To ensure that our service delivery, research, and advocacy have maximal impact in our partner communities, PHP has enlisted the support of knowledgeable, entrepreneurial leaders who provide important input on PHP’s philosophy, strategic aims, organizational effectiveness, and programs.
Sumedha Ariely, PhD
Assistant Professor of the Practice, Duke Global Health Institute
Sumedha Ariely is an assistant professor at the Duke Global Health Institute and came to Duke to develop and manage the Institute’s fieldwork program. Ariely holds a PhD in psychology with a focus on cognitive development and culture. She has lived and worked in Niger and India and has experience in a variety of other countries in Africa and Asia. As a developmental psychologist, Ariely is interested in the interrelations between cultural, social, and biological influences on health and in understanding protective and risk factors in children. Her teaching ranges across a variety of topics, including research methods, ethics, and behavioral health interventions. Ariely is the 2010 recipient of the DukeEngage Excellence in Mentoring Award for exceptional mentorship, leadership, and vision in promoting civic engagement within higher education.
Alex Cho, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Duke University
Alex Cho is an assistant professor of medicine and Special Assistant for Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the Chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke University. He is also an Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy Scholar in the Center for Genomic Medicine at Duke, where his current research focuses on the utility of incorporating recent genomic discoveries about risk for disease or adverse drug events into clinical care. In addition, Cho is a faculty affiliate of the Duke Global Health Institute and practices medicine clinically at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. While completing his fellowship at Duke, he concurrently received his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, with a certificate in Health Sector Management and a personal focus on healthcare entrepreneurship. Cho has been active in advocating for equal access to healthcare. He spent a year in Washington, D.C. doing media and policy work for Families USA, the national healthcare consumer advocacy group. Cho also served as a citizen participant in the establishment of Project Access of Durham County, a coordinated system of free specialty care referrals for uninsured patients of the Lincoln Community Health Center.
Michele Goodwin, JD, LLM
Everett Fraser Professor in Law, University of Minnesota, Chairwoman of the Board of Advisors
Michele Goodwin is the Everett Fraser Professor in Law at the University of Minnesota. She holds joint appointments at the University of Minnesota Medical School and School of Public Health. Goodwin has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago and at Griffith University in Australia, and as a Visiting Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley.
Her scholarship on organ transplant policy in the United States contributed to a renewed public agenda and defined new ways of thinking about supply, demand, and access to sophisticated medical treatments. Goodwin’s scholarship has helped to redefine how reproductive technology policy should be evaluated, urging a broader reconciliation of the legal treatments of women with differing social statuses. She is a leading voice in the debates on socioeconomics and race in medicine, having founded the first center for studying race and bioethics in the nation.
Goodwin is the author/editor of several books, and reviews of her work appear in periodicals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, and Publisher’s Weekly. Her editorials and commentaries have appeared in many newspapers, including the New York Times and Washington Post. Goodwin is the former Secretary General of the International Academy of Law & Mental Health and the Past Chair of the Section on Law, Medicine, and Health Care of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS). She is the Chair-Elect and a Founding Member of the AALS Section on Bio Law. Goodwin is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing her contributions to the legal academy and public service.
Christopher Kigongo, MBChB, MPH
Former Principal Health Educator, Republic of Uganda
Christopher Kigongo earned his medical degree from Makerere University in Uganda, a Certificate in Malariology from a World Health Organization Fellowship in Ethiopia, and a Masters in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In Uganda, Kigongo formerly served as the Principal Health Educator at the Ministry of Health and as the Senior Medical Officer for the National Malaria Control Program. His deep experience working in the Ugandan healthcare system spans a number of other policy and community-level positions, including service as a medical officer at district hospitals, a public health specialist, and a research officer. In addition, Kigongo founded the Naama Millennium Preparatory School in Mityana District, which provides education to children from impoverished families and orphans at reduced or no cost.
David Swanson, MIDP
Program Manager, University of Washington Portable Ultrasound Initiative
David Swanson has twenty years of experience working with international non-governmental organizations and American non-profit organizations, serving as a volunteer, manager, fundraiser, founder, and advisor to organizations in emergency and development programs. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in 1989 and his Masters of International Development Policy, with a certificate in Health Policy, from Duke University in 2006. With experience in development and emergency relief programming in Lesotho, Namibia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uganda, his focus is on linking the significance communities place on improved health outcomes with initiatives aimed at the strengthening of existing health care systems. Since 2008, Swanson has been developing the Portable Maternal Ultrasound Initiative in Uganda with the University of Washington’s Department of Radiology, adapting ultrasound technology into primary health care settings by integrating it into the antenatal care provision of midwives in rural health centers.
Alessandro Tarozzi, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Alessandro Tarozzi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Business at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain. He received his PhD in economics from Princeton, with a focus on development and microeconometrics. His research explores a diversity of topics related to health and economic development, including malaria, family planning, nutrition, clean water, socioeconomic status, microfinance, and trade policy. He has studied these issues in several countries, such as India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Ethiopia. Tarozzi’s work has been published in the Journal of Development Economics, Annals of Statistics, Demography, and the Review of Economics and Statistics, among other leading journals. He has presented his findings around the world. Tarozzi currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Development Economics. He is also affiliated with the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL).