Team

Lisa brings years of experience in the start-up, growth, and profitable leadership of dynamic enterprises within the pharmaceutical, biotech, and health care industries. Prior to joining Duke, Lisa was Senior Manager of Portfolio Analysis for Talecris Biotherapeutics, where she was responsible for defining research and development strategies by evaluating business cases for several new product and lifecycle management opportunities. She has collaborated on several start-up companies in senior housing, and health and wellness, and co-founded Clinexus, a start-up clinical research company. Her experience also includes senior roles in health care investing and divestiture, consulting for Accenture and managing physician practices.

Lisa graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Economics and Pre-Medical Studies and earned her MBA from Duke’s Fuqua Business School.

Zhanyue (Harper) Cheng is a master's student in Global Health at Duke University. Before joining Duke, she worked in the Bio-Active Matter Lab at Syracuse University and at Novozymes, a leading biotechnology company. Her experiences there provided her with a strong foundation in research and evidence-based reasoning. However, Harper's real passion is in translating these technological advancements into practical applications that have a global impact. She is particularly interested in innovative health products, health systems and policies, as well as maternal and child health, and the delivery of drugs and health services. Currently, Harper is developing her thesis, which investigates the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of health professionals in developing countries regarding the use of Generative AI. 

e: melissa.slogan@duke.edu

Melissa has a passion for leveraging strategic messaging to drive impact in global health innovation. Melissa is committed to amplifying the mission, initiatives, and shared vision of Innovations in Healthcare and the Duke Global Health Innovation Center through clear, engaging, and impactful communication across various channels.

Before joining Innovations in Healthcare, Melissa worked as the Global Communications Officer for the University of Virginia. Melissa received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Sociology with a minor in Fitness from the University of Pittsburgh. 

Why I am passionate about Innovations in Healthcare: I am proud to be a part of the Innovations in Healthcare team and collaborate with unique innovators whose mission is to improve the lives of people around the world. Working in such a collaborative and creative space has enabled me to continue learning while working together towards a shared goal.

Favorite country traveled to and why: My favorite place that I have traveled to is Colombia. I felt like I was walking in a painting because the streets are filled with the most colorful buildings, flowers, and fruits that I had ever seen. Colombia will always have a special place in my heart because it is where my fiancé’s family is from and also where he proposed!

Dr. Don Goldmann has decades of experience in helping health care systems and clinical teams improve the quality, safety, and value of the care they provide to their patients. He brings an uncommonly broad, clinical, scientific, and academic background to this work.

As Chief Scientific Officer, Emeritus, and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Dr. Goldmann focuses on deepening the credibility of improvement and implementation science by forging relationships with key scientific, academic, and health services research organizations. He has experience across the translational research continuum (bench science, epidemiology, clinical trials, and implementation research). He has participated in the development of numerous quality measures, especially in pediatrics and infection prevention. He lectures and writes on the value of quality indicators in value-based payment, benchmarking, and improvement. He advances the rigor of IHI's results-oriented work by deploying sound project design and program evaluation methods appropriate for the context in which improvement initiatives are conducted. Dr. Goldmann advocates for integration of improvement science and HIT/technology to accelerate progress towards vibrant and effective learning health systems, clinical decision support, and population health and equity.

Dr. Goldmann explores new ways to teach, bringing promising innovations to in-person and distance-learning. He is lead faculty for a IHI/HarvardX Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Practical Improvement Science and is leveraging the MOOC in a large national collaborative to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing – an HHS and global priority. He is Co-director for the Harvard-Wide Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship Program he founded (funded since 1994 via NRSA T32 Training Grants). He leads a Harvard College General Education course that explores how infectious diseases lead to social injustice and influence history, art, and literature.

Dr. Goldmann has a keen interest in helping clinical teams integrate rigorous quality improvement into their routine work, while mitigating clinician burnout and liberating the intrinsic motivation that clinician bring to health care. He is particularly devoted catalyzing sustainable improvement in under-resources settings globally and in engaging medical trainees in quality improvement.

