Sarah is from Tanzania. She is a pharmacist with a Bachelors and Masters in Pharmacy, specializing in Hospital and Clinical Pharmacy.
With over 11 years of experience, she has worked on programs aimed at improving access to medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Her career has focused on addressing market barriers to medicine access, particularly in Tanzania and other countries. She has worked in various areas, including Maternal and Child Health, Family Planning, Assistive Technology, and Nutrition.
In her most recent role, Sarah managed the procurement and delivery of US government-funded health commodities in Tanzania, including those for HIV, Malaria, TB, and family planning. Early in her career, she worked with the Tanzanian government’s procurement agency, overseeing the distribution of health commodities to over 600 health facilities.
Jessica is from Newfoundland, Canada where she was trained as a hospital pharmacist and then worked in HIV clinics in Ottawa and downtown Toronto before doing a Masters in Infectious Diseases and moving into the humanitarian sector.
Jessica comes to Unitaid after spending last 10 years at the MSF Access Campaign where she worked mainly on access issues related to HIV, Hepatitis C and pediatric medicines as well as quality assurance of medicines. Before joining the Access Campaign, she worked on clinical trials for MDRTB, quality assurance of pediatric medicines for UNICEF as well as in various countries in sub-Saharan Africa for MSF.
Seun is a dual citizen of Antigua and Barbuda and Nigeria. He’s a Public Health Specialist with over two decades experience implementing programs across Africa, Asia and the Caribbeans.
Seun has a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences, a post graduate diploma in logistics and supply chain management, a master’s in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and a PhD in public health from the University of Nicaragua. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.
Prior to joining Unitaid, He spent 10 years at Clinton Health Access Initiative Inc. and most recently was Global Director, Maternal and Neonatal Health based in Zambia. Previously, He served as Assistant Professor, Public Health at Texila American University Zambia and also worked/consulted for a number of organizations including WHO, UN Women, UNICEF, African Union, OSF, ICAP-Columbia University/CIHP and Axios Foundation/Akesis amongst others.
Jeffrey Smith has joined the Strategy Team as Senior Technical Manager with responsibilities in women’s and children’s health.
Jeff is an obstetrician/gynecologist from the US with 29 years of clinical and public health experience in countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., US, and his public health degree from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US.
He recently spent five years as the Deputy Director of Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Previously he was Vice President for Technical Leadership at Jhpiego, where he led clinical interventions and implementation approaches in RMNCAH and infectious diseases, and was a member of both the medical and public health faculties at Johns Hopkins. He spent 10 years in Asia where he provided program management support and technical guidance to public health programs in Nepal, Afghanistan, and Thailand.
Jan has joined the Strategy Team as Senior Technical Manager for malaria and women’s and children’s health.
Jan is a German national who trained on entomology and public health in the UK, followed by over a decade of working in advisory and management roles in Asia and Africa. He subsequently worked as the Senior Technial Advisor for malaria at the Global Fund. Throughout his career, he led or supported the evaluation of innovative public health interventions and delivery approaches, followed by scaling-up those that demonstrated impact.
In his most recent role, he served as the Head of Vector Control & Insecticide Resistance in the Global Malaria Programme of WHO. He focused on reducing WHO barriers to market access, including substantial involvement in the reform of the vector control evaluation process and in developing guidelines and operational guidance for malaria vector control.
Mariam joined Unitaid in 2021. She started her career doing gene sequencing in an HIV lab then pivoted to managing public health projects. After a few years managing a diverse portfolio of projects for an NGO in Mali, she worked on program quality improvement for TB projects at the Global Fund and grant management at Gavi. Her current portfolio at Unitaid includes TB diagnostics and TB treatment grants.
Mariam holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and a master’s degree in public health from The University of Arizona. She is from Mali.
Prior to joining Unitaid in 2021, Anne-Isabelle worked as a Program Associate at Grand Challenges Canada where she managed seed and transition-to-scale investments in health innovations for low- and middle-income countries, specializing in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Originally from Vancouver Island, Canada, Anne-Isabelle has field experience in East Africa and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Global Development and Economics.
Kenny Onasanya is a pharmacist, degree-qualified and professionally certified procurement and supply chain management expert with over 20 years’ experience (5 years in pharma industry; 15+years in development sector). Kenny holds a master’s degree in Procurement and supply chain management (with distinction) from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK, and a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria and Certification in Health and Humanitarian Supply Chain from Georgia Tech Georgia, Atlanta, USA.
Prior to joining Unitaid in 2020, has worked in many countries including Netherlands, Rwanda and Nigeria. He is a certified member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT UK), Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP, Canada) and Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS UK).
