The leaders of our global programs and country programs hail from all corners of the globe and from both the public sector and industry. They are responsible for program strategies, fundraising, and implementation.
John Boslego, MD
Global Program Leader, Vaccine Development
Dr. Boslego directs PATH’s vaccine development program, which seeks to identify and facilitate the development of safe, effective, affordable vaccines against select major disease threats in the developing world.
Dr. Boslego’s career spans 30 years of service to private industry and the United States government. Before joining PATH, he served as executive director of Biologics, Clinical Research, at Merck & Co., Inc. His portfolio at Merck included clinical development of a Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine, a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, an influenza DNA vaccine, a pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, various pediatric combination vaccines, a rotavirus vaccine, and a human papillomavirus vaccine.
For nearly two decades, Dr. Boslego worked for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in vaccine research—both in the laboratory and in clinical trials. He also directed the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Thailand for three years.
Dr. Boslego received his medical education at George Washington University after graduating from the United States Military Academy.
Catherine Brokenshire-Scott, MPH
Country Program Leader, South Africa
Catherine Brokenshire-Scott is PATH's country program leader for South Africa. She oversees program development, project management, and represents PATH to local and international partners, including ministries of health and other public and private organizations in the region.
Ms. Brokenshire-Scott has more than 20 years of experience working in reproductive health, family planning, maternal child health, and HIV/AIDS programs, primarily in Southern Africa and the Caribbean. Before joining PATH in 2009, she served as a strategic information advisor in Malawi for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Prior to that, she was a coordinator for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program in South Africa. She has also served as country director for the Center for Development and Population Activities and as a monitoring and evaluation specialist for Management Sciences for Health, both in South Africa.
Ms. Brokenshire-Scott received her MPH from the University of North Carolina and her BSc from Cornell University.
Ramona Byrkit, MPH
Country Program Leader, Vietnam
Ramona Byrkit is PATH's country program leader for Vietnam, based in Hanoi. She oversees a variety of projects in areas including reproductive health, safe water, and vaccine delivery.
Ms. Byrkit brings more than 20 years of management and policy experience in domestic and international health and development programs. Prior to joining PATH in 2009, she served as director of CARE's global sexual and reproductive health portfolio. She also provided senior management of PRIME II, a $70+ million global reproductive health program implemented by IntraHealth International for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Prior to that, she served as assistant population advisor for the USAID population assistance program in Turkey and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal.
Ms. Byrkit received her MPH from the University of California at Berkeley in Maternal and Child Health and her BA from Pomona College in California. She has worked in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, and she speaks French, Wolof (Senegal), and basic Turkish.
Carlos C. (Kent) Campbell, MD, MPH
Global Program Leader, Malaria Control
Dr. Campbell is the director of the Malaria Control Program at PATH, which is focused on developing evidence-based national malaria control programs in Africa. From 2004 through 2008, he served as the program director for the MACEPA (Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa) program at PATH. He has more than 30 years of leadership experience in malaria control and international public health and is a leading authority on the control and therapy of malaria, with a focus on Africa.
Dr. Campbell began his professional career with the US Public Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with most of his 21 years of service as the chief of the Malaria Branch. Following his service with CDC, Dr. Campbell joined the faculty of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, where he led the development of the Arizona College of Public Health and served as the interim dean of the college. More recently, he served for two years as the senior malaria advisor for UNICEF.
Dr. Campbell is a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Malaria and the immediate past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of public health, maternal and child health, and malaria.
Dr. Campbell received his undergraduate education at Haverford College and his medical degree from Duke University. He completed his pediatric residency and his master's in public health at Harvard University. He is board-certified in pediatrics and preventive medicine.
Michael J. Free, PhD
Vice President and Senior Advisor for Technologies
Global Program Leader, Technology Solutions
Dr. Free is PATH’s vice president and senior advisor for technologies. In addition to overseeing PATH’s technology work, he is the global program leader for Technology Solutions and the director for the HealthTech program, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Dr. Free has been associated with PATH since its inception and has been in a leadership role for more than 25 years, establishing PATH’s laboratory, product development shop, and staff expertise that are specifically geared for developing health technologies for use in rugged, low-resource settings.
His accomplishments have strengthened health systems and improved lives around the world. He has helped advance more than 55 technologies from research and development to technology transfer, licensing, marketing, quality assessment, and introduction and use in 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America.
In contraceptive quality assurance, Dr. Free’s pioneering work directly influenced the policies of the US Food and Drug Administration, USAID, the International Organization for Standardization, and other professional and governing entities.
