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Staff
Colin Beckwith, Deputy Director
Teshome Gebre, PhD, Regional Representative for Africa
Noah Kafumbe, Supply Chain Manager
Huub Gelderblom, MD, PhD, MPH, Associate Director, Research Projects
Elizabeth Kurylo, Communications Manager
Chantal Veira, MBA, Senior Program Associate
Birgit Bolton, MPH, Senior Program Associate
Joanna Pritchard, MA, Senior Program Associate
Anyess Travers, MPA, MPH, Program Coordinator
Rebecca Mann Flueckiger, MCRP, Information Analyst
Martine Muffon, Logistics Coordinator
Yen Kim, Logistics Coordinator
Solomon Ejigu, CPA, Accounting Manager
Stephanie Ogden, WASH Coordinator
Bill Nigut, Communications Assistant
Dr. Danny Haddad is Director of the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI), a partnership between Pfizer and The Task Force for Global Health that supports the global effort to eliminate blinding trachoma by 2020.
He was born in Hoogezand, the Netherlands and received his medical degree from the State University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He has over eighteen years of experience in blindness prevention in developing countries with specific interests in elimination of blinding trachoma and controling riverblindness.
Before joining ITI, Dr. Haddad served as the director of the Children Without Worms program, a partnership between Johnson & Johnson and The Task Force that supports global efforts to reduce the burden of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections in children.
After his graduation, he was a Helen Keller International (HKI) volunteer working as manager of the Irian Jaya Eye Care Project in Indonesia. Dr. Haddad continued working with HKI in several different capacities, including as Africa Regional Coordinator for Onchocerciasis and Trachoma, director for Onchocerciasis, country director for Tanzania.
Between positions at HKI, Dr. Haddad worked as a resident in medical microbiology at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he focused on diagnosis and treatment of parasitic diseases.
During his study he was active in training staff of eye hospitals in Africa and Asia to repair their surgical instruments and produce medical supplies using appropriate technology.
Dr. Haddad is a member of the board of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IABP). He also served on the Technical Consultative Committee of the WHO’s Africa Programme for Onchocerciasis Control and is a former chairperson of the Non Governmental Development Organization Coordination Group for Onchocerciasis control.
Colin Beckwith, Deputy Director
Colin L. Beckwith is ITI’s new Deputy Director and co-directs the strategic planning, development, and implementation of ITI’s operations. He manages ITI’s technical and financial operations, and supervises program staff and associates, both at Atlanta headquarters and overseas. He oversees the management of the annual Pfizer donation of Zithromax® to beneficiary countries, including support to the supply chain logistics of the donation (forecasting, supply chain audit, shipment planning) and programming growth projections.
Mr. Beckwith is an experienced manager, having worked in leadership positions with CARE USA in several countries and regional offices in Latin America and Africa over the past 25 years. His areas of expertise include organizational development and management, strategic planning and implementation, program design and management, and performance management. He served as CARE’s Director for Central America, Director for Guatemala, and Deputy Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to joining ITI, Mr. Beckwith was Associate Director at Emory University’s Institute for Developing Nations, where he focused on cultivating strategic partnerships between Emory faculty and international development organizations for collaborating on exploring mutually relevant development issues in some of the poorest regions of the world.
Mr. Beckwith has a Bachelor of Science degree in forest management from the University of Maine, and a Master of Science degree in natural resource management from Colorado State University. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala where he worked as a community agro-forestry agent, and a Peace Corps Technical and Cross-Cultural Trainer, also in Guatemala. Mr. Beckwith is fluent in English, Spanish and French.
Teshome Gebre, PhD, Regional Representative (Africa)
Teshome Gebre, PhD. is ITI’s Regional Representative for Africa, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As a senior ITI representative, he liaises with governments of trachoma-endemic countries and other stakeholders, planning comprehensive programs, ensuring epidemiologic justification for the drug donation, and assessing adequacy of resources for program implementation. He also provides technical support for the development, implementation and evaluation of sustainable trachoma elimination programs, often in collaboration with integrated Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) initiatives.
