Staff
Lisa M. Hilmi
Executive Director
lhilmi@coregroup.org
Lisa Hilmi has over 30 years of global health experience in over 20+ countries, employing both human rights and community-based participatory approaches to addressing health disparities for women, children and communities. As a nurse, researcher, and public health expert, Lisa has worked at multiple levels of global health, in policy, research, emergency relief and response, development, workforce development, health systems strengthening; from local to global levels. She has worked in development settings, led response to HIV/AIDS/STIs/GBV in refugee and conflict settings, and developed policy for outbreaks, disasters, and epidemics in multiple countries. She has led over $180 Million of development, relief and rehabilitation efforts. Clinically, Lisa has worked in pediatric hospital, community, academic, and crisis settings, and has held leadership positions in the UN, Sigma Theta Tau International, INGOs, and foundations.
Her research focuses on geographical health disparities for adolescents in urban settings. She has a strong history of partnership and coordination with UN, INGOs, CSOs, and other stakeholders. She sits on the WHO PMNCH Board, the Steering Committee of the Child Health Task Force, the Board of Directors at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation, as well as other review committees.
She holds an MPH from Columbia University, a BSN and completing her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, was a Jonas Nurse Scholar, is a Certified Pediatric Nurse, and holds a BA in Communications and Political Science from Villanova University.
Julie R. Dargis
Senior Advisor, Global COVID-19 Response
jdargis@coregroup.org
Julie Dargis is a strategic senior advisor with more than 20 years of experience in the field of humanitarian relief and emergency response. Her expertise includes designing, implementing and evaluating community-based education, training and capacity-building programs, particularly in regions affected by war and natural disasters. A former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, Dargis has a long history working with NGOs where she successfully directed country programs in Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania, Haiti, Afghanistan, Rwanda and the Central African Republic, and managed multimillion-dollar USAID and World Bank-funded grants. She has also held key leadership positions with Save the Children and International Rescue Committee, where she accepted multiple subsequent assignments as country director in Guinea, Sudan, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Republic of Congo and Indonesia while serving as an active member of the NGO Forum Steering Committee and NGO delegate on the Oversight Committee of the Multi-donor Trust Fund. Most recently, Dargis worked with UNICEF as an Emergency Specialist for the Somali Region in Ethiopia, addressing chronic displacement and multiple disease outbreaks in support of more than 1 million displaced persons across the region.
Dargis holds a master’s degree in Education and Human Development from George Washington University in Washington, DC and a Ph.D. in Integral Health from the California Institute for Human Science.
Sheetal Sharma
Senior Immunization Advisor
ssharma@coregroup.org
Sheetal Sharma, Public Health Ph.D. has 13 years’ experience of improving access to health in low- and middle- income countries, with a focus on immunization in last mile settings. Her work centers on field-based management and research of evidence-based health projects contributing to shortening information and data gaps towards effective decision-making and action both nationally and globally. She is a 2019 Harvard Medical School Research Fellow, currently the Vice Chair of the Civil Society Organisation Constituency Steering Committee – GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, (2019-2021). She joined CORE Group in 2020 as a Senior Immunization Advisor.
Comfort Siodlarz
Director of Finance & Administration
csiodlarz@coregroup.org
Comfort has over 16 years of financial and technical experience with nonprofits. She has an in-depth understanding and experience in implementing programs by donors such as USAID, DOS, USDA, DFID, UNHCR among few. Over the years, she has developed strong skills in managing and handling financial reports, donor reports, billing, invoicing, contracts and procuring goods and services. She enjoys developing operational and proposal budgets and monitoring awards and grants from both the field and head quarter level. She has lived and worked overseas and has a diverse skills in working with people from many different backgrounds. Comfort holds an MBA in finance from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in accounting from Central University in Accra, Ghana. During her personal time she enjoys building things including home improvement projects.
Patras Yaqoob
Part-Time Accountant
pyaqoob@coregroup.org
Patras is an accomplished accountant, and enjoys using his skills to contribute to meeting the objectives of CORE Group. He graduated from the Pakistan Adventist Seminary & College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. He also has Master’s degree in International Development focus on International Development for NGO’s from Andrews University Michigan.