In immunization, his numerous contributions include inventing the world’s first commercialized single-use, autodisabling needle and syringe, now known as the SoloShot™ syringe.
Before joining PATH, Dr. Free spent seven years at Battelle Northwest, developing technologies to improve reproductive health. He holds four patents, and among his extensive publications in research, technology, family planning, and health issues are 15 invited book chapters and symposium reviews. Dr. Free is a British citizen and received his doctorate in physiology from Ohio State University in 1968.
Kateryna Gamazina, MD
Country Program Leader, Ukraine
Dr. Gamazina is PATH’s country program leader for Ukraine. She oversees implementation of all PATH projects in Ukraine and manages the day-to-day operations of PATH’s office in Kyiv. She also serves as the project director for PATH’s tuberculosis control efforts in Ukraine and manages PATH’s avian influenza project. In addition, she is responsible for program development and maintains relationships with local partners, donors, and government agencies.
Dr. Gamazina sits on several national committees related to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis control, and immunization in Ukraine. She has managed numerous social science and biomedical research studies and is an advisor on several PATH projects in the country of Georgia. Before becoming country program leader, Dr. Gamazina served as deputy country program leader for several years. From 1997 to 2000, she was the project director for PATH’s breast cancer project in Ukraine. She has also partcipated in several immunization and infection-control projects for PATH.
Before joining PATH, Dr. Gamazina worked as chief immunologist at Zhytomyr Regional Hospital and as an epidemiologist (infection disease surveillance) in Zhytomyr Regional Sanitary Epidemiological Station.
Dr. Gamazina received her medical degree from Kyiv Medical School, Ukraine, in 1987. Her native languages are Russian and Ukrainian, and she is fluent in English.
Michelle Gardner, MSc
Country Program Leader, Cambodia
Ms. Gardner is responsible for overseeing PATH’s projects and fundraising in Cambodia, and she represents PATH among donors, partner organizations, and government officials. She previously served as the country program leader for Vietnam.
Before joining PATH in 2004, Ms. Gardner worked with the World Health Organization in Myanmar, managing their reproductive health, women’s health, and adolescent health portfolios. For six years, she worked for the Population Council in Thailand, Indonesia, and Myanmar, providing technical assistance to local partners in the implementation of research on reproductive health. She spent two years located in the Department of Health in Myanmar. In addition, Ms. Gardner worked in the Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction at the World Health Organization in Geneva.
Ms. Gardner earned her MS degree in medical demography from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1995.
Jane Hutchings, MPH
Global Program Leader, Reproductive Health
Jane Hutchings directs PATH’s work in reproductive health. She has 25 years of experience developing and implementing innovative and effective reproductive health programs.
In addition to overseeing program strategy and development, she directs projects focused on new and underused reproductive health technologies, access to high-quality reproductive health medicines, and strengthening pharmacists’ skills in providing reproductive health services. Ms. Hutchings also guides PATH’s work in strengthening supply-chain systems, especially those for reproductive health medicines.
Before joining PATH in 1983, Ms. Hutchings worked in Japan and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia.
Ms. Hutchings attended the University of Michigan, where she received an MPH with an emphasis on international population planning policy and program development.
F. Marc LaForce, MD
Global Program Leader, Meningitis Vaccine Project
Dr. LaForce directs the Meningitis Vaccine Project, a Gates Foundation-funded partnership between PATH and the World Health Organization (WHO) aimed at eliminating epidemic meningitis from sub-Saharan Africa through the development, licensure, and widespread use of conjugate meningococcal vaccines.
Before joining PATH, Dr. LaForce held academic and administrative positions at the University of Colorado and the University of Rochester schools of medicine. He also served on immunization advisory committees for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and for the American College of Physicians. In addition, from 1994 to 2001, he led the Steering Committee on Epidemiology and Field Research for WHO’s vaccine cluster. From 1998 to 2001, he was president of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board.
Dr. LaForce received his medical degree from Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry and completed his internal medicine and infectious diseases training on the Harvard service at Boston City Hospital.
Christian Loucq, MD
Global Program Leader, Malaria Vaccine Initiative
Dr. Loucq directs the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), which seeks to accelerate the development of promising malaria vaccines and ensure their availability and use in developing countries. Dr. Loucq has more than 30 years of experience in medicine, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and global health. He joined MVI in February 2007, serving as director of strategy and operations and as interim director until his appointment as MVI director three months later.
His professional experience spans the globe: born and educated in France, he has lived and worked in Algeria, Belgium, Chad, China, India, the Netherlands, Niger, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Dr. Loucq has managed vaccine businesses in China, India, and Thailand and has been involved in most stages of vaccine development. He has worked with large vaccine companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur, and biotech companies including Rhein Biotech and Acambis. He has extensive experience partnering with local governments, building public-private partnerships, and setting up local private collaborations.