Before joining ITI, Dr. Teshome was Country Representative for The Carter Center’s health programs in Ethiopia for 16 years. He established such health programs as Guinea Worm Eradication, and prevention and control of lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, trachoma and malaria. The innovative design of the “MalTra Week” approach to treat millions of people for trachoma and malaria opened a new chapter in advancing public health to greater heights in Ethiopia and has become source of renewed hope and optimism to achieving WHO’s goal of eliminating blinding trachoma worldwide by 2020.
Dr. Teshome has authored and co-authored more than 25 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed international journals, and has contributed three scientific articles on neglected tropical diseases to published book chapters. He earned his masters and PhD degrees in health care management from the American Century University, New Mexico.
Dr. Teshome has received numerous awards and certificates of appreciation nationally and internationally. Most notably, he received the Outstanding Leadership Medal from the Lions Clubs International President, 2010-11. On June 3rd 2011, the FMOH/Ethiopia honored him with “Certificate of Distinction and Gold Medal” for his outstanding contribution in Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Control in Ethiopia. He also received a letter of appreciation for his years of dedicated service to The Carter Center and the Ethiopian people from the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Noah Kafumbe, CEM, MS, Supply Chain Manager
Noah Kafumbe is ITI’s new Supply Chain Manager. Noah has over 8 years of international experience in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States working for non-profit, government and private sectors.
He has expertise in program and project management, logistics and supply chain strategy, operations management and emergency planning. Prior to joining ITI, Noah worked for Marks & Spencer (UK), American Red Cross, Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and Medtronic Corporation.
Mr. Kafumbe will establish and execute the strategic direction for ITI’s global supply chain. In doing so, Noah will provide oversight of day-to-day management of the $1.6 billion Zithromax® supply chain.
Mr. Kafumbe is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Makerere University (Uganda), a Master of Science degree in Development and Project Planning from the University of Bradford, Bradford Center for International Development (United Kingdom) and a Master of Science in International Logistics and Supply Chain Strategy from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia, U.S.A).
Huub Gelderblom, MD, PhD, MPH, Associate Director, Research Projects
As Associate Director, Research Projects, for the International Trachoma Initiative, Huub Gelderblom leads the research process for ITI and has a primary focus of designing, planning, and conducting operational research. In his role, Dr. Gelderblom manages data from the field and assists in the development, application, expansion and refinement of the ITI program.
Dr. Gelderblom is an experienced clinical and laboratory researcher, having worked in various settings in the Netherlands, Tanzania, the UK, the US, Namibia, Uganda, South Africa, Mali, Ethiopia and Mozambique. Dr. Gelderblom's areas of expertise include clinical research, clinical trials, and laboratory research, in particular infectious disease diagnostics research.
Prior to joining ITI, Dr. Gelderblom was a Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, seconded to the HIV Pathogenesis Program, Durban, South Africa, to establish an HIV cohort study. With HIV prevalences in antenatal clinics greater than 40%, KwaZulu-Natal is the current epicenter of the worldwide HIV epidemic. In South Africa, Dr. Gelderblom led a team setting up an observational cohort study on (1) the psychosocial, and (2) the virological and immunological aspects of HIV acquisition and pathogenesis.
Dr. Gelderblom has a Medical Degree, a Master's degree in Medical Biology, and a PhD in Medicine from the University of Amsterdam, and a Master of Public Health degree, Global Public Health, Policy and Management concentration, from New York University. Dr. Gelderblom is a co-author of 12 peer-reviewed articles, and co-author of the 2007 Dutch National Guidelines for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection.
Elizabeth Kurylo, Communications Manager
Elizabeth Kurylo is Communications Manager for ITI, responsible for carrying out all communications-related activities for the International Trachoma Initiative. Prior to joining ITI, she worked as a journalist and then became a communications director for Emory University in Atlanta.
She was a journalist for 17 years, working as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Atlanta and Des Moines, Iowa. She has reported from Europe, Africa and Central America, covering a range of topics. For 10 years she documented the post-presidential activities of President Jimmy Carter, filing stories and photographs about his programs to improve health, promote democracy and resolve conflict around the world.
