Meet Allison Howard-Berry, GHC's new CEO. Global Health Corps is entering a new chapter and Global Health Corps is excited to share who will help lead it. Allison Howard-Berry brings more than twenty years of experience building health systems, standing up organizations, and closing the gap between the people doing the hardest work in global health and the resources they need to sustain it. She has co-founded a community health organization in Haiti, strengthened health systems across sub-Saharan Africa, and held leadership roles at the Clinton Health Access Initiative and Planned Parenthood. But what drew her to GHC comes down to a conviction she's carried since the start of her career: that durable health systems depend on a new generation of leaders, and those leaders deserve real investment. "Leadership is not something you arrive with," Allison says. "It's developed over time, through experience, mentorship, and sustained investment. Investing in emerging public health professionals is the highest-leverage investment we can make in the future of global health." Where it started Allison's path into global health began in rural South Africa. As a Peace Corps Volunteer from 2003 to 2005, she lived and worked alongside families navigating a country still less than a decade past the end of apartheid - dealing with segregated healthcare and education systems, rapid economic shifts, and the daily weight of what it meant to lack access to care. "It was painfully apparent how the lack of healthcare access impacted everything about a family's future trajectory," Allison recalls. "Understanding the barriers that kept people from care, and considering the roles of government and civil society motivated me to pursue a career in global health." From South Africa, Allison went to Ethiopia, where she joined the Clinton Health Access Initiative and worked alongside public hospital CEOs managing facilities that served hundreds of thousands of patients a year. The resources were insufficient. Core systems were missing. And yet, the hospitals functioned, largely because of the dedicated people leading them. "The departments continued to function because they took their cues about resilience, problem-solving, team-building, creativity, and accountability from the CEO. The trickle-down positive impact of good leadership was so clear." That experience shaped how Allison thinks about what it takes to build health systems that last. Not just funding or infrastructure, but the leaders inside them, including those who are emerging and will stay in the work across their careers. A career of building Allison went on to co-found Care 2 Communities (C2C) in Haiti with Elizabeth Sheehan, a physician assistant and global health policy expert. Together they built a community health social enterprise from scratch. As C2C's Chief Executive for a decade, Allison led strategic growth and developed a model designed to generate both social value and financial sustainability, which is now serving over 100,000 patients annually. Allison spent four years leading fundraising strategy at Planned Parenthood of North Central States, ensuring communities in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota had access to reproductive healthcare. She then joined Touch Health as Chief Advancement Officer, where she worked to strengthen health systems across sub-Saharan Africa through partnerships and programs focused on expanding access to care. She also serves on the boards of Care 2 Communities and the KLM Foundation, a charitable organization advancing youth leadership and education in rural South Africa. Allison holds a Master's degree in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University and a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire. Why GHC and why now Throughout her career, Allison has worked at the intersection of the people delivering care and the systems meant to support them. She's seen what happens when those two worlds are too far apart. "Philanthropy is an incredible force for transformation, but it's slow, and lagging behind the insight and expertise of the people leading interventions," she says. "I've learned that the closer doers and donors can be, the more we can create. And that requires deep and different conversations." For Allison, GHC represents her belief that if emerging leaders "have the tools, positioning, perspectives, and power to build better, we'll achieve a healthier and more equitable world." She arrives at a moment of both challenge and possibility for the global health sector. The growing movement toward localization and ownership of health systems by governments and local leaders around the world gives Allison hope. She sees an opportunity to build systems with a kind of agency and sovereignty that didn't exist before, but only if Global Health Corps focus locally and invest in the next generation of health sector leaders. And when the work gets hard, Allison finds her way back to the reason any of it matters. "It's easy to get lost in the cloud of language about the systems and structures that operationalize public health," she says. "But reconnecting with the deeply personal experiences of families motivates and fuels me."

From soro caseiro to the boardroom: meet GHC's newest board member, Adriana Lacerda. "I have seen effective leadership come from many places and at many levels, often independent of title, tenure, or position." Growing up in Brazil, Adriana Lacerda witnessed something that would stay with her for the rest of her life. Children and families around her were losing their lives to preventable illnesses - malnutrition, dehydration, dysentery - conditions that could have been addressed with the most basic interventions. What she remembers most vividly isn't only the suffering, it's the response. Community leaders without formal health training mobilized families around a simple, accessible solution: soro caseiro - a homemade oral rehydration solution made from water, salt, and sugar. Collective action, rooted in local leadership and shared ancestral knowledge, saved countless lives. "That experience shaped my understanding of global health equity," Adriana reflects. "It showed me that meaningful progress does not rely solely on advanced technology or formal systems, but on trusted local leadership, shared knowledge, and the ability to mobilize people around practical solutions." That conviction has guided a career spanning global health, education, and environmental conservation. Today, Adriana serves as Vice President of Operations at Ocean Conservancy and as one of Global Health Corps' newest board members. Her path to this work began with the belief that health is a fundamental human right, not a privilege. "The gap between what should be true and what people actually experience has consistently shaped my commitment to equity and social justice," she says. Across sectors and geographies, she has seen how sustained investments in systems, infrastructure, and people can improve daily life and long-term outcomes for communities. Over the course of her career, Adriana's understanding of leadership has shifted. Early on, she associated it with formal authority and experience. Over the years, the people she worked alongside changed that. "I have seen effective leadership come from many places and at many levels, often independent of title, tenure, or position," she says. "What distinguishes strong leaders is a clear sense of purpose, accountability for outcomes, and a commitment to supporting others in pursuit of shared goals." At its best, she believes, leadership opens paths, creates clarity, and enables people to do their best, especially while navigating complex or uncertain conditions. Though she is still early in her involvement with GHC, what has already stood out to Adriana is the depth of commitment and seriousness of purpose she sees in the organization's leadership. "The way GHC leaders engage thoughtfully across sectors, geographies, and lived experience reflects the kind of collaborative, movement-oriented approach that is essential to advancing global health equity," she says. She sees her board membership as the beginning of a relationship grounded in listening, contribution, and stewardship. Her advice to rising health leaders? "Believe in yourself, and in the capacity for kindness and integrity in others. Lead by example, especially when it is difficult, and be the person who consistently does the right thing." Now, Adriana Lacerda will bring that advice to life at GHC. And with it, a lifetime of evidence that the right leaders, given the right support, can change the course of entire communities.