Who we are
Bridges is led by a team of experienced professionals who have demonstrated commitment and delivered solutions to global problems throughout their careers, leveraging experience in diverse organizations such as Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, The Global Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Board members oversee and support the work of Bridges. They bring extensive public and private expertise through decades of work in global development, and hands on experience from local implementation to leading global organizations.
The Team
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Julie is a global health leader and physician with a life-long commitment to addressing complex public health problems with creative problem solving, innovation, and development of collaborative partnerships for delivering global results.
We are pleased and honored to recognize that Julie is the immediate past President (2020 - 2021)of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). Established in 1903, ASTMH is the largest tropical medicine society in the world with members from 117 countries around the world.
ReadDedicated to serving the underserved and building equity, Julie pulls from experience as a health care provider, researcher, and initiator of pioneering programs. She has tackled large scale global problems, removed barriers to success, and built trust amongst diverse stakeholders to achieve health impact for some of the world’s most marginalized populations. Julie brings wide-ranging experience from clinical care, disaster response, product development, and immunization as well as in-depth disease specific knowledge, particularly in neglected tropical diseases.
Julie has trained at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as in clinical tropical medicine.
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Alan is a recognized leader in forging partnerships, development, and delivering results. He has been recognized for excellence and innovation throughout a career of more than 25 years leading teams with developing countries and international partners to help individuals improve their lives and countries to strengthen systems and avert disease.
ReadFrom his professional beginnings working as a prison nurse, Alan has always sought to be challenged and learn from and with those around him. He grew ever more passionate about international development through work on public-private partnerships, education and capacity development, research and development for new interventions, infectious diseases, immunization, supply chain, and primary health care in the developing world.
Alan earned his doctorate with high honors from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He holds an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a BA with highest honors from the University of Washington. Alan is also a Registered Nurse.
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Sarah is a proven manager with over 20 years of experience in international social and economic development, spanning public and private non-profit sectors. Sarah organizes high-performing teams and innovates to deliver results, challenging and improving on existing approaches in education and health.
ReadTeaching in rural Kenya first inspired Sarah to pursue development solutions to help people overcome barriers to schooling and help to enhance livelihoods. She oversaw multi-million investments through USAID to reform South Africa’s education system at a time of rapid political change. At The Global Fund, Sarah managed the access to funding process and guided innovative transformations to their business model. Most recently at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, she led key improvements to country engagement and grant-making. Recognized for operational excellence and multi-stakeholder collaboration, Sarah brings strong planning and management expertise to the Bridges team.
Sarah is a graduate of Williams College (BA in Political Science) and Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
schurchill@bridgestodevelopment.org
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Anastasia is Senior Program Manager and Research Scientist with experience in program oversight, strategy development, leadership support, and investment management related to health product development and public health program implementation.
ReadShe spent over ten years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation primarily focused on Neglected Tropical Diseases. As Deputy Director of the NTD team, she was responsible for leading the strategy and business planning team, driving strategy development, execution planning, and monitoring against the team’s goals. She also managed a portfolio of investments to develop and deliver novel solutions for NTDs including in diagnostics, surveillance, and vector control.
Prior to the foundation, she was a bench scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center focused on developing novel immunotherapeutics for hematologic malignancies. She holds a Masters in Neurobiology and Behavior from the University of Washington.
apanetelias@bridgestodevelopment.org
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Cathy has worked in Finance for the past 16 years in both the public and private sector, in a career that has bridged both health care and human impact.
ReadShe started her career as a Physiotherapist in Australia, working in brain injury care, from acute treatment to return-to-work. After transitioning into a career in finance, she worked as the Finance and Compliance Manager for a leading diamond company, and subsequently as Financial Manager for a technology company that provided RFID solutions to the healthcare and diamond industries. Having lived and worked in Asia, Cathy developed a concern for women in vulnerable situations and she became a Director of a non-profit that worked to empower the vulnerable to find and maintain meaningful work.
