Executive Team
Mah-Séré Keita, M.P.H
Chief Executive Officer
As a female native of Mali, Mah-Séré Keita is especially committed to advancing the health of underserved and vulnerable populations. She is an enthusiastic and creative global health professional with 20+ years of research, analytical, patient care, project development, and management experience. Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to meet and work with numerous development leaders worldwide, often conceptualizing with them innovative approaches to addressing issues that affect the most vulnerable populations. Mah-Séré Keita is fluent in English, French, and Bambara, and has a working knowledge of Portuguese and Spanish. Her fluency in different languages, along with her cultural competency and diplomacy skills stemming from years of international travel and living experiences, has enabled her to engage with multiple groups of people worldwide. Mah-Séré Keita has held leadership positions at THRIVEGulu, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), Catholic Relief Services-Mali, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH).
She holds a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology, a Certificate in Health Finance and Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in pre-medicine biology from Boston College.
Susana Oguntoye, M.P.H
Chief Strategic and Governance Officer
Susana Oguntoye was raised in Nigeria and Germany, which gave her a multicultural background. This upbringing instilled in her a deep appreciation for diversity and a desire to make a positive impact on the world. Susana has extensive experience in health research and policy, and her passion for addressing health disparities by strengthening health systems genuinely speaks to her compassionate nature. Susana has held leadership positions at the Kupona Foundation and Rabin Martin and is now the Head of Partnerships at Business for Health Solutions. Susana has also helped provide much-needed healthcare and specialized surgery to over 124,000 people in Tanzania. It is clear that Susana is dedicated to positively impacting people's lives, and her background in advocacy, gender, disease-specific disability rights, and public health only further highlights her compassionate and caring nature. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology & Immunology from King's College, University of London.
Maritza Urrego
Chief Operations and Administrative Officer
Raised in Colombia, South America, Maritza Urrego has dedicated more than 20 years contributing to the betterment of the world by managing public and private sector projects focussed on global public health and infrastructure. As a Senior Program Officer at the American Society for Microbiology, Maritza's management style is focused on empowering colleagues, collaborators and communities to create a better future. Her passion for eradicating poverty and poor health conditions worldwide drives her efforts to make a personal difference in the lives of others. Her expertise includes project design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluating; budget management and reporting; policies and procedures; human resources talent acquisition and onboarding; proposal development; contract management; client service management; organizational logistics management at national and international levels, and organization website and marketing material development and management. Maritza holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BA) awarded by Global Education Group and a certificate in Project Management from Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies in Washington, D.C. She is fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian and has a working knowledge of Portuguese and French.
Subject Matter Experts
Sadaf Chaudhry, M.D. MSPH
Dr. Chaudhry began her career as a physician on neonatology and pediatrics in Pakistan. Her ability to think outside the box resulted from her focus on the marginalized poor while working with limited resources. With a 15+ year track record in public health, Dr. Chaudhry has worked tirelessly on reproductive maternal newborn child and newborn health, but also child blindness, poverty-related health disparities, infectious diseases (tuberculosis, malaria, & HIV specifically), and neglected tropical diseases.
Dr. Chaudhry sees herself as a woman activist fighting for universal health and human rights, women’s rights, social justice, gender and racial discrimination. She believes in addressing health challenges holistically, factoring in social and other key determinants. She is a strong partnership builder and works with a systems approach, through strategic planning and collaborative program management.
Over the years, Dr. Chaudhry has traveled extensively across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. She considers herself a global professional having worked with DFID, USAID, PEPFAR, US CDC and a broad range of organizations (Plan International, The Asia Foundation, Islamic Relief UK, and Society for General Internal Medicine (SGIM), American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL)). Dr. Chaudhry currently serves as Lead for the American College of Nurse-Midwives’ (ACNM) Global Department.
Dr. Chaudhry brings to MHS a footprint in Pakistan and in the Asia region, and aims to establish partnerships and a stable business pipeline to help MHS emerge as an innovative leader in healthcare in Asia and globally.
Dr. Chaudhry is fluent in Urdu, English, and Hindi, has a working knowledge of Punjabi and Sindhi, and can read and write Arabic. She holds a Medical Degree from Sindh University and a Master’s in Public Health from Quaid-e-Azam University in Pakistan. She is a student at Harvard Extension School and is taking multiple courses to further enhance her professional career.
Sr Martin R Evans Ph.D., CLT, MT(ASCP)
Dr. Martin Evans is a clinical laboratory director with a Ph.D. in medical microbiology and immunology. He has held management and leadership positions in academia in both the public health and private sectors. Dr. Evans is currently a Microbiology and Laboratory Subject Matter Expert for the Global Public Health Program (GPHP) at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). He has consulted for many projects in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.
