2023 Lead Fellows
Cindy Chan Tha
MB, BS, MSc
– Dr. Cindy Chan Tha, MB., BS, MSc.
Dr. Cindy Chan Tha is a medical doctor who specializes in public health. Since earning her medical degree in 2002, Dr. Chan Tha has worked primarily in the public sector, gaining a wide range of experience across various ranks and postings in clinical health, public and global health, health administration, and health policy formulation. During her early career as a doctor, Dr. Chan Tha gained valuable experience in mentoring and facilitated a range of capacity-building sessions for junior colleagues and healthcare professionals stationed at the grassroots level. She played a significant role in formulating a National Health Policy, a crucial step towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. In her most recent position in the public sector, she served in a Director position, providing technical expertise and guidance for health system strengthening. Despite transitioning away from her professional life in the public sector, Dr. Chan Tha remains committed to serving vulnerable populations. Dr. Chan Tha co-founded an organization aimed at addressing pressing healthcare needs, providing humanitarian assistance, and offering emergency relief.
Marie Roseline Darnycka Belizaire
MD, MPH, FETP, MSc
“The LEAD Fellowship will be the game changer that transforms me into an influential and effective leader. It will be a new string to my bow to improve and protect the lives of the most vulnerable while positioning the health agenda from local communities to the global arena of the ever-changing environment. The fellowship is like a well from which I can draw knowledge and share it with others through the various development programs I am involved in. I want to use this privilege to expand my mentoring capacity to inspire and motivate more women worldwide to join the women’s leadership movement in health and bridge the gender gap in the transformative global health journey. Upon completion of the fellowship, I hope to contribute immensely to making WHO the 21st-century global health organization the world deserves.”
– Marie Roseline Darnycka Belizaire, MD, MPH, FETP, MSc.
Dr. Marie Roseline Darnycka is a civil servant with more than 18 years of experience in public health at both national and global levels. In Haiti, she worked as an HIV/AIDS medical officer, where she advocated for a holistic approach that included traditional healers in case management and expanded access to antiretroviral treatment in rural areas. In Europe, Dr. Darnycka worked as a senior public health expert for the project Episouth, which aimed to strengthen emergency preparedness in 27 countries in the Mediterranean region. As scientific manager of the European project CHRODIS, she promoted a resilient approach to noncommunicable diseases across the continent. Dr. Darnycka has been working with the World Health Organization since 2015, serving as team leader of the Health Emergency Program in Mauritania as well as incident manager of large and complex outbreaks in several countries. She has demonstrated leadership in emergency response, has a strong commitment to saving lives, and has led multiple response teams to high-performance levels since 2005.
Brenda Kateera
MD, MPH
“The Harvard LEAD Fellowship for Promoting Women in Global Health has come at an opportune moment in my professional and leadership journey. I am pivoting to expand my influence and impact to a regional and international level with the goal of causing disruptive transformative change. Through the LEAD Fellowship, I will be able to pause, reflect and chart out a road map on how to achieve transformational impact at a larger scale. The LEAD Fellowship will also empower me with the skills and knowledge necessary to create opportunities for mentoring and supporting other female leaders thereafter.”
– Brenda Kateera, MD, MPH
Dr. Brenda Asiimwe Kateera is a global health specialist, epidemiologist, and researcher with more than 20 years of experience leading large public health programs, academia, and policy. She holds a medical degree from Makerere University-Uganda and a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Kateera is currently the Country Director for Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Rwanda. Prior to this position, Dr. Kateera was the Rwanda Country Director for AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) which supported HIV services to more than 1,600,000 people in 46 countries. She also served as the Director of Research and faculty at the University of Rwanda, College of Medicine and Health Sciences where she was responsible for developing a self-sustainable research support center with the aim of strengthening research capacity, stimulating a research culture at the college, and ensuring knowledge translation into policy. Dr. Kateera has worked as a physician at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda and Makerere University-Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration. Her areas of investigation include novel methods of HIV prevention and improvements to adolescent health interventions.
Katherine Ann V. Reyes
MD, MPP
“The LEAD Fellowship is a timely and tailored program for leaders who are entrusted to steer healthcare organizations in these uncertain times. Its focus on strengthening women leaders affirms the need for more women’s voices to be heard in decision-making spaces. I am optimistic that the different learning resources in this Fellowship will guide me to become a better leader through reflection, direction setting, recalibration, and confidence-building. I hope to become a more responsive leader and a better mentor as I guide my team towards uncharted territories: the establishment of a new research organization that will enable the stronger use of evidence in health promotion interventions in the Philippines.”
– Katherine Ann V. Reyes, MD, MPP
Dr. Katherine Ann Reyes is a licensed Philippine physician and holds a Master of Public Policy from the National University of Singapore. She was recently appointed Program Lead to establish the Institute of Health Promotion at the National Institutes of Health University of the Philippines Manila, a key component in the implementation of the country’s UHC Law. She co-founded the Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes (AIHO), a local non-profit public health organization that has worked to improve opportunities for aspiring professionals in their field. She served as an inaugural member of the Philippine Health Technology Assessment Council and the UP Manila Committee of Research Integrity. She was also the first Board Member for the Western Pacific Region at Health Systems Global, where she helped to formalize the society’s expansion work in the region. Further, Dr. Reyes is a founding member of the Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians and a co-convener of Women in Global Health Philippines. In recognition of her work, Dr. Reyes was awarded the Gawad Lagablab for Social Upliftment by the Philippine Science High School National Alumni Association in 2021.