He is obsessed with all things tech-related and spends his free time developing his own personal skills to advance his career. He enjoys watching documentaries about the universe, nature and research and about advancing technologies to improve human development. He loves home grading, walking, visiting nature reserves and traveling to different countries. His origin is Indian and enjoys Indian food as well as Columbian food.
Shelby Brown
Operations and Membership Manager
sbrown@coregroup.org
As Operations and Membership Manager, Shelby manages CORE Group’s membership program and as well as daily operations for CORE Group staff and the International Community Health Network. She coordinates CORE Group activities including online and in-person events and ensures membership and staff engagement across the organization. Shelby brings a wealth of experience working in nonprofit organizations, including roles at Catholics for Choice, Health Leads, and the Environmental Law Institute. Shelby is a graduate of Syracuse University where she majored in International Relations and English & Textual Studies.
Please contacting Shelby if you are interested in becoming a CORE Group member or have questions regarding membership.
Avani Duggaraju
Communications and Knowledge Management Coordinator
aduggaraju@coregroup.org
As the Communications and Knowledge Management Coordinator, Avani contributes to strategies to strengthen communication and knowledge sharing between CORE Group, its membership and the broader International Community Health Network. She has experience working in health communications and behavior change research both domestically and internationally. She has previously worked with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on a project examining women’s sanitation vulnerabilities in southern Tanzania and interned at an HIV/AIDS non-profit in India. Avani received her MSPH in Social and Behavioral Interventions from the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her BS from the University of Connecticut. She enjoys dance, travel, reading, and listening to K-Pop.
David Imbago Jácome
Technical Programs Officer
dimbago@coregroup.org
David has almost ten years of experience working with civil society organizations related to health and youth engagement. He was President of the National Association of Medical Students in Ecuador and General Assistant for the Americas Region at the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA). After finishing medical school, David became a member of the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, being involved in high level advocacy for young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. As a medical doctor, he worked for a year in a rural community in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest in a primary care facility, working with indigenous communities in remote locations.
Currently, David is a Board Member of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health representing the Adolescent and Youth Constituency and Vice-president for Development at the International Youth Health Organization. David holds an MD from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador and is also an MPH candidate at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
Lauren Sullivan
Knowledge Management and Communications Intern
lsullivan@coregroup.org
Lauren is a senior at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She majors in public health with a concentration in Community Health/Health Promotion. She brings social media management skills as well as customer service experience from a variety of professional environments. Lauren is interested in learning about new cultures and recently spent a semester studying abroad in Cork, Ireland. As an intern in KM and Communication, she is looking forward to expanding her skillset to help communities around the world achieve better health.
Camille Serelus
Women of Color in Global Health Intern
cserelus@coregroup.org
Camille Serelus joins the CORE Group team as the new WOCGH Intern. She brings to the team experience in and passion program design, social justice and research. Camille received her undergraduate degree in Human Services from Northeastern University and is currently in her second year at the Boston University School of Public Health studying Global Health Program Design, Monitoring and Evaluation. In her free time, you can find her teaching barre, taking a yoga class or spending time with family and friends.
Carizma Forbes
Women of Color in Global Health Intern
cforbes@coregroup.org
Carizma Forbes is a junior at Howard University. She currently majors in Biology and Health Education, with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health. She brings to the team experience in program & social media management, social and health related justice, as well as research experience. In her free time, Carizma enjoys finding new music artist and expressing herself through different creative outlet.
Board of Directors
The CORE Group Board of Directors is the governing body of the organization and is dedicated to advancing CORE Group’s mission, values, strategies, goals, priorities, and policies.
