Education
MBA, University of South Carolina, 1988
Overview
As Sr. Advisor, Policy Advocacy & Communications and Director of Adult Immunization at the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), I focus on immunization policy issues across the life course in a broad range of countries. My research interests include understanding of the drivers of and barriers to country policies, characterizing country archetypes, stakeholder analysis, and factors impacting national vaccine decision-making and equitable uptake, with specific focus on pneumococcal, Hib, rotavirus, influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. More recently, I've focused on community engagement and vaccine acceptance in older minority populations in Baltimore City and preparation for COVID-19 vaccines in both the US and globally. I have worked in more than 70 countries to help accelerate equitable access to new and underutilized vaccines including Hib, pneumococcal, rotavirus, influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. Much of my focus has been in large countries, including India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia to support immunization decisions and work with local stakeholders to build an enabling environment for vaccines. My advocacy work focuses on both the broader value of vaccines and their contributions to the sustainable development goals, including the Value of Immunization Compendium of Evidence (VoICE) and the annual Pneumonia and Diarrhea Progress Report to provide advocates with evidence to drive change. My teaching focuses on vaccine policy and advocacy and I have trained hundreds of country-level professionals.
Prior to coming to Hopkins, I spent more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry working in a variety of commercial, operational, forecasting, market research and analysis, and R&D strategy roles in both human and animal health. I managed multiple strategies and initiatives for the launch of the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in the US, and worked with countries in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East to introduce PCV, Hib vaccine and MenC vaccines.