The Vital Strategies Global Advisory Council brings together distinguished leaders from global health, government, philanthropy, business, law and technology to bring fresh perspectives to our work and help shape our next chapter. As trusted advisors, members will offer independent, candid counsel, challenge our thinking, guide our strategy and help identify emerging opportunities to strengthen public health systems around the globe.
Meet the Inaugural Members
Ambassador Geeta Rao Gupta
A global leader, advisor and advocate for gender equality and women’s rights with more than four decades of experience. She is Co-Founder of the Arch Collaborative and Co-Founder and Principal of The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice. She served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues from 2023 to 2025 and previously held senior leadership roles at UNICEF, the United Nations Foundation, Co-Impact, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the International Center for Research on Women.
Elhadj As Sy
A distinguished humanitarian, global health and international development leader with more than 30 years of experience. He chairs the Board of the Kofi Annan Foundation and Institut Pasteur de Dakar and serves as Chancellor of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He is also Co-Chair of the Accra Reset High-Level Panel on the Reform of the Global Health Architecture and its Governance. He previously served as Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and held senior roles across UNICEF, UNAIDS and the Global Fund. He also co-chaired the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board.
Dr. Pedro Hartung
CEO of Alana, a Brazil-rooted global social impact ecosystem advancing children’s rights, including health and well-being, through philanthropy, advocacy, research, impact investment and culture. For more than two decades, he has worked at the intersection of children’s rights and the social, environmental, and commercial determinants of health. His current leadership includes a growing focus on girls’ and women’s health, particularly menstrual health and endometriosis, connecting research and innovation with public policy, care, education and cultural change.
Dr. Ummi Umar Musa
A Nigerian public health specialist, cancer advocate and digital health innovator. She is Founder of the Call Off Cancer Initiative, which advances cancer prevention, early detection, patient support and health systems strengthening across underserved communities, and Founder and CEO of Uhealth Africa, a digital health social venture focused on expanding equitable access to health care. Her work brings together innovation, policy and community voices to advance equitable health outcomes across Africa and other underserved settings.
Dr. Rebecca Weintraub
Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Faculty Director of the Global Health Delivery Project at Harvard University. She is also an associate physician and practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her work focuses on identifying implementation bottlenecks and strengthening health delivery, including through Better Evidence, which equips frontline providers with vital evidence and data-driven tools for decision-making.
Rebecca has also served as Managing Director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, supporting social entrepreneurs working to address complex social challenges.
Edwin Macharia
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Axum, an Africa-focused strategy and implementation firm, where he works with leaders across government, philanthropy, and the private sector to shape strategy, design programs, and direct capital toward initiatives that drive lasting impact. His work spans global health, development, climate innovation and inclusive economic transformation, with a focus on building systems that enable African leadership and resilience.
Previously, Edwin spent 16 years at Dalberg Advisors, where he established and grew the firm’s presence across Africa and served as Global Managing Partner from 2020 to 2023. Earlier in his career, he worked with the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
Based in Nairobi, Edwin currently serves on the global boards of organizations that reflect his commitment to meaningful, long-term change, including The Nature Conservancy, Mozilla Foundation, The End Fund and The Wellbeing Project.
Dr. Lia Tadesse Gebremedhin
Professor of the Practice of Public Health in the Department of Global Health and Population and Executive Director of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program. She served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Health from 2020 to 2024, after serving for two years as State Minister of Health. A physician-leader with more than 25 years of experience, she has led institutional reforms and health systems strengthening and held global leadership roles including Vice Chair of Africa CDC and Co-Chair of the Global Financing Facility Investors Group.
Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh
A distinguished public health leader with more than three decades of experience at national and international levels, including 25 years in leadership roles with WHO. She was the first Indian elected Regional Director of WHO’s South-East Asia Region and the first woman to hold the position, serving two terms from 2014 to 2024. Previously, she spent more than two decades as a civil servant in India, including as Secretary for Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education in Punjab. Her experience spans evidence-based policy, health systems strengthening, disease elimination and emergency response across complex and low-resource health systems. In 2023, she was named WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Emeritus, and in 2026 she was awarded the Collar of the Order of Timor-Leste, the country’s highest civilian honor.
Joy Phumaphi
A distinguished global health leader and former Minister of Health of Botswana, Joy Phumaphi is Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), where she works with African Heads of State and Government to advance accountability and action on malaria and other health priorities. She previously served as Assistant Director-General for Family and Community Health at WHO and as Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank. Her leadership has spanned health systems strengthening, health financing, malaria and neglected tropical diseases, maternal and child health, pandemic preparedness, and the intersections of gender and climate change with health.