Dr. Evans has focused on training national laboratories and their networks to perform good laboratory practice (GLP) commensurate with global/CLSI standards and ISO15189 accreditation requirements. He has conducted training in two forms: in-country hands-on workshops with laboratories, and remote training via the ECHO learning platform, utilizing associated case presentations on problem and quality-related microbiology issues. Dr. Evans has led ECHO training programs for national laboratories and their networks in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance, the One Health approach, SARS-CoV-2, and other technical areas in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mexico, and Brazil. In addition to AMR, his project management experience includes national laboratory strategic planning, supply chain management, laboratory information management system (LIMS) implementation, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and quality management systems. Dr. Evans is a recipient of APHL’s Thomas E. Maxson Education, Training and Workforce Development Award.
Prior to consulting, Dr. Evans was an Associate Director at the New York City Public Health Laboratory, where he held senior leadership positions including Director of Technical Affairs and Manager of all microbiology sections. Previously, Dr. Evans spent 14 years in the private sector as a clinical laboratory director at Quest Diagnostics and Smith Kline Beecham Clinical Laboratories. Prior to that, he held academic positions at Temple University and the University of Zimbabwe Faculty of Medicine. He is a licensed medical technologist in New York State and was elected as the first chairperson of the New York State Board for Clinical Laboratory Technology.
Shirematee Baboolal Ph.D.
Dr. Shirematee Baboolal holds a Ph.D. in medical microbiology and a postgraduate diploma in quality management systems. She has provided consultancy services through several organizations, including The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), PAHO (Caribbean), WHO (Sierra Leone and Mauritius), the Association of Public Health Agency (APHL), and USAID.
After 29 years and with a wealth of knowledge and experience in laboratory services strengthening, she moved to the African Region (Nigeria, Botswana, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia) and Middle East (Oman and Pakistan) where she provided consultancy and mentoring services in the area of laboratory strengthening, TB and microbiology diagnostic, quality management systems, leadership and management.
Prior to consulting, Dr. Baboolal worked as a Medical Technologist at one of the most prestigious organizations in the Caribbean, the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), now the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). This organization was run by PAHO/WHO and provided reference and referral services to 21 countries in the Caribbean.
Dr. Baboolal holds a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology, Molecular Epidemiology of TB in the Caribbean from the University of the West Indies, and a postgraduate diploma in Clinical Lab Quality and Operational Management from Michener University, as well as an Master of Philosophy in Liberal Arts (Pathology and Microbiology), Cognitive Development of Children with Parasitic Infection in T&T from the University of the West Indies, and a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Education and Management) from the University of Technology, Kingston, Jamaica.
Board of Directors
Tasiyiwa Mapondera
Tasiyiwa Mapondera has 12 years of experience managing regional, national and international programs at government, nonprofit and community organizations.
She is currently based in Qatar where she is a consultant to the Qatar Business Incubation Center in programs development and training. Prior to coming to Qatar, Tasiyiwa was based in Washington, DC, where she launched her career as a nonprofit fundraiser in 2005. After three years as a development professional she wanted to engage more directly with the initiatives for which she sourced funding and broadened her professional focus. In 2008 Tasiyiwa transitioned to roles in program management with a focus on education, holding such posts as Director of Programs at Byte Back, a workforce development organization providing computer literacy and IT training to unemployed and underemployed individuals in low-income communities in and surrounding Washington, DC. In that capacity, she managed a team of staff and consultants to execute Byte Back’s case management, job placement and adult and youth education programs. During her tenure, Tasiyiwa established new regional partnerships, increasing the number of sites and individuals served by Byte Back’s programs. Over the course of her career, Tasiyiwa has led cross- functional teams in performing organizational change, strategic planning, program design and implementation, and direct service delivery. She has a passion for building teams and facilitating collaborative efforts to solve problems; establishing win-win partnerships between community, government and corporate sector interests; identifying opportunities to improve processes and maximize results, and; designing and executing human development programs.
Tatu Ilunga
Mr. Tatu Ilunga is a Senior Consultant with more than 12 years of experience working in policy, regulatory, dispute resolution and tax frameworks with IFIs, Multinational Corporations, Government Agencies and Civil Society Organizations in low and middle income countries.
As part of his recent work, Tatu is focusing on exploring structured approach to help implement better fiscal policy, more transparency and accountability, particularly in developing economies with prominent Extractive Industries (“EI”), while maintaining investment attractiveness. Tatu is currently consulting with institutions such as the World Bank, UNECA, the AUC and the Ford Foundation, amongst others, on various tax issues as they relate to EI as well as on the implementation and follow-up of the recommendations of the High Level Panel (HLP) on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). Previously a Senior Policy Advisor for Tax and Extractive Industries at Oxfam America, Tatu was responsible for leading Oxfam America’s policy work with a special emphasis on tax justice issues as they relate to the extractive industries. Tatu Ilunga’s legal advocacy for Oxfam focused on strengthening developing countries’ EI tax policies, regulations, resource mobilization, and civil society capacity building and efficiency to hold government accountable in EI programs. Tatu worked closely with Oxfam country programs and civil society partners as they developed and implemented tax justice campaigns in both Africa and Latin America. Prior to joining Oxfam, Tatu was with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Energy and EI Global Practice at the World Bank. He has also held positions with the International Tax Practice of both KPMG and Ernst & Young in Luxembourg, advising multinational companies on a broad range of cross-border tax issues, tax planning and restructuring including in extractive industries. Tatu has testified on Internal Revenue Services and United States Treasury Department Hearings on tax issues and contributed as a panel member for the General Assembly of the United Nations Economic and Financial Committee. Tatu holds a Master of Laws from George Washington University Law School in International and Comparative Law and a Maîtrise en Droit des Affaires (Juris Doctor equivalent) from the University of Lille 2, France. He is fluent in English and French.
