About us

Gerald Bloom

Gerald is a Co-Convenor of the Health and Nutrition Cluster at the Institute of Development Studies in the UK. His research has focused for many years on the factors influencing the performance of mixed health systems and on  strategies for managing health system adaptation to rapid change. He is active in a newly established forum for research and mutual learning on the management of mixed health systems, which supports a learning approach to health system innovation and change.

Luke Boddam Whetham

Luke is a health professional with over 16 years of experience, working to improve health service delivery and access to health services in the developing world. He is an experienced project director and a specialist in financing primary health care and private health sector delivery of primary health care services. Luke has worked with organisations such as Palladium, Marie Stopes International (MSI), Options, the UN and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and has extensive experience of working on health and community development programmes in East and Southern Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

Robinah Kitungi

Robinah is a "Right to Health" advocate working with the private and public sector to empower communities to make health and wellbeing a priority. She is the Executive Director of the Uganda National Health Consumers' Organisation. 

A. Venkat Raman

Venkat is a Professor at the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India. His research focuses on leveraging Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to improve equitable access to health care services for the poor. He is actively engaged in advisory work with governments, bilateral and multilateral development partners. Private Sector Governance, Performance Based Contracting, and HRH are other areas of his interest. 

Dr Tryphine Zulu

Tryphine is a seasoned health economist with wide-ranging experience in the South African health sector in the areas of health policy and healthcare financing. She currently works in the health insurance sector with roles and responsibilities that extend across reimbursement decisions on pharmaceuticals to clinical risk management and implementing an Alternative Reimbursement Model for ambulatory management of chronic diseases.

Alaa Hamed

A Senior Public Health Advisor focused on approaches to engage the private sector in health systems to achieve universal health coverage, multisectoral approaches to achieve health equity and efficiency approaches to integrate vertical programs in the health system. More than 35 years of working in health and human development on regional and country projects in the Middle East and Africa. A Medical Doctor with a Doctorate Degree in Public Health. Areas of expertise are policy dialogue, technical assistance for advisory services and analytics, design and implementation of projects in areas of public health, health systems, population, nutrition, and social protection. Was the Team Leader for Egypt, Yemen and Sudan. Worked for the World Bank, UNICEF, Plan International, Egypt's Ministry of Health and Health Insurance Organization and the private sector.

Waarisa Fareed-Brey

Waarisa is a health economist with 18-year experience in both the Private and Public sector in South Africa, including having worked as the Director of Health at the City of Cape Town managing Primary Health Care Services and Environmental Health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Waarisa lead the vaccine outreach project Nationally improving access to vaccines through innovation and multi-sectoral collaboration. Her current role entails being a Clinical Executive in managed health care and affiliation with the University of Cape Town Health Economics Division. Waarisa has keen interest is in improving access to equitable quality health and embedding UHC.

Hilary Kinka

As the Private Sector Engagement Technical Advisor on the Health Systems Accelerator team at Population Services International (PSI), Hilary works to build PSI’s capabilities in private sector engagement and health systems strengthening at the global and country levels.  She supports country teams to shape people-centered mixed health systems.

Hilary has 10 years of experience engaging with and capacity strengthening private sector health actors in low– and- middle-income countries (LMICs) to expand their service offerings, introduce digital health solutions, participate in health financing schemes, and grow their health businesses.  She has collaborated with Ministries to improve private sector governance and to increase access to and affordability of private sector health services.

Prior to joining PSI, Hilary consulted for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and worked in private banking at JP Morgan Chase.  She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC and a Bachelor’s of Arts in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Philip Davies

Philip Davies has almost 45 years international experience across all aspects of health systems design, economics, programme delivery and evaluation. 

Currently working as an independent consultant, his previous roles include partner in a leading professional services firm, Senior Health Economist at the World Health Organization (WHO), Professor of Health Systems & Policy in the University of Queensland, Australia as well as top-tier leadership positions (CEO or Deputy CEO) in government health administrations in Australia, Fiji and New Zealand. He also served as Vice-Chair of the WHO Executive Board and, from 2019-23, was Chair of the International Foundation for Integrated Care.

Nicole Charman

Nikki has 29 years of experience in health delivery in lower and middle-income countries, with a focus on private sector engagement, market system development, and consumer and provider behaviour change. Prior to joining Impact for Health, Nikki enjoyed a long period working for Population Services International (PSI), both at the country level as well as part of global advisory teams based out of Nairobi and Washington DC. 

Samwel Okinyi Ogillo

Samwel Ogillo (MB, BS) is currently Chief Executive Officer at the Association of Private Health Facilities in Tanzania (APHFTA). He serves in several policy and strategy formulation committees in the East African Region, and is a Board Director of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) of Tanzania. Samwel has also served as a member of Business Environment Improvement Technical Working Group of the Tanzania National Business Council, appointed by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania. He is a Board Member/Trustee of the East Africa Health Platform. At APHFTA, he has developed and implemented several innovative health and Financing programs. 

Rachel Gikanga 

Rachel Gikanga is a health systems strengthening expert with over 14 years’ experience, providing advisory support on improving government stewardship for Private sector governance and strengthening private sector engagement to reinforce health systems efficiency in service delivery, particularly on leapfrogging Universal Health Coverage.

She has worked with several bilateral and multilateral partners, leading development agencies as well as the private and public health sectors in promoting access to public and private health financing, expanding access to health products, information and services and increasing technical support to strengthen local manufacturing through private sector engagements in developing countries.

Sofi Bergkvist

Sofi Bergkvist is President at the Center for Care Innovations, an organization focused on innovations in primary care, and services for drivers of health. Sofi co-founded ACCESS Health International, a leading think tank for health system transformation in Asia and a trusted partner to many governments for work on health care reform. Sofi has also co-founded and built several international partnerships including the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage, a network of policy makers across more than 30 member countries working to improve coverage, quality, and financing of health care. 

Volkan Yilmaz  

Volkan Yilmaz is a Political Scientist and Sociologist with more than 10 years of experience in social research and public policy analysis. Holding a PhD in Politics from the University of Leeds, Yilmaz has a strong track record in researching health politics and policy with a particular focus on government–business relations. Yilmaz is currently an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the School of Law & Government, Dublin City University. Yilmaz’s book The Politics of Healthcare Reform in Turkey was published by Palgrave Macmillan. His articles appeared in BMC Health Services Research, Disasters and Sociology of Health & Illness.