Dr. Loucq earned his state doctorate of human medicine at the University of Paris X and a diploma of public health and tropical medicine from the University of Aix-Marseilles.
Mohammed Makame, MD, MPH
Country Program Leader, Tanzania
Mohammed Makame serves as PATH's country program leader for Tanzania. He joined PATH in 2005 as a regional tuberculosis (TB) specialist supporting programs in the eastern Africa region and the director of a TB/HIV project in Tanzania. His areas of technical expertise include disease epidemiology and surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, health management information systems, public-private partnerships, and primary health care.
Dr. Makame has more than 24 years of experience in the medical field and more than 17 years in public health. He has consulted with the World Health Organization and worked for Development Cooperation Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Dar es Salaam, the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Namibia, and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Zanzibar. He founded and chaired the Diabetes Association of Zanzibar, a nongovernmental organization that cares for the welfare of people with diabetes and their families in the islands of Zanzibar.
Dr. Makame holds a medical degree from the University of Dar-Es-Salam in Tanzania and a masters of public health in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. He is fluent in KiSwahili.
Brian McLaughlin, MS
Country Program Leader, Thailand
Mr. McLaughlin is PATH's country program leader in Thailand. He is responsible for program development, project management, and liaison with local and international collaborators and donors, including ministries of health and other public and private institutions in the region.
His areas of technical experience include capacity building, partnerships between the public and private sectors, health program management, behavior change communication, HIV/AIDS prevention programs, HIV/AIDS care and support, childhood immunization, integrated management of childhood illness, monitoring and evaluation, multisectoral approaches to HIV/AIDS, organizational development, policy development, and STI programming.
Mr. McLaughlin earned his master’s degree from Michigan State University. He is fluent in Thai and speaks Lao.
Anjali Nayyar, MS
Country Program Leader, India
Ms. Nayyar is PATH's country leader in India. Before joining PATH, she worked six years with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), where she served initially as India country director for three years and then as vice president for Country and Regional Programs, working both in New Delhi and in New York at the organization's headquarters. As vice president, she led field operations and non-research and development programs in India, Brazil, South Africa, China, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. In addition, she led the strategic development and management of IAVI's Vaccine Preparedness Unit.
Prior to joining IAVI, Ms. Nayyar worked from 1996 to 2002 for the Population Council Regional Office, South and East Asia, in the roles of communications specialist and project director, overseeing projects that focused on advocacy for reproductive and sexual health, including emergency contraception.
Ms. Nayyar serves on the boards of the International Partnership for Microbicides and Interventions for Sexual Health and Awareness, a nongovernmental organization that works with victims of sexual abuse in India.
Ms. Nayyar holds a master's degree in population studies from Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India, and a bachelors degree with honors in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Bombay University. She has also earned diplomas in mass communication from St. Xavier's Institute of Mass Communications and in advances in family health communication from Johns Hopkins University.
Julie Pulerwitz, ScD, ScM
Global Program Leader, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis
Dr. Pulerwitz directs PATH's work in HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as the AIDSTAR Project. She brings more than 15 years of experience in HIV/AIDS program development and implementation, HIV-related monitoring and evaluation and operations research, and social and behavioral sciences. She has particular expertise in behavior change communication, HIV prevention, male engagement in gender equity, stigma and discrimination, migration issues, and indicators development.
Prior to this position, Dr. Pulerwitz served as the research director for the Horizons Program, a global HIV/AIDS operations research program. Funded by PEPFAR, the ten-year program identified successful HIV prevention, care, and treatment strategies.
Dr. Pulerwitz has authored more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, as well as a variety of in-house publications. She regularly participates in technical advisory groups, reviews for scientific journals, and guest-lectures at institutions such as the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene & Public Health.
Dr. Pulerwitz received her masters and doctoral degrees from the Harvard School of Public Health, as well as a graduate degree from the University of Buenos Aires School of Public Health. Dr. Pulerwitz has worked in multiple countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, and she speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
Margarita Quintanilla, MPH
Country Program Leader, Nicaragua
Margarita Quintanilla is PATH’s country program leader for Nicaragua. Since joining PATH in 2002, Margarita has also served as the country representative for Nicaragua, as well as coordinated the Entre Amigas Project and the technical secretariat of the InterCambios Alliance (inter-American alliance for the prevention of gender-based violence from a health perspective). She is a member of the board of directors of the Puntos de Encuentro Foundation and the NicaSalud Alliance.