Before joining ITI at the Task Force for Global Health, she worked as a communications director at Emory University, primarily for the Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life (MARIAL), and also in the Office of International Affairs and the Halle Institute for Global Learning. At MARIAL, she helped to create an online, peer-reviewed academic journal called Journal of Family Life, and she served as its managing editor. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Chantal Veira, MBA, Senior Program Associate
As a Senior Program Associate for the International Trachoma Initiative, Chantal Veira provides program support to French speaking countries implementing the SAFE strategy and technical assistance for the scale up of the Zithromax® donation in new countries. She assists with preparation of annual forecasts and drug applications, as well as the development of national Trachoma Action Plans that aim at eliminating trachoma as a source of blindness.
Ms. Veira has ten years of combined project management, fundraising, and program development experience; seven of which focused on advancing the global effort to eliminate preventable blindness. In 2000, she launched and implemented ChildSight®, a free vision screening and eyeglass delivery program in inner city schools, for Helen Keller International in Atlanta. She later served as a regional fundraising manager for Optometry Giving Sight, where she increased the donor base, nurtured, and managed donor relationships on the east coast of the U.S.
Prior to joining ITI, Ms. Veira provided consulting services to start-ups and small businesses. In that role, she guided these entities through the business planning, marketing and development process. She has an MBA in International Management with a focus on diplomacy and leadership from the Global Partners MBA cohort program at Georgia State and the Sorbonne. As a graduate student, she studied in France, Brazil, and China, and interned with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in Geneva, Switzerland and their affiliate, CIFAL Atlanta. Ms. Veira spent much of her formative years in Haiti and her native New York and is fluent in English, French, and Creole.
Birgit Bolton, MPH, Senior Program Associate
As a Senior Program Associate for the International Trachoma Initiative, Birgit Bolton provides program support and technical assistance to English speaking countries implementing the SAFE strategy. She also assists with the preparation of annual forecasts and drug applications, as well as the development of national Trachoma Action Plans that aim to eliminate trachoma as a source of blindness.
Ms. Bolton was a contract Project Coordinator with CDC's National Center for Environmental Health from 2007–2012 where she was the principal investigator for health studies assessing risk factors for environmental contaminants in selected populations. Prior to CDC, Ms. Bolton worked eight years for the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. As the programs coordinator, she initiated, organized and coordinated a variety of public health, conservation and sustainability programs to help improve water quality and quantity for metro Atlanta. Her public health background includes a 2010 Global Field Experience with CARE Rwanda as a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) evaluator where she conducted an assessment of a microfinance, gender equality and behavior change strategy for a community-based WASH program for marginalized populations. She also studied Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) as a graduate assistant with The Carter Center’s International Health Programs in 2011. Ms. Bolton has a Master’s in Public Health in prevention sciences from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
Joanna Pritchard, MA, Senior Program Associate
As a Senior Program Associate for the International Trachoma Initiative, Joanna Pritchard provides program support to countries implementing the SAFE strategy and technical assistance for the scale up of the Zithromax® donation in new countries. She assists with preparation of annual forecasts and drug applications, as well as the development of national Trachoma Action Plans that aim at eliminating trachoma as a source of blindness.
Joanna has worked in community-based health and development initiatives since 1996. In metro Atlanta, Joanna has focused on promoting health and preventing injury in under-served communities through improvements to the built environment and community education. Prior to joining the Task Force, Joanna worked in Haiti as a program manager on infrastructure reconstruction and cholera response activities with the International Organization for Migration. Joanna has an economics degree from the University of Glasgow, Scotland and a master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Florida. She speaks Spanish, French and Haitian Creole and is a native of the United Kingdom.
Anyess Travers, MPA, MPH, Program Coordinator
In her position as Program Coordinator, Anyess Travers assists with the development, implementation, and coordination of all ITI projects. She has worked with both national and international nonprofits, through direct and indirect services, for ten years. In addition to serving in Jordan as a U.S. Peace Corps Youth and Community Development Volunteer in health extension, Ms. Travers has worked with Refugee Family Services, International Rescue Committee, YMCA, and Hands On Atlanta.
Ms. Travers received both a Master’s of Public Administration in Non-Profit Management and a Master's of Public Health in preventative science from Georgia State University. She is a dual French/American citizen, speaks French fluently, and holds a Bachelors of Arts in Spanish.
Rebecca Mann Flueckiger, MCRP, Information Analyst
Rebecca Mann is an Information Analyst for ITI, responsible for developing, expanding and refining data analysis and mapping. She graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a masters degree in city and regional planning – specializing in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She attended Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and has done research on the relationship between the design of cities and obesity rates. She also studied the use of GIS technology to predict the geographic location of West Nile Virus cases in humans.