Wendy Kitson-Piggott
Ms. Wendy Kitson-Piggott is a microbiologist by profession, trained at McGill University and the University of Guelph in Canada. She is currently pursuing a Professional Doctorate in Health at the University of Bath in England.
She is a co-founder of the Caribbean Med Labs Foundation at the request of regional Governments in 2008 to provide support for technical and quality systems strengthening in Caribbean medical and public health laboratories and to conduct technical and quality systems implementation research.
Ms. Kitson-Piggott has practiced as a public health professional for some 39 years, gaining local, regional and international experience, starting as a veterinary microbiologist with the Ministry of Agriculture in Trinidad and Tobago. From there she joined the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC/PAHO/WHO), providing technical advisory services as the HIV/ AIDS/STI Laboratory Advisor and Training Manager for a European- funded Project "Strengthening of Medical Laboratory Services in the Caribbean."
Christina Novinskey
Christina Novinskey has 15 years of experience working and performing research on health and social policies and public health issues at local, national and international levels.
Currently, she is based in Kenya, where she wears several hats, not least as a health and social policy consultant, director and co-founder of a non-profit preschool, entrepreneur of “Kambu Chai”, a kombucha tea full of probiotics and other ingredients that promote health, and mother of two healthy and rambunctious boys.
Prior to coming to Kenya and after completing her masters in social policy in 2002, Christina began her career in Washington, D.C., at the World Bank, working on the Onchocerciasis (Riverblindness) Control Program. Following this experience, she began to focus on the area of health within social policy. Christina worked as a health policy consultant for organizations such as Harvard Medical International, the Inter-American Development Bank (for which she was a Young Professional Staff), the PanAmerican Health Organization, the World Bank and WHO European Observatory for Health Systems and Policies. For them, she worked on programs and advised organizations on public health issues, such as their preparedness for avian or swine influenza and HPV vaccination, and on health systems and policies, including health care financing, stewardship, human resources for health, health system performance and decentralization, and improvements to health insurance systems. In her private-sector work, she led the content and due diligence for hospital and clinic infrastructure financing projects. She also strived to forge public-private partnerships projects in health. Her work has taken place on the continents of Africa and South America, and specifically in the countries of the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Denmark, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Spain, and Suriname. During this time, she was also a visiting student at Harvard School of Public Health, a US Student Fulbright Fellow to Italy, and she completed her PhD in Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science on 'Determining Policy Priorities in a Devolved Health System: An Analytical Framework'.
Haroun Habib
Mr. Haroun Habib is a leader with a passion for global health, social justice issues and fostering coalitions that empower others to improve their lives.
Currently, he is the Health Sector Analyst supporting the WHO on health information management in Ethiopia and the Lake Chad region with immap, an international NGO. Previously, as the Sierra Leone Project Manager with the Financing Alliance for Health, he has been involved in identifying and developing sustainable financing solutions for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation’s Community Health Worker program. Formerly, as the West Africa Regional Coordinator for the Global Health Security Agenda with USAID, he utilized his exemplary leadership skills to coordinate program activities and report program deliverables, craft strategic documents and build partnerships with host country government partners for health system strengthening in the three Ebola-affected West African countries (Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea) and other countries in the region. Also, Haroun served as a Senior Global Health Specialist with the Association of Public Health Laboratories, an ASPH/CDC Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Zambia, where he focused on Global Program Management. Prior to joining CDC-Zambia, Haroun worked as a Policy Support Officer at the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator at the U.S. Department of State, a Communications Specialist for an international development consulting company, and as an Analyst at a state public health nonprofit organization. He earned an MPH with a concentration in international health from the Boston University School of Public Health in 2007, and he received a BS in health policy and administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2004. As a public health professional, he has experience in a diverse range of health policy issues on the local, state, national, and global level, from HIV/AIDS, to health disparities and minority health, and refugee health and human rights. Born in California, raised mostly on the east coast of the U.S., and with a family background from Sierra Leone, West Africa, Haroun considers himself a global citizen with knowledge of African affairs and a desire to help bridge the gap between Africa and the diaspora.
Duncan Muguku
Duncan Muguku’s professional background is in Project Administration, Program Management, Contracts Management, Proposal Budget Development, Procurement Management and Grants Management experience.
He has worked in various nonprofit organizations and holds an MBA in Strategic Management. Duncan founded ThriveYard. com in August 2016. Duncan’s roles include writing in-depth blog articles, designing website framework, preparing slides, infographics drafts, video concepts, working with freelance graphic designers and website developer, maintaining website, writing eBooks, social media management, marketing, sales, accounting, developing training courses on career success in the future.