Prior to joining PATH, Margarita worked for the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour and for the Finnish Cooperation’s Reproductive Health and Women’s Empowerment Project.
Margarita holds a master’s degree in public health and health management from the Andalusian School of Public Health in Granada, Spain, with a mention in qualitative research, and a degree in dental surgery from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in León, Nicaragua.
Catharine Taylor, MSc Econ
Global Program Leader, Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition
Catharine Taylor directs PATH’s activities in maternal health, child health, and nutrition. Ms. Taylor has 25 years of experience in international and domestic sexual and reproductive health, with a focus on maternal/newborn health and programming for youth. Before joining PATH in 2008, she worked as the lead specialist for maternal health and as the program manager for the multisectoral program for HIV/AIDS in South Africa with HLSP. Previous to that, she served as an expert in civil society organizations for a large European Union–funded reproductive health program in Turkey, the Asia regional advisor for Plan International, and the technical training advisor for the Nepal Safe Motherhood Project, in addition to undertaking numerous program evaluation and strategic planning assignments.
Over the course of her career, Ms. Taylor has specialized in designing and implementing capacity-building approaches for nongovernmental organizations, human resources development, and health facilities and systems strengthening. She practiced and taught nursing and midwifery for more than a decade before moving into international health work, and she currently serves on the board of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.
Ms. Taylor holds degrees from the College of Nursing and Midwifery in North Wales and an advanced diploma in midwifery from the Sheffield Polytechnic and Jessop Hospital for Women. She also holds an MS in economics from the Sir David Owen Population Centre at the University of Wales and has completed a graduate certificate program in global change and social innovation from Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management.
Rikka Trangsrud, MA
Country Program Leader, Kenya
Ms. Trangsrud leads PATH's efforts to improve health in Kenya and East Africa. She has particular expertise in the areas of maternal and adolescent health. Her professional interests include the relationship between culture and health and the contribution that performing arts can make in influencing behaviors.
During the past 15 years living in East Africa, Ms. Trangsrud has worked with both local and international nongovernmental organizations to design, implement, and evaluate reproductive health policies and programs. She has managed numerous projects that aim to create awareness of and demand for reproductive health services at the community level as well as to improve the quality of service delivery in both private and public sectors.
Ms. Trangsrud earned her MA from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, in 1990.
John Wecker, PhD
Global Program Leader, Vaccine Access and Delivery
Dr. Wecker directs PATH’s activities in vaccine access and delivery, which focus on developing and advancing strategies, technologies, and interventions that help move research achievements in immunization into routine use in the field.
Before joining PATH in 2003, Dr. Wecker spent 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry, where he held positions in clinical research, international project management, and global marketing. While at Boehringer Ingelheim, a German-based multinational pharmaceutical company, he led the company’s efforts to expand access to antiretroviral therapy for the prevention and treatment of HIV in the developing world, including the Viramune® (nevirapine) Donation Program. He also played a key role in the establishment of the Accelerating Access Initiative, the joint UN agency-pharmaceutical industry program to expand access to antiretroviral treatment in the developing world.
Dr. Wecker received his doctorate in biological psychology from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York (1984). He is skilled in German.
Jiankang (Jack) Zhang, MS, MBA
Country Program Leader, China
Mr. Jiankang (Jack) Zhang represents PATH in China. He is responsible for program development, project management, office management, and liaising with local and international collaborators, including local health authorities, public and private institutions, and other nongovernmental organizations in China.
Mr. Zhang joined PATH in January 2007, as senior program officer for commercialization of Ultra Rice® project in China and was appointed to program leader in September of the same year. Before joining PATH, he created and served as chief representative and general manager of Haemoneitics China Subsidiary, a Boston-based blood-processing company. Prior to that, Mr. Zhang worked in Shanghai Institute of Biological Products (SIBP), a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group, where his last position was executive vice president for operations. During his tenure at SIBP, he also served as director of the board of SmithKline Beecham Biologicals (Shanghai) Co., Ltd, and as vice chairman of the board of Shanghai Feilong Medical Diagnostic Articles Ltd., a joint venture between SIBP and the Lab System Company of Finland.
His areas of management experience include strategy, organization building, and business development and commercialization of vaccines, plasma-derived products, diagnostics, and medical devices in transfusion therapy.
Mr. Zhang obtained a diploma in public health from Shanghai Songjiang Health School, a BA in French and English from Shanghai Fudan University, a master of library and information sciences (MLIS) specializing in medicine from a joint program of Dominican University and Loyola Medical School, and an Executive MBA from the China European International Business School.