PhD in Global Health—Metrics Track Students

Alejandra joined the PhD program in 2020, after working as a Research Analyst at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and as a consultant for the World Bank’s Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC). During her time at IFPRI, Alejandra worked primarily on large scale impact evaluations of maternity health and nutrition, and women’s empowerment programs in India and Bangladesh. Her economics and public policy training has allowed her to work on a diversity of topics in different contexts, ranging from financial inclusion, social protection and nutrition specific impact evaluations in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Ghana. During the PhD program Alejandra is interested on studying social determinants of health, with a specific focus on gender inequality in health. In 2021, Alejandra was selected to join the Health Policy Research Scholars program, focused on the promotion of equity and health.

Before starting the PhD program in 2022, Horacio finished the Global Health Metrics MPH program at UW. During his MPH, he worked as a Research Assistant at I-TECH supporting the M&E data collection system for a HIV Care and Treatment program in Zimbabwe. His work and interests focus on the intersection of technology, data, and public health, and how to better use data to measure health outcomes in middle- and low-income countries. Prior to joining UW, in Peru where he is originally from, he worked helping the design of a maternal and child health mHealth program aided by Community Health Workers in the Amazon Jungle. His prior Medical (MD) and Biomedical informatics (MSc) training has enabled him to contextually understand and work with public health data. During his PhD Horacio is aiming to develop new methods to map health inequities and explore disease distribution in underserved populations.

Nancy Fullman, MPH joined the PhD program in Global Health Metrics and Implementation Science in September 2017 after working at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in multiple roles. During her time at IHME, Nancy conducted research on tracking malaria intervention coverage and evaluating the impact of child health interventions in Zambia and Uganda; worked on a multi-country research initiative analyzing drivers of health system performance; and supported various research areas in the Global Burden of Disease study, particularly around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She also received her MPH in Health Metrics and Evaluation from the University of Washington in 2011. Nancy’s research interests primarily involve assessing various components of health system performance, especially around health service delivery and intervention coverage; measurement of the health-related SDGs; and impact evaluations.

Julie joined the PhD program in fall 2021, after working as a research assistant at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and finishing her master of science in global health and population at the Harvard School of Public Health. At Harvard, Julie focused on estimating health and demographic indicators across small geographic units in India to highlight subnational health and wealth inequities. Julie also conducted research in Brazil, where she investigated inequality in life expectancy by socioeconomic status in Rio de Janeiro. Julie is currently working to develop population forecast models at IHME, with a focus on fertility forecast models. During her PhD, she aims to expand her research to incorporate different policy scenarios in population projections and assess the impact of population policies in low fertility settings.

Latera initiated his academic pursuits at Addis Ababa University, getting a B.Sc. in Computer and Electrical Engineering in 2019. He then transitioned to a professional role at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute’s National Data Management and Analytics Center as a data analyst and case team lead from 2020 to 2022, focusing on Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) research using advanced statistical and data science techniques. Concurrently, the team aimed to enhance national health data science competency and worked on creating interoperable health data systems adhering to FAIR principles. Latera also collaborated on projects estimating vaccine coverage across Ethiopian districts, supporting the Ethiopian Expanded Program for Immunization. In 2022, as part of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and EPHI’s capacity building initiative, he commenced his master’s in Health Metrics Science at the University of Washington, affiliating with IHME’s Simulation Science team. Now advancing to his PhD, Latera continues on the same track with a data-centric focus. His research, employing methodologies in statistics, mathematics, applied sciences such as machine learning and econometrics, aims to evaluate MNCH intervention coverage, discern key drivers and disparity levels, and forecast cost-effective investments to address these issues, thereby intertwining advanced analytic techniques with crucial public health concerns.

Nishali is interested in exploring the relationships between health systems, policies, and reforms in the production and potential reduction of health inequities. Prior to joining the PhD program in 2021, she supported health financing research in Ethiopia with Harvard University and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, malaria program costing in Vietnam with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, health systems data visualization in the Congo (remotely) with the World Bank, and global health policy analysis with the Government of Canada. After graduation, Nishali hopes to contribute to developing innovative tools for measurement of health systems performance and progress in multiple contexts.

Maitreyi aims to expand affordable, equitable, and high-value access to medicines domestically and globally. As a PhD student in Health Metrics Sciences, she studies racial disparities in US pharmaceutical spending using claims and survey data, as part of a larger IHME project measuring US county- and state-level healthcare spending and value. She also leads an economic evaluation of community delivery of HIV medicines in South Africa, with the UW Global Health Department. Her work employs methods from epidemiology, health economics, applied statistics, and demography. Prior to joining UW/IHME in 2019, Maitreyi worked at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute analyzing health systems enablers of malaria eradication, costs of mass drug administration for deworming programs, and public sector health insurance in low-resource settings. Previously, she interned with the Global Fund and the NYC Department of Health and then from 2014-17 served in the NGO sector as a field epidemiologist based in Sierra Leone and South Sudan. Maitreyi holds a BA and MS in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, where she was a Merck Global Health Scholar and studied TB/HIV in South Africa, Lesotho, and Malawi.

Aisha is a global health researcher interested in impact evaluations, cost effectiveness, resource tracking and measurement of health inequalities. Aisha’s research career started at Save the Children, Malawi where she managed a cluster randomized controlled trial of an integrated child nutrition intervention and its impact evaluation. After Save the Children, Aisha was an independent research consultant with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Institute for International Programs at Johns Hopkins University and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Before joining the PhD program, Aisha worked at the University of Western Ontario, Canada focusing on systematic reviews and economic analyses of Indigenous maternal and child health interventions. She holds an MSc in Global Health Implementation and a Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Demography from the University of Malawi.