As summer begins here in Durham, North Carolina, and Duke’s campus quiets down, we’re readying the latest cohort of Innovations in Healthcare interns for their summers working with SEAD and Innovations in Healthcare Innovators in East Africa.
This year’s interns will be hosted by an inspiring group of social ventures:
Health Builders – Based in Kigali, Rwanda, Health Builders works with local and national governments to improve healthcare delivery in the country with a focus on the core drivers that determine health and illness.
Jacaranda Health – Jacaranda Health is a member of the first cohort of SEAD Innovators. With a focus on reproductive health services for poor women in urban Kenya, Jacaranda Health combines business and clinical innovations to create a self-sustaining and scalable chain of women’s health clinics.
LifeNet International – LifeNet International has been a member of SEAD since 2014. Operating across East Africa, LifeNet International strengthens local healthcare capacity by partnering with community health centers to improve their medical and administrative capacity while also connecting them with necessary pharma and medical equipment.
With experience in business and public policy, the summer interns have many insights to shares with the Innovators:
Tanmayata Bansal - Originally from New Delhi, India, Tanmayata is currently a Master of Public Policy (MPP) student at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. She also holds a master’s degree in financial economics and an undergraduate business degree from Delhi University, where she co-founded Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), a student-led organization promoting social entrepreneurship. Before joining Duke, Tanmayata worked with Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, South Asia (J-PAL SA). Working with women and children during SIFE and J-PAL guides her motivation to improve access to healthcare in India at an effective cost.
Ben Fong - Ben is originally from Boston, Massachusetts, and studied biology and chemistry at the University of Toronto. After graduation, he served for six years in the United States Navy as a supply officer and has deployed several times throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He is currently pursuing an MBA and a certificate in Health Sector Management at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Emily Mason - Emily is pursuing an MBA at Fuqua and comes to the program with global health, private sector, and government experience. Prior to Duke, Emily worked within the Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact at USAID and worked in Global Collateral Services Marketing and Alternative and Broker-Dealer Services Marketing at BNY Mellon. Emily served as a health educator for Support for International Change in Arusha and Babati, Tanzania.
Adeline Sutanto - Adeline is currently an MBA student at Fuqua. Prior to business school, she was working with A.T. Kearney as a management consultant for South East Asia region. Adeline’s passion in healthcare improvement is mainly influenced by her experience teaching in rural Indonesia and her drug development research with Dexa Medica pharmaceutical company.
The interns will be with their hosting organizations through July and return to Duke in August to finalize deliverables. Stay tuned at the end of this summer for their personal stories working with our inspiring innovators!