Sarah Ford
CHAIR, Catholic Relief Services
Sarah Ford is Director of Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) Integrated Program Quality Unit. She provides strategic leadership and direction for three of CRS’ cross-cutting program areas: Equity, Justice, and Integrated Programming. Ms. Ford supports the design, delivery and evaluation of peace-building, governance, gender, protection, and youth, programming globally. She also supports monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning for CRS programs worldwide. Finally, she works in Partnership and Capacity Strengthening, supporting the design, delivery, and evaluation of high quality capacity strengthening interventions. Ms. Ford has over 35 years of professional experience in organizational sustainability, leadership, management, and non-formal education. Prior to CRS, Ms. Ford worked with Management Sciences for Health’s AIDSTAR-Two project, providing capacity building technical assistance to USAID-funded AIDS programs globally. At Lutheran World Relief, she provided leadership to the development and implementation of international public policy platforms and constituent education programs and at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, supported programs promoting the human rights of women, children, and oppressed racial and indigenous groups. Previously, while Director of Capacity Building at CEDPA, Ms. Ford led a team in developing programs to increase international partners’ organizational capacity and sustainability.
Dennis Cherian
CO-CHAIR, Corus International
Dennis Cherian, MHA, MS, BHMS is a physician with a keen interest and specialization in alternative systems of medicine; he also has graduate degrees in public health administration and psychological counseling. Currently, Dennis is the Associate Vice President, Health and Nutrition at Corus International. Prior to this role, he was the Director of New Program Development for Jhpiego. the Senior Director of Health for World Vision, Inc. and served in senior advisor roles with the New York State Department of Health, Division of Tuberculosis, Medical Care Development International and Plan International. He has extensive experience designing and implementing a range of innovative public health interventions to include child survival, tuberculosis/HIV, neglected tropical disease, health systems strengthening, community health, and digital technologies for health in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. He has contributed to many publications and spoken at high level technical and policy forums. He also serves on the board of the Christian Connection in International Health (CCIH). Previously, he served as an Advisory Member of Social Behavior Change for Faith-Based Organizations, the Country Task Force for mPowering Frontline Health Worker and the Global Digital Health Network.
Kote Lomidze
TREASURER, Independent
Kote Lomidze is the senior vice president for finance, chief financial officer (CFO), and treasurer at World Learning, overseeing all global financial operations and activities. He originally joined World Learning in 2009 and spent three years at the organization, serving as finance director for international development and exchange programs and then deputy CFO. After spending nearly two years as CFO of Project Concern International based in San Diego, he returned to World Learning in 2014. Prior to joining World Learning, Lomidze spent 11 years working in finance at World Vision in his native Georgia, Russia, Zimbabwe, and the United States. Lomidze previously served as a board member and treasurer of San Diego Diplomacy Council, local NGO engaged in creating international connections to address common global challenges. Lomidze is a certified public accountant and holds a BA in mathematical economics and a law degree from Tbilisi State University and an MBA from Georgetown University.
Magnus Conteh
AT-LARGE, Independent
Magnus currently an independent consultant. Previously, he served as the Executive Director to the Community Health Academy. Under Magnus’s leadership and through multiple partnerships across three continents, the Academy helped governments transform community health education and build capacity in health systems leadership. In addition to an international team of staff, the Academy draws on the expertise of a global faculty network that includes representation from WHO, USAID, the Global Financing Facility, former Ministers of Health and academic experts from Universities, including Harvard, the University of Liberia, and other academic and technical institutions in the global South. Previously, Magnus worked for seven years at World Vision Ireland, including as the Deputy CEO/Director of Programmes and Strategy. Notably, he led World Vision’s involvement in the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Ebola Vaccine trial in Sierra Leone, which included overseeing the deployment of technology critical for the clinical trial. Magnus has also held other senior management positions including in the National Health Service in the UK and the Health Service Executive in Ireland, where he served as Director for the Regional Centre of Nursing/Midwifery Education at the University Hospital in Galway.
Erin Stieber
SECRETARY, Smile Train
Erin Stieber is the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Smile Train. Erin began working in child health programming in 2002, and has overseen programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2007, with coursework in international law, health law, and human rights. Erin’s work at Smile Train focuses on strengthening treatment programs and access to care for children with cleft lip and/or palate through strategic partnerships, increasing awareness about the health and survival challenges faced by children with this facial deformity, and overseeing capacity building initiatives for health professionals in 75+ countries. During her career, she has led the development of strategic partnerships with nonprofit, government, and private sector collaborators, and the strengthening and expanding global health programs to achieve greater impact. She is committed to advocating for vulnerable populations, building capacity in the health sector, and promoting successful collaborations to expand and scale-up access to healthcare for all people.
