health physician and a professor in international health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His expertise is in implementation science and health systems research. His research and practice focuses on advancing global health and supporting effective implementation of health system strengthening strategies and complex health initiatives for addressing both communicable and non-communicable diseases, including injuries in low- and middle-income countries.

As the STRIPE Principal Investigator, Dr. Alonge provides oversight across all streams of work and for all partner countries, using his expertise in implementation research strategies, theoretical frameworks, and analysis to guide approaches and synthesis.

David Peters

David H. Peters is Professor and Chair of the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a specialist in international health systems, and has worked as a researcher, policy advisor, educator, bureaucrat, manager, and clinician over the last two decades. He serves as Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee for the STRIPE project.

Previously, he worked as a Senior Public Health Specialist at the World Bank, and as Director of the Health Systems Program at Johns Hopkins. He is Research Director for the Future Health Systems research consortium. He pioneered the development of Sector Wide Approaches in health, and created the first national Balanced Scorecard to assess and manage health services (in Afghanistan), while writing seven books and over 100 articles.

His teaching and research focuses on the performance of health systems, implementation research methods, poverty and health systems, innovations in organization, technology, and financing of health systems, the role of the private sector, human resource management, and ways to use donor assistance to strengthen local capacity in low-income countries.

Aditi Rao

Aditi Rao is a Research Associate in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In addition to serving as the Secretariat to the project’s Technical Advisory Committee, Aditi is engaged in all elements of research design, data collection, analysis and synthesis for STRIPE. She supports the quantitative and qualitative streams for the knowledge mapping and synthesis phases, and coordinates the development of materials for the Global Health Course with all consortium partners as part of the knowledge packaging phase.

As a faculty member as Johns Hopkins University, Aditi’s research focuses on equitable implementation and evaluation of health interventions, and understanding socio-cultural dimensions of program adoption, across contexts in Asia and Africa. She is particularly interested in better understanding decision-making processes around the implementation of global health policies in local health systems.

Zulfiqar Bhutta

Zulfiqar A. Bhutta is the inaugural Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Director of Research at the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health, and the Founding Director of the Center of Excellence in Women and Child at Aga Khan University in Pakistan.

He is a Distinguished National Professor of the Government of Pakistan, Co-Chair of the Global Countdown for 2015 and 2030 Initiative, Co-Chair of the Maternal and Child Health oversight committee of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, and Chairman of the Coalition of Centers in Global Child Health.

Zulfiqar leads large research groups based in Toronto, Karachi, and Nairobi with a special interest in research synthesis, scaling up interventions in community settings, and implementation of RMNCAH&N interventions in humanitarian settings.

Steve Cochi

Dr. Stephen L. Cochi is the retired Senior Advisor to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Global Immunization Division (GID).

Stephen has spent 36 years at CDC working in the field of immunization, led activities for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), Global Measles and Rubella Initiative (M&RI), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and other priority immunization activities. He also served as Deputy Director of the US National Immunization Program in 2003, and Director from 2004-2005.

Prior to joining CDC, he was a paediatrician in the Indian Health Service on the Navajo Reservation in Gallup, New Mexico.

Sue Gerber

Sue Gerber is an expert at Acasus Consulting Organization. She was previously a Senior Program Officer of the Polio Initiative at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She managed a portfolio of grants, contracts and consultations that support surveillance, program operations, operational research and innovations. She is also a member of the Global Surveillance Task Team for Polio. Her team focuses on countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa including Somalia, Syria, the Horn of Africa, and the DRC.

Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Sue worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), earning more than 24 years of experience managing immunization, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted disease prevention programs, nationally and internationally.

Ajay Khera

Dr. Ajay Khera is a public health specialist and Deputy Commissioner at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India. He is a specialist in epidemiological surveillance and outbreak investigation of infectious diseases including vaccine preventable diseases.

He has extensive experience in immunization program strengthening, and expertise in polio, HIV, TB, measles, leprosy, and child health interventions including child nutrition.

Previously, Ajay has served as the Technical Program Manager for the National AIDS Control Program, and a Regional Epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health in Oman.

Lee Losey

Mr. Lee Losey is a Deputy Director and Senior Technical Advisor for the CORE Group Polio Projects.

Anne Matthews

Anne L. Matthews, from Columbia, SC, USA, is a Past Vice President of Rotary International. She has served as a Trustee of the Rotary Foundation and as a Director of Rotary International. She served on numerous committees for Rotary and presently is chair of the Polio Advocacy Task Force for the United States and chair of the major Gifts Committee for Basic Education and Literacy.

Anne is an educator by profession, an author of business materials, and a public speaker. She has worked in India on Immunization Days and in 35 countries carrying out humanitarian work.

She received Rotary’s highest honors: Citation for Meritorious Service, Distinguished Service Award, Service Above Self Award, and the International Service Award for a Polio Free World.

Jean-Jacques Muyembe

Anne L. Matthews, from Columbia, SC, USA, is a Past Vice President of Rotary International. She has served as a Trustee of the Rotary Foundation and as a Director of Rotary International. She served on numerous committees for Rotary and presently is chair of the Polio Advocacy Task Force for the United States and chair of the major Gifts Committee for Basic Education and Literacy.

Anne is an educator by profession, an author of business materials, and a public speaker. She has worked in India on Immunization Days and in 35 countries carrying out humanitarian work.

She received Rotary’s highest honors: Citation for Meritorious Service, Distinguished Service Award, Service Above Self Award, and the International Service Award for a Polio Free World.

Oyewale Tomori

Oyewale Tomori is a professor of virology, educational administrator and former Vice-Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Nigeria.

He serves on several advisory bodies including the Board of the BioVaccines Limited in Nigeria, WHO Polio Certification Committee, WHO Advisory Committee on Variola Virus Research, WHO Group of Experts on Yellow Fever Disease and the International Steering Committee of the International Consortium on Anti-Virals.

Professor Tomori is recognized as one of Africa’s frontline Lassa fever researchers. His research interests include the Yellow Fever virus, Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Poliovirus, Measles virus, and the Orungo virus.

Harish Verma

Harish Verma is currently a Medical Officer at the Research, Policy and Containment Unit of Polio Eradication at WHO, Geneva. He coordinates the functioning of the “Polio Research Committee”, a GPEI wide advisory committee guiding polio research for “Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategy”. Dr. Verma also manages clinical trials and program evaluation projects for translation of research data into public health and immunization policy.

Previously, Harish has worked for polio eradication in India from 1995 to 2009, initially with the government and later with WHO. He managed immunization and surveillance operations as regional team leader of National Polio Surveillance Project for western and northern India. He also served as national coordinator for implementation of multiple vaccine trials and seroprevalence surveys in India.