Leadership
Joanna Rubinstein
Director, Center for Global Health and Economic Development
Chief of Staff to Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Earth Institute at Columbia University
jrubinstein@ei.columbia.edu
As Jeffrey D. Sachs’ Chief of Staff, Joanna Rubinstein coordinates the activities of the Earth Institute Director’s Office and supports the Director in establishing new strategic partnership initiatives and international projects. Dr. Rubinstein is also the director of the Center for Global Health and Economic Development at the Earth Institute (CGHED). Dr. Rubinstein is trained as a DDS and a scientist with a PhD in cell and molecular biology. She uses her 15 years of experience as a practicing scientist and senior administrator in Europe to coordinate complex projects across the Earth Institute. On the international front, she was responsible for the science and health initiatives of the UN Millennium Project and helped to develop collaborations with foreign academic institutions, research-funding organizations and the private sector. Dr. Rubinstein leads several strategic initiatives within the University and with external partners, including the Malaria Quick Impact Initiative, scaling up of Neglected Tropical Disease Control, Digital Health, Early Childhood Development, the Drylands Initiative, and national advisory programs to scale up health systems to attain the Millennium Development Goals.Before coming to the Earth Institute in 2005, Dr. Rubinstein was the Senior Associate Dean for Institutional and Global Initiatives at the Columbia University Medical Center. Prior to that, Dr. Rubinstein was at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, where she was director for research and postgraduate education from 1999 to 2002. She also served as Sweden's representative to a European Commission committee and was a director at Sweden's Medical Research Council (1997–99).
Joanna Rubinstein
Director, Center for Global Health and Economic Development
Chief of Staff to Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Earth Institute at Columbia University
jrubinstein@ei.columbia.edu
As Jeffrey D. Sachs’ Chief of Staff, Joanna Rubinstein coordinates the activities of the Earth Institute Director’s Office and supports the Director in establishing new strategic partnership initiatives and international projects. Dr. Rubinstein is also the director of the Center for Global Health and Economic Development at the Earth Institute (CGHED). Dr. Rubinstein is trained as a DDS and a scientist with a PhD in cell and molecular biology. She uses her 15 years of experience as a practicing scientist and senior administrator in Europe to coordinate complex projects across the Earth Institute. On the international front, she was responsible for the science and health initiatives of the UN Millennium Project and helped to develop collaborations with foreign academic institutions, research-funding organizations and the private sector. Dr. Rubinstein leads several strategic initiatives within the University and with external partners, including the Malaria Quick Impact Initiative, scaling up of Neglected Tropical Disease Control, Digital Health, Early Childhood Development, the Drylands Initiative, and national advisory programs to scale up health systems to attain the Millennium Development Goals.Before coming to the Earth Institute in 2005, Dr. Rubinstein was the Senior Associate Dean for Institutional and Global Initiatives at the Columbia University Medical Center. Prior to that, Dr. Rubinstein was at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, where she was director for research and postgraduate education from 1999 to 2002. She also served as Sweden's representative to a European Commission committee and was a director at Sweden's Medical Research Council (1997–99).
Josh Ruxin
Director, Access Project
Director, Millennium Villages Project Rwanda
jnr4@columbia.edu
Josh Ruxin is the founder and director of the Access Project in Rwanda, an initiative of CGHED at Columbia University. He is a frequent contributor to such national publications as The New York Times and The Huffington Post, and has been featured in The Washington Post, Forbes, Time, Seed magazine, CNN and CNN International's Inside Africa, among many others. Josh is currently based in Kigali, Rwanda, where he lives with his wife and daughter. Previously, Josh was co-founder and vice president of ontheFRONTIER, a strategy consulting firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. During his five years there and at Monitor Group, he led projects in a dozen developing countries and was an advisor to government and private sector leaders on business strategy and economic development. Josh received a B.A. in the history of science and medicine from Yale University, where he was a Truman Scholar. After Yale, Josh was a Fulbright Scholar in Bolivia. He holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of London, where he was a Marshall Scholar. In addition to serving on the board of Orphans of Rwanda, Inc., Josh also serves on the Board of Directors of FilmAid International. He is a member of the Global HIV Prevention Working Group and serves on the faculty of the Clergy Leadership Project.
Awash Teklehaimanot
Director, Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia
Director, Malaria and NTD Program, The Earth Institute
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health
at2076@columbia.edu
Teklehaimanot, a native of Ethiopia, is based in Addis Ababa as the director of CNHDE. He's a professor of clinical epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and director of the Malaria Program at Columbia University. Teklehaimanot received his first degree from Addis Ababa University and subsequent graduate and postgraduate degrees from a number of American universities, which include a master’s in environmental health, a Ph.D. in medical entomology and parasitology, and a master’s in public health from Harvard University; he also did postdoctoral work at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. Teklehaimanot has extensive international experience in public health with particular focus on Africa. He has worked for the World Health Organization in senior positions in Geneva for the last 14 years. He was also extensively involved during the last three years in the UN Millennium project serving as one of the coordinators for Task Force Five, which dealt with HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and access to medicines.