David Pyle
AT-LARGE, Independent
David has over 40 years of experience in community-based health, nutrition, and family planning programming.His special expertise is in evaluation, having served as team leader in more than a dozen major evaluations and design of cost‑effective and sustainable programs. He is familiar with US and worldwide health, population and nutrition networks as well as with USAID and multilateral donor agency personnel and procedures. David has worked extensively with INGOs and local NGOs. His research has addressed the difficulties of “scaling‑up” community‑based integrated health efforts, considering how strategy influences structure, and identifying solutions which include strengthening information systems, effective decentralization, and increased collaboration with private sector.
Stephen Rahaim
AT-LARGE, Independent
Stephen has 20 years of experience designing, managing and measuring complex initiatives to improve development outcomes and create enduring social and economic value working with private sector, civil society, government and donors. Stephen has collaborated with a wide range of clients and stakeholders to develop local, national and multi-country strategies, leading project implementation, partner relationships and performance management among diverse technical and operations teams. He has designed, advised and measured social innovation funds and competitions, public-private partnerships, human-centered and market based research and interventions. As Chief of Party of the USAID Catalyst project for Resonance Global, Stephen supports the increased utilization of open innovation processes at USAID to improve the agency’s ability and efficiency in designing better and more impactful programs around the world. Also at Resonance Global, he is helping corporate clients find new pathways to impact through sustainable business models that reach low income and underserved communities. Prior to this, he built and led the Health Markets and Behavior Change practice at Palladium, led the Asia and Middle East Portfolio for the SHOPS Project at Abt Associates among other positions. Stephen received a Master of Public Health Degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
Beth Outterson
AT-LARGE, Independent
In her previous role as Knowledge Management Senior Advisor at Medical Teams International, Beth Outterson guides the organization’s learning initiative and the development of a KM strategy. She builds staff competency in Community Based Primary Health Care through development of online resources, and training a cadre of field based Capacity Building champions. Previously, Beth worked as Adolescent Reproductive Health Advisor at Save the Children, and as Health and HIV/ AIDS Specialist at US Peace Corps. Beth has an MA and MPH from Tulane University. After many years on the East Coast, she is enjoying life in the Pacific Northwest!
Janine Schooley
AT-LARGE, PCI
Janine Schooley is Senior Vice President for Programs at PCI, ensuring quality and integrated programming for maximum impact, as well as overseeing all new business development, monitoring, evaluation and research. She obtained her MPH with an emphasis on Maternal and Child Health from San Diego State University in 1985. She spent the last 30 years in leadership positions with two San-Diego-based non-profit international health and development organizations: Wellstart International from 1985-2000 and PCI since October 2000. Janine is a specialist in NGO/PVO leadership, with emphasis on program design, evaluation and management, including capacity strengthening, gender and behavior change aspects of integrated, community-based health and development programming. Since 2007 she has been a faculty member at the Monterey Institute of International Studies where she teaches a course on behavior change. From 2002-2011 Ms. Schooley served as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the CORE Group and is currently a Co-Chair of CORE’s HIV/AIDS Working Group.
Alka Ahuja
AT-LARGE, Malaria Consortium UK
Alka has over 20 years senior management experience in banking, financial services and the not for profit sector. She is a qualified accountant and a Fellow of the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and has a Master’s degree in Business Administration. Alka is currently the Finance Director at Malaria Consortium UK with global responsibility for the finance, operations, internal audit and IT functions. Alka is a part of the Global Management Group (GMG), the Board of Trustees including the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, Company Secretary; Director of Malaria Enterprises Ltd; Director of Malaria Public Health Limited (Nigerian entity); and Officer on Malaria Consortium US Inc, a US 501(c) organisation. Alka is also a Non-Executive Director and member of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee at Reliance Bank Limited, UK since 2014. She has held various regulatory roles such as Compliance Officer, MLRO, Client Money Reporting Officer in financial services which have given her an insight into financial and regulatory compliance as well as financial crime related guidelines and directives. Before joining Malaria Consortium, Alka was the Finance Director at Transparency International (UK) where she was responsible for leading the engagement with institutional donors and working with members across the Transparency International federation to develop systems, processes and finance functions to deliver global contracts and grants.