Cathy holds an MBA from the University of New England, a post-graduate diploma in Public Health from Curtin University, and a Bachelors in Applied Science from Sydney University.
cgrebert@bridgestodevelopment.org
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Isis is a nurse and a global health researcher and Bridges’ first Global Health Fellow. She has experience developing international collaborations in research and programs and is known for taking a logical, rigorous, data-driven approach to strategic decision-making. Ísis has clinical know-how and expertise in global health and development, including women’s health, infectious diseases, vaccine confidence, health communication and education in middle and low-income countries.
Readiumbelino@bridgestodevelopment.org
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Team Members
The Bridges team includes several members who contribute to specific projects and portfolios.
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Bridges’ Internship Program
2019 - PresentBridges is committed to investing in the next generation of health, education, and sustainable development leaders. Launched in 2019, our internship program is designed for students and young professionals on their way to impactful and fulfilling careers. Below are our interns listed by their year of participation.
Read2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
Board Members
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David Brandling-Bennett, PhD
Board Chair (United States); Board Vice-Chair (Switzerland)David is a medical epidemiologist whose work has focused on global health, primarily on infectious diseases, especially tropical diseases such as malaria. He has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which included extended assignments in Central America, Thailand, and Kenya. He serves on the boards of the Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium.
His hope is to help Bridges to Development foster the effective application of innovative ideas and technologies to address long-standing challenges in low- and middle-income countries. -
Harriet Stanley PhD
Board Chair (Switzerland) and Board Vice-Chair (United States)Harriet has worked in international development and global health for 30 years. She has lived and worked in several countries, including Ghana, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia and Timor-Leste. She provided technical support to many other countries on short term consultancies. The focus of her work has been on strengthening health systems, engaging communities, increasing access and equity, and improving the quality of health services to meet the needs of women and their families.
Harriet has served on non-profit boards including HealthBridge (was PATH Canada) and Planned Parenthood. She has also provided technical support to new and established boards in countries where she worked to strengthen civil society partners. Her experience managing projects at the country, regional and global levels has included executive positions during which she worked closely with board members. -
Amélie Baudot Esq.
Board Member (United States and Switzerland)Amélie Baudot is an international development professional who has spent the last decade working to build global, multi-donor impact-focused funds. She is currently the Chief Operating Officer at the International Fund for Public Interest Media where she oversees organizational strategy, legal and governance, finance, operations and talent. She was most recently the Chief Strategy and Legal Officer at the Global Innovation Fund.
Amélie started her career as a restructuring lawyer in New York and London. She is a solicitor in England and Wales and admitted to practice law in New York State. Amélie holds a Juris Doctorate from New York University School of Law, a Master’s Degree from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and a Bachelor’s Degree from Connecticut College. -
Catharine Howard Taylor, MSc (Econ)
Board Member (United States and Switzerland)Catharine is an international public health professional with over 30 years-experience in program design, and evaluation, including 10 years in senior leadership roles for large US-based international non-profit organisations. She has lived and worked in Seychelles, Vietnam, Nepal, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, and the USA. In 2019 she established a small women owned business - NOMA 360 Associates, registered in the US and UK, specializing in accelerating the introduction of maternal health commodities into low- and middle-income countries. She has served on several Boards and steering committees, including White Ribbon Alliance, the NCDA steering committee and technical advisory committee for Jacaranda Health, Kenya.
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Emmanuel Mugisha, MD
Board Member (United States and Switzerland)Dr. Emmanuel Mugisha is a public health and community development expert. He brings close to 30 years of experience including public health program implementation, and community-based development of education and water systems. His work has spanned HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, vaccines and immunizations, health policy and systems strengthening, collaborating with governments, academia and numerous implementing partners. Dr. Mugisha was the Uganda Country Director and currently serves as Director, Typhoid Vaccine and Senior Technical Immunization Advisor at PATH. Dr Mugisha hopes to complement the work of Bridges with his strong support of data driven and from-the-ground-up solutions to improve well-being of communities in low and middle-income countries.
Please send requests for a copy of our annual progress and financial reports to: info@bridgestodevelopment.org