Sonia Ehrlich Sachs
Director of Health, Millennium Villages Project
ssachs@ei.columbia.edu
Sonia Ehrlich Sachs is a pediatrician and public health specialist. She received a BA from Harvard University, an MD from the University of Maryland Medical School, and an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. A pediatrician with a specialty in pediatric endocrinology, Dr.Ehrlich Sachs practiced medicine for over 20 years, 14 of which she spent at the Harvard University Health Services. In 2004 she joined the Earth Institute and became the health coordinator for the Millennium Villages Project overseeing all health related interventions and research. The Millennium Villages Project is proof of concept that extremely poor rural communities can reach the Millennium Development Goals given a science-based, community led approach of integrated interventions that increase food production and increase access to health care, education, water and infrastructure. The goal is to show that such an integrated development approach is both scalable and sustainable.
Unni Karaunakara
Deputy Health Coordinator, Millenium Villages Project
ukarunakara@ei.columbia.edu
Karunakara is the deputy director of health for the Millennium Villages project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and is an assistant professor in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. Between 1995 and 2007, Karunakara worked for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international humanitarian organization. He was, until recently, the medical director for MSF’s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, where he worked to improve access to treatment and diagnosis in resource-poor settings and advocated for more research and development in neglected tropical diseases. Prior to this he was based in MSF’s Amsterdam office where he worked in the medical department for several years. There, he advised numerous programs in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America; was a member of MSF’s international working group on neglected diseases; and managed MSF responses to outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fevers. Karunakara has a great deal of experience working in international health, having lived and worked in over 15 countries. He has a masters degree in international health from Yale and a doctorate in population dynamics from Johns Hopkins, with a focus on forced migration, he was a visiting fellow at the Refugee Studies Center of the University of Oxford, and he completed his medical degree at Kasturba Medical College, India.
Awash Teklehaimanot
Director, Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia
Director, Malaria and NTD Program, The Earth Institute
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health
at2076@columbia.edu
Teklehaimanot, a native of Ethiopia, is based in Addis Ababa as the director of CNHDE. He's a professor of clinical epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and director of the Malaria Program at Columbia University. Teklehaimanot received his first degree from Addis Ababa University and subsequent graduate and postgraduate degrees from a number of American universities, which include a master’s in environmental health, a Ph.D. in medical entomology and parasitology, and a master’s in public health from Harvard University; he also did postdoctoral work at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. Teklehaimanot has extensive international experience in public health with particular focus on Africa. He has worked for the World Health Organization in senior positions in Geneva for the last 14 years. He was also extensively involved during the last three years in the UN Millennium project serving as one of the coordinators for Task Force Five, which dealt with HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and access to medicines.
Sonia Ehrlich Sachs
Director of Health, Millennium Villages Project
ssachs@ei.columbia.edu
Sonia Ehrlich Sachs is a pediatrician and public health specialist. She received a BA from Harvard University, an MD from the University of Maryland Medical School, and an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. A pediatrician with a specialty in pediatric endocrinology, Dr.Ehrlich Sachs practiced medicine for over 20 years, 14 of which she spent at the Harvard University Health Services. In 2004 she joined the Earth Institute and became the health coordinator for the Millennium Villages Project overseeing all health related interventions and research. The Millennium Villages Project is proof of concept that extremely poor rural communities can reach the Millennium Development Goals given a science-based, community led approach of integrated interventions that increase food production and increase access to health care, education, water and infrastructure. The goal is to show that such an integrated development approach is both scalable and sustainable.
Unni Karaunakara
Deputy Health Coordinator, Millenium Villages Project
ukarunakara@ei.columbia.edu
Karunakara is the deputy director of health for the Millennium Villages project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and is an assistant professor in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. Between 1995 and 2007, Karunakara worked for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international humanitarian organization. He was, until recently, the medical director for MSF’s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, where he worked to improve access to treatment and diagnosis in resource-poor settings and advocated for more research and development in neglected tropical diseases. Prior to this he was based in MSF’s Amsterdam office where he worked in the medical department for several years. There, he advised numerous programs in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America; was a member of MSF’s international working group on neglected diseases; and managed MSF responses to outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fevers. Karunakara has a great deal of experience working in international health, having lived and worked in over 15 countries. He has a masters degree in international health from Yale and a doctorate in population dynamics from Johns Hopkins, with a focus on forced migration, he was a visiting fellow at the Refugee Studies Center of the University of Oxford, and he completed his medical degree at Kasturba Medical College, India.