Dr. Goldmann has served as Chair of the AHRQ National Advisory Council and the Board of AcademyHealth, and he is Vice-Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Institute for Medicaid Innovation. He also serves on a number of advisory committees and boards, including the National Quality Forum’s Primary Care and Chronic Illness Standing Committee. He is Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School and Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, and Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

e: j.harris@duke.edu

Jessica is a Program Operations Manager at the Duke Global Health Innovation Center where she helps manage many programs and initiatives. She has more than 15 years of experience managing and executing various programs and events.

Jessica speaks German and Spanish and has a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

e:  Emily.macharia@duke.edu

Emily is an economist passionate about health system strengthening. At the Duke Global Health Innovation Center and Innovations in Healthcare, Emily supports research and knowledge management across different projects within Africa. Prior to joining GHIC, Emily supported the East Africa regional health secretariat, national and sub-national level governments in Kenya to strengthen their health systems through research, advocacy for sustainable health financing, designing patient centered health care solutions, policy formulation and dissemination and public and private sector engagement.

Wenhui Mao is an Assistant Director of Programs at Duke Global Health Innovation Center and Innovations in Healthcare, and Instructor of Global Health at Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University. Wenhui supports the policy and research initiatives, and her current interests include 1) the impact of health policy through policy analysis and economic evaluation; 2) health financing, including both external and domestic financing; and 3) access to health products. Wenhui has published over 120 academic articles, policy briefs, working papers and blogs and serves as Commissioner of The Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, member of Research Committee of Consortium of University of Global Health (CUGH), Editorial Board Member and Guest Editor for multiple journals.

Prior to joining GHIC, Wenhui was a Senior Policy and Research Associate at the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health and a postdoctoral scholar at Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University. Wenhui received her Ph.D. in Health Economics and B.A. in Public Health from Fudan University, China.

In her role as Manager, Programs and Engagement, Eunice supports innovators in Africa to achieve scale by connecting them to key stakeholders such as peer innovators, partners and funders. Prior to joining Innovations in Healthcare and the Duke Global Health Innovation Center, Eunice worked as a fund lead for an early stage fund in Kenya that invests in innovative early stage startups in the technology sector.  She was responsible for the recruitment of investee companies into the fund, startup coaching as well as fundraising for the fund. Eunice has over 5 years’ experience working with startups using technology in different sectors such as health, agriculture, logistics among others. 

Eunice is a graduate of United States International University – Africa with a degree in International Business Administration with a concentration in Management.

Katharine is a Research Analyst with the GHIC/IiH team. She provides research support on the Launch and Scale Speedometer and COVID Global Accountability Platform projects. She is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Botswana from 2018 to 2020.

Katharine earned her Master’s in Public Health and Tropical Medicine from Tulane University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Health and Biology from Furman University. 

Aziz is a Grants and Contracts Administrator. Aziz supports the management of grants in the GHIC portfolio. He has more than 12 years of experience, both in the US and internationally. Prior to joining DGHI/GHIC, he worked at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in the Epidemiology Department for three years. Before to moving to the US, he worked at the international NGO, Population Services International, as an accountant. He is a native of Benin, West Africa and is fluent in French and two local Beninese languages. 

Aziz earned his Master’s Degree in Audit, Management Control, and Finance, and Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from ENEAM.

e: diana.silimperi@duke.edu

Diana Silimperi is an international public health pediatrician, epidemiologist, and global health thought leader. She brings 35 years of global experience leading the planning, design, implementation or management of large-scale integrated healthcare service delivery and health system strengthening programs in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Prior to joining Duke in 2019 as a Visiting Professor of the Practice of Global Health, she held executive management positions in 3 global health and development companies, and worked closely with diverse Ministries of Health, UN organizations, NGOs and private sector health.

Diana earned both her Bachelor of Science in Zoology/Psychology and her M.D. from Duke University and completed her pediatric residency at the University of Washington, followed by an assignment at CDC as an EIS Officer. She has dedicated her career to the practice of global health in the context of LMICs, concentrating on overcoming access barriers, assuring quality and scaling up high impact, evidence-based interventions. Throughout her career, Diana has been an advocate for the special needs of the most vulnerable populations, and the integral role of community-based health workers to bridge the gap between families, communities, and the health system.

She works closely with the Education team to strengthen course offerings, mentoring and learning experiences to better prepare graduates aimed at global health practitioner careers. Diana co-leads the Duke-Pamlico County Partnership which provides experiential learning in rural health systems, research training and independent studies for global health majors and MSc students. She also provides technical and strategic input to programs at the Duke Global Health Innovation Center and Innovations in Healthcare, as well as the Center for Global Women’s Health Technology.

Ben provides administrative management and coordination for all Innovations in Healthcare and Duke Global Health Innovation Center business functions. Prior to joining the team, he was the Associate Director of Enrollment Services for the master’s programs at the Nicholas School of the Environment. He is the former Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Ben is returning to his passion for healthcare. Early in his career, he was the Associate Executive Director of an eastern North Carolina assisted living facility.

Ben was born in North Carolina and has mostly resided in the state throughout his life. He received his BS in Management with a minor in Health Science from Clemson University and has taken graduate coursework at NC State University.

Favorite activities/hobbies: Grilling, golfing, boating and, most recently, creating videos on his iPhone.  

Why I am passionate about IiH: Almost immediately after graduating from college, I began working in healthcare administration. I instantly recognized the privileged position I was in to be able to perform ADLs independently, to choose my own health insurance/healthcare provider, and autonomously make choices about what I would do each day. Unfortunately, human health is largely a privilege, and certainly not always regarded as a right. It is therefore imperative that those of us who are able seek ways to help those less fortunate gain access to health services. I strongly believe navigating life is difficult enough without the worries associated with inaccessible healthcare (or access to subpar healthcare). By contributing the skills I have, I can support the highly qualified team at IiH as well as our innovator network. I’m passionate about IiH because I’m aligned to its mission.

e: ku@duke.edu

Dr. Krishna Udayakumar is the founding Director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center, focused on generating deeper evidence and support for the study, scaling, and adaptation of health innovations and policy reforms globally. He is also Executive Director of Innovations in Healthcare, a non-profit co-founded by Duke, McKinsey & Company, and the World Economic Forum, leading the organization’s work to curate and scale the impact of transformative health solutions globally.

At Duke University, Dr. Udayakumar holds the rank of Associate Professor of Global Health and Medicine, and is Associate Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore. His work has been published in leading academic journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, and Academic Medicine.                                                                      

Born in Bangalore, India, Dr. Udayakumar spent his childhood in Virginia, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia, with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with distinction. He received both an MD and an MBA (with a concentration in Health Sector Management) from Duke University, where he was a Fuqua Scholar. Dr. Udayakumar completed his residency training in internal medicine at Duke and served as Assistant Chief Resident at the Durham VA Medical Center before joining the faculty of Duke University.

Why I am passionate about Innovations in Healthcare:  As a physician I have dedicated my career to making a positive difference in people’s health and lives. Recognizing that we have shared challenges around the world in improving the quality, access, and affordability of healthcare, I am excited about our work in finding the best healthcare innovations around the world, and building a strong community to learn from and support each other. We have the opportunity for lasting impact by helping to scale and replicate the best solutions in healthcare. 

e: elina.urli.hodges@duke.edu

Elina Urli Hodges is an Assistant Director of Programs at the Duke Global Health Innovation Center and Innovations in Healthcare. Elina oversees a portfolio of research initiatives focused on increasing access to health products and services in low- and middle-income countries by studying the end-to-end pathways of scaling from R&D to sustainable scale. She has developed impact measurement frameworks for pharmaceutical industry-led access to medicine programs, and evaluated the collective impact of an NCD-related systems strengthening consortium in Kenya. 

Prior to joining Duke University, Elina worked for more than a decade on NCD prevention, population health, and global workplace health promotion projects with U.S. government agencies, multinational corporations, and regional health systems. She began her career in health working on U.S. domestic health policy efforts for the American Heart Association in Washington, DC. Elina received a Master of Science in Public Health degree, with a concentration in Health Policy and Management, and global health, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs and French from the University of Virginia.