Prior to joining ITI, Rebecca was a consultant for the RTI International Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control Program and the Task Force for Global Health. She also was an intern at the Carter Center’s Global 2000 program.
As an information analyst, Rebecca also works with the Task Force’s Lymphatic Filariasis Support Center to map monitoring and evaluation data derived from the RTI NTD Control Program activities.
Ms. Mann has a bachelor’s degree in geographic sciences, concentrating in GIS and environmental studies, from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.
Martine Muffon, Logistics Coordinator
Martine Muffon is ITI’s Logistics Coordinator for French-speaking countries. A native of France, she relocated to Atlanta after 19 years with Digital Equipment Corporation at its European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Coming from the corporate world, she set out to explore the American small business ways in a number of different settings. After 5 years she took a position with Melita International Corporation in the international department and subsequently joined NICE Systems as a Global Account Project Manager. In 2003 she made accounting her full-time occupation and worked as a free-lance consultant for 7 years until joining the Task Force in 2010.
As ITI’s Logistics Coordinator for francophone countries, she is responsible for assisting in all matters related to the coordination of shipments of Zithromax® to recipient countries, analysis and reporting, and liaising with recipient countries and Pfizer. Ms. Muffon considers herself a citizen of the world. Joining an organization that is dedicated to improving health and human development globally has been the fulfillment of a life-long dream.
Yen Kim, Logistics Coordinator
Yen Kim is a Logistics Coordinator for ITI. She is responsible for coordinating Zithromax® shipments to English speaking recipient countries, updating the ITI database, analyzing data, and executing and preparing reports to assist the program in effective decision making. Prior to joining ITI, Yen was a Logistics Engineer at The Home Depot. She managed and implemented large capital projects for distribution centers nationwide. After several years in her support role, Yen ventured into the non-profit sector and served as a housing counselor for local Atlanta residents. There she built a passion to make an impact in the lives of others. She joined ITI to utilize her engineering skills to make a difference on a global scale. Yen has also worked for U.S. Census, Ryder Systems and Shaw Industries.
Ms. Kim holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and a Certificate in Operations Management from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Solomon Ejigu, CPA, Accounting Manager
As ITI’s Accounting Manager, Solomon Ejigu supports ITI’s program in accounting, financial analysis and financial reporting functions. Mr. Ejigu has over 15 years of financial accounting and auditing experience, primarily with non-profit organizations. Prior to joining ITI, Mr. Ejigu worked for Habitat for Humanity International, the American Red Cross and CARE in internal controls, audit and financial analyst positions respectively. In Ethiopia, he worked in the federal Ministry of Urban Development of Housing and Construction, and the Ethiopian office of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Mr. Ejigu is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor, and also holds a B.A. degree in accounting from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.
Stephanie Ogden, WASH Coordinator
Stephanie Ogden is ITI’s coordinator for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). She also works with the Children Without Worms program at the Task Force for Global Health, and the Emory University Center for Global Safe Water.
At ITI, she will encourage joint efforts by the WASH and NTD sectors to ensure that communities have access to water, sanitation and hygiene to protect families’ health.
Ms. Ogden has worked in and with the WASH sector since serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural El Salvador almost a decade ago. Since that time, she’s worked with several organizations in Latin America, Africa and Central Asia helping to improve sustainable community access to water and sanitation.
Prior to joining ITI, Stephanie worked with UNICEF in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to analyze WASH in schools programs, and led Water for People’s research on integrated water resources management in Rwanda.
Ms. Ogden has a master’s degree in public policy from Oregon State University and a graduate certificate in Water Conflict Management and Transformation. She speaks Spanish and Russian.
Bill Nigut, Communications Assistant
Bill Nigut is Communications Assistant for ITI, responsible for creating content and updating content for the ITI website and two other websites, The Trachoma Atlas and the International Coalition for Trachoma Control. He also manages ITI’s social media presence through Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and YouTube. In addition he supports the creation of videos about ITI’s partners and countries where ITI works.
Mr. Nigut holds a bachelor’s degree in international affairs with a minor in Spanish, and a GLOBIS International Studies Certificate from the University of Georgia.