The leaders of our global 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.
Michelle Folsom, MPH
Country Program Leader, South Africa
Michelle Folsom is PATH’s country program leader for South Africa, based in Johannesburg. Ms. Folsom brings a unique background of private-sector media and communication experience to the global health arena. Her major responsibilities include designing and developing programs, managing projects and operations, and representing PATH's programs and interests with local and international partners.
Ms. Folsom joined PATH in 1999, initially as the country leader for Kenya and then as the Africa Regional Representative. Before joining PATH, Ms. Folsom served as senior technical advisor with USAID/REDSO in eastern and southern Africa, where she provided technical assistance to USAID missions and host-country governments in the field of adolescent reproductive health. Previously Ms. Folsom operated her own media production company, focusing on health promotion and communication for social change in Boston. For nearly ten years, she worked as a producer for Envision Corporation, making videos and producing product launches for the private sector. She has worked in seventeen countries and received numerous awards for her productions.
Ms. Folsom has a BS from James Madison University in communication arts and a master's degree in public health from Boston University.
Michael J. Free, PhD
Vice President and Senior Advisor for Technologies
Global Program Leader, Technology Solutions
Dr. Free has been associated with PATH since the organization’s inception, and he has led PATH’s technology-related activities for more than 20 years. Currently, he oversees PATH’s Technology Solutions Program in addition to providing advice, facilitation, and oversight of PATH’s other technology activities.
Before joining PATH, Dr. Free spent seven years at Battelle Northwest, developing technologies to improve reproductive health. Dr. Free is a British citizen and received his doctorate in physiology from Ohio State University (1968).
Katya 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, MS
Country Program Leader, Vietnam
Ms. Gardner is responsible for overseeing PATH’s projects and fundraising in Vietnam. She also manages our office in Hanoi and represents PATH among donors, partner organizations, and government officials.
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, she 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.
Katherine Krasovec, ScD, MA
Global Program Leader, Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition
Dr. Krasovec is a public health specialist and directs PATH’s activities in maternal health, child health, and nutrition. She has 20 years of experience in these areas, including 7 years in long-term field positions in sub-Saharan and North Africa.
Dr. Krasovec’s programmatic experience includes design, implementation, and assessment of nutrition, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, child health, and family planning projects; policy development and implementation; health-sector reform; cost-effectiveness of child and reproductive health interventions; and coordination and implementation of nutrition and health activities with refugees and displaced persons. Her analytic experience ranges from the design, implementation, and analysis of population-based studies to financing, costing, and cost-effectiveness analyses. Before joining PATH, she worked for Abt Associates, Inc., UNICEF, USAID, MotherCare, Wellstart, and Georgetown University School of Medicine.
Dr. Krasovec has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition, and a number of nongovernmental organizations active in maternal, reproductive, and child health and nutrition. She earned her doctorate from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health and her master’s degree in political science from Northwestern University.
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.
Brian McLaughlin, MS
Country Program Leader, Thailand and Cambodia
Mr. McLaughlin represents PATH in Thailand and Cambodia. 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 May 1996 to February 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 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 Advances in Family Health Communication from Johns Hopkins University. She 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.
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, Immunization Solutions
Dr. Wecker directs PATH’s activities in immunization, 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 2004, 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, EMBA, MLIS
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.