Joanne Jorissen Chiwaula obtained an A.B. from Brown University in International Development and then studied at the University of California at San Francisco to become a Certified-Nurse Midwife and Women’s Nurse Practitioner. Awed by birth, inspired by women’s strength, and deeply disturbed by both the prolific grief and resounding silence regarding maternal and infant mortality, Joanne is driven by a desire to serve women who often find quality care in scarce supply. She is committed to efforts making birth and childhood safe and joyous experiences for poor women and their families.
Leanne Dougherty first experienced Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in Congo Brazzaville and Cote d’Ivoire where she worked on community development issues such as water & sanitation and AIDS prevention from 1996-1998. Since then, she has worked in more than 15 African countries providing assistance to government agencies and non-profit organizations in the development and implementation of Monitoring and Evaluation systems to measure program performance. Leanne is a mother of three. Her wish is that every mother will have the opportunity to ensure that their child receives everything they need to achieve their dreams.
Dr. Philip Anglewicz has been intrigued by health issues in developing countries since he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi from 1998 to 2000. After Peace Corps and a two-year stint at an international health NGO Philip moved to Philadelphia to start a PhD in Demography at the University of Pennsylvania. At UPenn, he became engaged in a longitudinal data collection study on fertility, AIDS and social interactions in rural Malawi, and he used these data to write his dissertation (completed in 2007). Currently, Philip continues his work in health research in sub-Saharan Africa as an Assistant Professor at Tulane University. His particular areas of research interest are migration, intergenerational transfers, biomarker measures of health, and survey methodology.
Genevieve Grabman is a public health lawyer with expertise in maternal and child health policy and programming. She has a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University. From 1996 to 1998, she served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Kyrgyzstan where she worked at the United Nations Children’s Fund on health and human rights programs. Following her Peace Corps service, Ms. Grabman was the Kyrgyzstan country manager for a health sector reform project supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank. She later was a human rights consultant with the POLICY Project, a USAID reproductive health and HIV/AIDS initiative, and a legislative and policy associate at the Center for Health and Gender Equity and the Global Health Council.
Julia Betts is a corporate communications manager at National Instruments (NI), which sells tools to scientists and engineers in more than 90 countries around the world. Julia holds a Bachelor of Science in communications from the University of Texas at Austin. She has more than a decade of expertise in public relations, including messaging development and reputation management. She manages NI’s internal and external communications to key stakeholders, including: press, employees, and financial investors. Julia is a mother to one amazing little boy and her personal experience in pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond sparked a strong interest in working with organizations to improve health and wellness for mothers and babies, particularly in resource poor places around the globe.
Catherine Stanley works to advance Corporate Social Responsibility at Cisco. Managing operations of several large scale programs for Cisco’s Networking Academy active in over 165 countries with one million concurrent students, Catherine has seen the power of public-private partnerships and understands boundless opportunity for meaningful and lasting change when diverse expertise, resources and networks join forces via partnership. Catherine received her undergraduate degree in Economics from Santa Clara University and her Master of Science in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics. With over 10 years experience managing global programs for large NGOs, Catherine doesn’t forget her Peace Corps service which instilled the principle that small and focused interventions can yield the most significant and lasting change. Catherine lives with her husband and two young daughters on the San Francisco peninsula.