Dr. Nabeel Akram
AT-LARGE, Synergies & Impact Squared USA
Dr. Nabeel Akram is a strategic-minded medical and business professional with a proven record of providing high-level programmatic and technical leadership at country, regional, and global levels. Dr. Akram has led several large, complex, and successful projects in MNCH/FP/RH and is a leader in developing synergies with the private sector. He has managed large, regional portfolio of nearly $80 million per year, with several diverse projects, mostly in LMICs, and has coached and mentored country directors, chiefs of party, and senior-level technical staff while liaising and collaborating with diverse stakeholders at country and regional levels. Dr. Akram is a medical doctor with advanced degrees in business and health policy and management. He has traveled extensively establishing professional relationships with a network of public health colleagues including ministry officials, administrators, clinicians, donors, private sector institutions, and other partners. After working with Johns Hopkins University for several years as Associate Faculty in the School of Public Health and Director for Asia at Jhpiego, he recently founded a firm to synergize partnerships and implement market-based development solutions for adolescents and youth. He has also been the Director of Global Operations for Health Finance Institute, a Washington DC based firm, working to close investments gaps for non-communicable diseases.
Ahmed Arale
AT-LARGE, CGPP-GHS
Ahmed Arale has more than twenty years of humanitarian and development experience working with communities in the Horn of Africa (HOA) on emergency relief programming, public health, and community empowerment. As a Nurse and Public Health Practitioner, he’s worked at various levels of clinical, public health sector management, emergency relief and response, and health system strengthening; at the local and regional levels. Currently, Ahmed is the Secretariat Director for CORE Group Polio & Global Health Security Project for HOA based in Nairobi where he provides technical leadership to all aspects of project planning and implementation as well as multi-sectoral coordination with respective government, donors, and NGO implementing partners, WHO and UNICEF , CDC and Rotary International among others. Before joining CGPP-GHS, Ahmed worked as the Program Director for emergency & relief programs Catholic Relief Services, Somalia. Prior to CRS, he worked as the Program Manager for BroadReach Healthcare LLC, leading a Private Sector Engagement in a PEPFAR project in Kenya. Additionally, he worked as a Service Delivery Specialist for Management Sciences for Health (USAID Extending Service Delivery Project). On public sector experience, he worked with the Ministry of Health, Kenya, for 13 years in various capacities. Ahmed holds a BSc Nursing degree from Dundee University, Scotland, and is currently completing his MPH from the University of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Caroline Quijada
AT-LARGE, Abt Associates
Caroline Quijada is a globally recognized leader in private sector approaches for health with 20 years of experience in RMNCH programming. She currently serves as the deputy project director at Abt Associates, for USAID’s flagship project for private sector health – Sustaining Health Outcomes through Private Sector Plus. Previously she has served as deputy project director for two predecessor global private sector projects. Caroline has a strong track record in supporting successful business development bids for Abt Associates and has supported numerous private sector partnerships with various corporates. Prior to Abt Associates, Caroline worked at University Research Corporation and the National Coalition for Hispanic Health, where she managed six regional youth policy centers on Hispanic adolescent health. Served as Deputy Project Director for $3 million national program on reducing sociocultural barriers to health care in Hispanic communities. Caroline has overseen 27 private sector health assessments that span the scope of private sector health activities across the world. The scope of her knowledge includes public-private partnerships (PPPs), health systems strengthening, social enterprise development, total market approach (TMA) initiatives, provider networks and franchises, quality improvement, and digital solutions. Caroline has an M.H.S., Population and Family Health Sciences from Johns Hopkins University and has published and presented extensively on private sector engagement.
CORE Group has worked since 1997 to advance the field of community health by: