Dr. Robert Hecht is the President of Pharos Global Health Advisors. He has more than 30 years of experience in global health, population, nutrition and development, in senior management positions with the World Bank, UNAIDS, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and Results for Development Institute. Rob is a widely recognized thought leader and analyst with a strong track record of advice to top decision makers and dozens of publications related to health systems, health sector reform, HIV, TB, immunization, nutrition, and health economics and financing.

Rob also holds an appointment as a clinical professor at the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, where he teaches global health courses related to policy and financing and conducts research. He has adjunct positions at McGill University’s School for Population and Global Health and at Rangoon University’s School of Public Health.

Rob has a PhD from Cambridge University and a BA from Yale.

Dr. Shan Soe-Lin specializes in developing solutions to complex strategic, organizational and operational issues affecting global health non-profit organizations, private philanthropies, multilaterals, and US health care payer and provider systems. Through her tenures with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Recon Strategy, Results for Development Institute and now Pharos Global Health Advisors, Shan specializes in developing forward-looking strategies, resource mobilization approaches, competitive landscapes and investment cases for organizations and governments focused on nutrition, HIV, TB, and maternal and child health issues. More recently, Shan has advised developing countries and NGOs on Covid control, and published several op-eds in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and Politico on domestic Covid control and return-to-work strategies. Shan also works with her clients to improve their organizational effectiveness and leadership development. Her clients have included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi, Unitaid, the Global Fund, Partners in Health, Nutrition International, and Kirk Humanitarian.

Shan holds a PhD in Experimental Medicine, and a B.Sc in Microbiology & Immunology, both from McGill University, and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Maria has over seven years of experience working across the private and public sectors, and multilateral organizations, and has conducted economic and policy work, focusing on cost benefit and return on investment analyses, budget modelling, and business case development across 15+ countries.
She has supported the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia with the design and implementation of a new model of care, where among others she trained government officials in the use of health technology assessment approaches for priority setting. As a health economist for Public Health England, she led the economic case for investment in the newly established UK Health Security Agency. Most recently, she supported health financing reforms focusing on provider payment methods in Tunisia and Morocco for the World Bank. Maria holds an MPH in Global Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Warwick.

Please contact Maria at [email protected]

Dr. Maria Socorro Santos is a public health professional with more than 10 years of experience in health policy, health systems research, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation. Prior to Pharos, she served as the Chief of the Health Planning Division at the Philippine Department of Health. Socci graduated from Yale University with an Advanced Professional MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and received a Masters in Development Economics and Doctor of Medicine from the University of the Philippines.

Please contact Socci at [email protected]

Jeremy Otridge focuses on the intersection of social and health systems. Prior to joining Pharos, Jeremy worked on the COVID-19 response at the CDC and served as the Senior Policy Advisor at Justice 4 Housing, a Boston-based nonprofit. During his academic studies, Jeremy led student groups seeking to reform premedical and undergraduate education to focus on health equity. Jeremy holds an MPH in Health Policy from the Yale School of Public Health and a BA in Sociology with a focus in health and society from Yale University.

Please contact Jeremy at [email protected]

Mila spent 2 years with Pharos working on a variety of assignments in health financing, sustainability and donor transition, and health system strengthening. Prior to Pharos, Mila led critically-minded analyses of drug patenting practices and pharmaceutical markets at the UC Hastings Center for Innovation, advanced global digital health infrastructure with USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact, and built data systems to monitor and improve prehospital emergency medical response for the Ministry of Health in the Kingdom of Bhutan. During his academic studies, Mila led research projects at Yale University and the Technical University of Munich in clinical and developmental neuroscience. He also founded and managed initiatives for the representation of Himalayan cultures and the promotion of development work in the Himalayan region. Mila holds an MPH in Healthcare Management from the Yale School of Public Health in conjunction with the Yale School of Management and a BS in Neuroscience from Yale University, where he was also a Global Health Scholar. He is now a Public Health Analyst at Direct Relief.

Grace spent 2 years with Pharos working on a variety of assignments in health financing, sustainability, health systems strengthening, and pandemic preparedess. Prior to Pharos, she studied parasitic hookworm infection at the Yale School of Medicine, conducted clinical research on HIV at Gilead Sciences, and worked on health policy at New America, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. She has also researched the history of community-based care in San Francisco’s Chinatown, worked to bring digital telehealth access to underserved patient communities in Washington State, and contributed to accessible health and science writing in several university publications. Grace received her B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and B.A. in History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health from Yale University, where she was also a Global Health Scholar. She is now pursuing her M.D. at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Nathan Isaacs spent two and a half years with Pharos and worked extensively in economic analysis and global health development. In his 2.5 year tenure at Pharos, Nathan led projects on Sustainability & Transition, Covid-19 response, and other cutting edge topics in health financing. Prior to his arrival at Pharos, Nathan researched urban development and international trade at a think tank and developed socially responsible strategies for Invenergy, LLC, the continent’s largest independent clean energy company. In his undergraduate studies, Nathan co-led an engagement with a humanitarian foundation to increase global access to prenatal multivitamins. He also tutored his peers in microeconomics, managed a legal aid program, and investigated the cultural and political effects of development in rural and urban Cambodia. Nathan received his B.A. from Yale University in Global Affairs, graduating magna cum laude and with distinction in the major.

Alexa Straus has worked on a broad spectrum of projects spanning the public and private health care sector. As a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, she has supported clients on subjects like market and industry developments and mega trends in health. Prior Alexa has researched Public-Private Partnerships in Healthcare delivery during a Fellowship in Washington DC.

Alexa holds an Advanced Professional MPH from Yale School of Public Health, a MSc in Business and Management from Stockholm School of Economics and a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from University of Bayreuth (Germany).

Aishwarya Bhattacharya has conducted research in projects ranging from global mental health in LMICs, evaluating the effect of armed conflict on HIV prevalence in Uganda to experiments in social neuroscience. She has also worked as a consultant for the National Academy for Science, Engineering & Medicine to evaluate FDA policies on diversity and inclusion in clinical trials. During her undergraduate studies, Aishwarya was part of the Global Health Scholars program, tutored incoming first years in pre-calculus, promoted harm reduction strategies related to public health measures as a public health peer educator, led a student group Period@Yale to partner with YSPH and Yale School of Nursing to distribute period products at a Food and Clothing Pantry, and competed on the Yale Varsity Squash Team as captain for 2020-2022. Aishwarya received her B.S from Yale University in Psychology graduating cum laude with distinction in the major. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Public health at YSPH through Yale’s BS/MPH Program.

Diana Gonzalez works on health policy and program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. She has previously worked for the Mexican national government on universal health coverage and quality improvement reforms, as well as on fiscal reforms and demand-based infrastructure planning for clinics, hospitals and schools. Diana has also worked for multilateral organizations, such as the Interamerican Development Bank, Bolivia, conducting an impact evaluation of a maternal and child health and nutrition community intervention. Diana holds an MPH in Health Policy from the Yale School of Public Health and a BA in Economics, from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).

Lindsey Hiebert works at the intersection of research, programs, and health policy. Over the past years, she has supported Pharos’ hepatitis and nutrition projects through research design, impact and economic modelling, program evaluation, and investment case development. In her role, she seeks to bring together different dimensions of evidence and analysis to support scale-up efforts and resource mobilization for life-saving interventions. Previous to Pharos, she coordinated and managed different research projects at BRAC and Yale University, including studying adolescent nutrition in Bangladesh, healthcare behaviors and discrimination in the Dominican Republic, and youth gun violence in New Haven, CT. Lindsey received both a BS in Global Affairs and an MPH in epidemiology and global health at Yale University.

Claire Young works on global health research, infectious disease epidemiology, and program strategy and implementation. She has worked with the Global Fund, UNICEF’s Division of Data, Analysis, Planning & Monitoring, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Centers for Disease Control on improving cost effectiveness and equity of grant allocation, HIV and Maternal and Child Health data analysis, improving vaccine access in conflict zones and establishing communicable disease surveillance systems respectively. Additionally, she has conducted fieldwork in Brazil, Burkina Faso, Kenya, and South Africa. Claire obtained an MPH in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases from Yale School of Public Health and a BA in Global Affairs and Global Health Studies from Yale University.

Devyn Rigsby is active in global health research, policy design, and program analysis. Particularly interested in reproductive healthcare, she engages with issues of sustainability, implementation, and transitions within the family planning and maternal-perinatal nutrition spaces. Prior to joining Pharos, she managed an advising project for the Global Fund, identifying strategies to improve the equity and impact of the organization’s grant allocation model. Experienced in quantitative analysis, she has published a peer-reviewed study of vaping and associated risk behaviors in U.S. teens and has also conducted clinical cardiology research with Women’s Health Research at Yale. Devyn graduated from Yale University in 2019 with a B.A. in Global Affairs. Devyn is now working toward her M.D. at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Moises Escobar has been involved in global health through his time with Penta, a company that collects used prostheses to bring high quality, low cost prosthetic care to amputees around the world, and working on an advising project that studied the scale-up of prenatal supplements in developing nations. As an undergraduate, Moises was a Tobin Economics Research Assistant, worked at the Yale Investments Office, and led a socially-responsible investment fund. He was also involved as a writer at the Clean Energy Finance Forum and worked at Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, Saudi Aramco’s venture capital subsidiary. Moises graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Global Affairs. Moises is now at the Macquarie Group, within the Infrastructure and Energy Group.

Hannah Rees’ work centers around program implementation, health policy, and equity. During her time with Pharos, Hannah contributed to the development of sustainability strategies for countries transitioning from Global Fund support for HIV and TB programs in Latin America. She is particularly interested in global cancer care and improving outcomes and access to care in low resource settings. Prior to Pharos, Hannah worked with the Oncology Program at Partners In Health and conducted research on the attitudes and beliefs surrounding cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination in Nicaragua. She plans to continue to work at the intersection of implementation science and global oncology through collaboration with the UCSF Global Cancer Program. Hannah received a BS in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and was a Global Health Studies Scholar at Yale University. She is currently a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco.

Rachel Wilkinson's work centers around healthcare equity, disparities, and child health. While at Pharos, she worked on a multi-country investigation into opportunities to strengthen adolescent health through HPV vaccination scale-up in low and middle-income countries. Since leaving Pharos, she matriculated to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she has helped lead the Sinai Human Rights and Social Justice program, along with serving as a student representative on the hospital-wide Healthcare Equity Task Force, seeking to identify and reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in healthcare. She has also been involved in global health research on hypertensive care in Kampala, Uganda and domestic research on the impact of racially segregated healthcare delivery on medical education. Rachel Wilkinson is now a fourth-year medical student at Mount Sinai and is matriculating into the Mount Sinai Pediatrics residency program.