By Karl Hofmann, President & CEO, PSI and Carolyn Brehm, Board Chair, PSI
Consumers want stronger, more integrated health systems that make it easier to choose and access the health services that work best for them. Our Board of Directors supports PSI in listening to consumer needs, driving innovation, and partnering with governments and private sector actors, to build stronger health systems that work for the people we serve.
We look to our Board of Director’s diversity and depth of wisdom to help shape our journey forward. PSI’s board voted to add five new members in 2023, fillings seats opened by members who completed their terms.
At PSI, building strong health systems starts with building a strong team. From our country-level staff and volunteers to our global team and Board of Directors, each and every member of the PSI community is integral to catapulting PSI forward as the locally-rooted, globally-connected enterprise of the future.
We are honored to welcome these powerhouse visionaries, and new members of the PSI community:
Abhijit Dutta, Senior Director and Head of Communications & Government Affairs for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region at Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the maker of iconic global brands such as Kleenex tissue, Huggies diapers and Kotex sanitary napkins.
In this role Dutta is responsible for advancing the company’s purpose of ‘Better Care for a Better World’ across its largest international region with operations in more than 30 countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Dutta is a member of their APAC Leadership Team as well as the Global Communications Leadership Team.
Prior to Kimberly-Clark, Dutta served in a number of regional corporate affairs leadership roles at Rio Tinto and Procter & Gamble, where he championed public-private partnerships for global development and advocated for policy initiatives to drive community-centric social impact and sustainable growth.
Professor Sadiah Ahsan Pal, MBBS, MRCOG, FRCOG, Consultant Obstetrician Gynecologist and Fertility Specialist and former Vice President of the Society of Obstetricians & Gynecologists of Pakistan (SOGP). In addition to her work as a sexual and reproductive healthcare provider, Professor Pal has facilitated Maternal & Child Health trainings for various global health organizations, including WHO and Ipas and taught undergraduate and graduate medical courses at St. George and St. Thomas Medical Schools.
Professor Pal was a member of WHO’s COVID-19 and pregnancy research group in Pakistan and helped to establish guidelines for COVID-19 management in pregnant people. Professor Pal is a leader in sexual and reproductive health research and has been instrumental in improving maternal and child healthcare and sexual and reproductive health systems in Pakistan.
Edward Donkor, Managing Director of Apax Partners’ Global Impact, a mid-market strategy seeking out opportunities to support companies which deliver tangible societal and environmental impact. Prior to Apax, Edward was a Principal at SK Capital Partners, where he focused on investments in the specialty materials, chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors. Edward served as a director on the boards of Niacet Corporation and SI Group while at SK Capital.
Prior to SK Capital he held investing roles at Pine Brook Partners and First Reserve Corporation. Donkor has over 15 years of principal investing and board experience. As an alumnus, Donkor is also a member of the Macalester College Board of Trustees.
Madhu Bala Nath, most recently served as the Country Director for Engender Health in India. Nath also served as UN Women’s Regional Policy Advisor in South Asia on issues of violence against women, gender responsive governance, women peace and security, economic empowerment and gender responsive planning and budgeting. Nath was also the Regional Director for South Asia for the International Planned Parenthood Federation as well as the Country Director for Engender Health.
Earlier in her career, Nath worked at UNDP and later UNAIDS as their Regional Policy Adviser where she engaged in efforts to enhance understanding of critical and strategic partners about the HIV/AIDS epidemic from the gender perspective to help build more sustainable and effective HIV/AIDS prevention programs. Nath is an accomplished author and has also written training manuals and resource guides on how to help women negotiate safe sex and the intersection between gender and HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Stephen Tang, former President & CEO of OraSure Technologies Inc., a biotechnical firm that develops, manufactures, and distributes medical devices and services designed to discover and detect critical health conditions. OraSure developed one of the first over-the-counter, at-home rapid tests for HIV, in addition to rapid tests for hepatitis C, Ebola, and influenza. Under Dr. Tang’s leadership, the company expanded its team and developed an at-home rapid test for COVID-19.
In December 2021, Dr. Tang was awarded the 7th Annual Globy Award for Corporate Leadership by the Global Philadelphia Association in recognition of his work leading OraSure through the pandemic.
Before OraSure, Dr. Tang was the President & CEO of University Science City Science Center, where he worked to provide resources and programs to commercialize new technologies, help start-ups scale businesses, and foster regional innovation and entrepreneurship.
Dutta, Pal, Donkor, Nath, and Tang join PSI’s board as they, together, work to advance consumer-powered healthcare, scale donor-funded projects and digital innovation, and support governments to build stronger health systems that work for the people we serve.