Message from our Chairperson

Chairperson
Vital Strategies believes in a world where everyone is protected by equitable and effective public health systems.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the global effort to advance racial equity galvanized by the murder of George Floyd in the United States have redoubled our commitment to this mission. At the same time, 2020 challenged us to do more to advance equity around the world, a central topic of our most recent board meeting.
The Vital Strategies Board of Trustees has reaffirmed its deep and heartfelt commitment to work alongside management to continue to broaden our efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in all aspects of the operations and governance of Vital Strategies. In keeping with our mission, we recognize diversity, equity and inclusion not only as important social goals but also as an important public health issue.
We deeply appreciate the efforts and commitment that Vital Strategies has shown in this regard and anticipate continued progress toward specific goals in the organization’s culture and its programmatic work.
Louis James de Viel Castel
Chairperson
Executive Committee
Chairperson
Louis James de Viel Castel
Managing Director, Quilvest
Vice Chair for Programs
Masae Kawamura
Senior Director, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Immune and Infectious Disease Franchise Qiagen
Vice Chair for Operations
Helen Agerup
Chairman, H&B Ågerup Foundation
Treasurer
Marc Sznajderman
Senior Managing Director, Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group LLC
Secretary
Ram Koppaka
Physician, Pulmonary Medicine and Public Health
Board Members
David A. Caputo
President Emeritus and Retired Professor of Political Science, Pace University
José Luis Castro (ex Officio)
President and Chief Executive Officer, Vital Strategies
Frank G. Colella
Attorney at Law
Dr. Mary-Ann Etiebet
Executive Director, Merck for Mothers
Roslyn “Roz” Feder
Biopharmaceutical Business Development Consultant
Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick
Founder and CEO, Grapevine Health
Mark Foley
President, Pendo LLC
Scott Halstead
Investor, Advisor and Board Member, Venture capital and private equity backed technology-enabled service businesses
Bruce Mandell
President, Data-Mail, Inc.
Eric Rosenbaum
President and CEO of Project Renewal
Renée Ridzon
Medical Officer, Centers for Disease Control (Kenya)
Jack Salvo
Executive Vice President, Business Development, PharmaSphere
Neil W. Schluger (ex Officio)
Chief, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences
Dean Schraufnagel
Professor of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy, Department of Medicine