Information Systems Framework (ISF) Team
Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Chief for Information Systems and Framework
Dr. Krishnamurthy comes from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he served as a Scientist and Senior Informatics Advisor. His appointments included the Global AIDS Program and the Coordinating Office for Global Health. During his tenure at CDC, Dr. Krishnamurthy has provided technical assistance in the coordination of information systems approaches across diverse global health areas and supported international partnerships with key global organizations. His specific area of focus was to assist governments in strengthening their public health information systems. In addition, Dr. Krishnamurthy had provided informatics assistance to numerous countries in establishing national health information systems, routine and outbreak surveillance systems for infectious disease, national public health emergencies and disasters, and mass gathering events. Recently, Dr. Krishnamurthy served as a member of the Health Management Information Systems to PEPFAR’s Health System Strengthening workgroup under U.S. Government’s Global Health Initiative.
Prior to his assignment at CDC in 2005, Dr. Krishnamurthy served as an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean at University of the Pacific in California, USA. He has taught a number of university classes in Wildlife Biology and Physical Anthropology. During 1989 and 1999, Dr. Krishnamurthy led the efforts to digitize the scientific archives of the two-time Nobel Laureate, Linus Carl Pauling. In addition, he also served as an independent radio producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting, a National Public Radio affiliate in the United States.
Dr. Krishnamurthy’s formal academic training includes a PhD in Physical Anthropology from University of Oregon, MPH in Health Service Management from University of California, Los Angeles, and MS and MA in Wildlife Biology and Anthropology from Oregon State University. His public health informatics credentials were acquired from the U.S. CDC and Georgia Institute of Technology.
Dr. Krishnamurthy has co-authored and edited books and articles in his academic areas and has received recognition and several citations for his work. Currently, Dr. Krishnamurthy serves on the editorial board of The Pan African Medical Journal.
Steven Uggowitzer, Senior Technology Officer
Before joining the HMN Secretariat, Mr. Uggowitzer developed innovative approaches to technologies in the area of public health and international development. His recent activities include research in the use of self-organizing systems to coordinate international response in disasters and the development of an Information Management strategy for the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). During eight years in the World Health Organization, he participated in numerous field activities including ICT management in post-Tsunami Indonesia, Information Management for SARS in South-East Asia, and he led the development of WHO's JW Lee Center for Strategic Health Operations. For many years, he was the WHO website's senior architect. Before the UN, Steven worked for the Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montreal and a range of technology and aerospace companies.
He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), IEEE, USENIX, is MCSE qualified and holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from McGill University specializing in Telecommunications.
Mark Amexo, Senior Technical Officer
Dr Mark Amexo is a Public Health Physician and a Health Information System expert with many years experience in national and sub-national health systems management and priority interventions planning and implementation.
He has worked in international health and has experience spanning across regions. He has private sector experience as a clinician, and as a medical consultant for a private sector business and financial management firm.
He combines expertise in health systems, quality management and health information use practice for improved programs performance to support counties in HIS Strategic Planning, HIS Policy and Tools Development for reforms in Country Health Information System.
His earlier professional work included clinical practice, hospital management and also a position as District Medical Officer.
Johan Ivar Sæbø, Technical Officer
Mr. Sæbø has joined HMN as a Junior Professional Officer from the Government of Norway. His interest is in strengthening and integrating health information systems, and building capacities to fully utilize health information at local levels. At HMN, Mr. Sæbø is working with developing tools and software to aid this, and assisting countries applying them.
Prior to HMN, he was involved as a researcher and PhD student in the Health Information System Programme, and worked with implementation and scaling of health information systems in Botswana, Cuba, Tajikistan, and Sierra Leone. Mr. Sæbø holds a Cand. Scient. in Information Systems from the University of Oslo and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University.
Simon Adebola, Technical Officer
Dr Simon Adebola works in providing countries with support as they pursue the HMN roadmap and also contributes to the development of tools to aid the country level implementation of the HMN framework.
Before joining HMN he worked on public health applications of ICTs and space science and technology for global health security. As part of his work on global health security, he has worked with the WHO on the International Health Regulations, Influenza A (H1N1), Climate Change and Health programmes. His expertise is in applying technologies across the healthcare value chain with a focus on adapting technologies to healthcare challenges and priorities in developing countries. He has also worked for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Operational Satellite Applications Program (UNOSAT) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on ICT applications in healthcare for developing countries. He has served on the executive committee of the Association for Health Informatics of Nigeria developing programmes for strengthening HIS capability in Nigeria.
With a strong public health background, he works to strengthen health systems by addressing the challenges to the sustainability of ICT initiatives in healthcare. An award winning writer and researcher he continues to use social media in outreach and advocacy activities for ICT in development.
Ticia Gerber, Policy Officer
Ticia Gerber currently serves as a Technical Officer within the Health Metrics Network at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland and is leading a project to facilitate the development of policy implementation knowledge and resources for health information systems. She focuses on achieving policy, incentive and infrastructure changes required to improve healthcare globally. Her work spans six continents and focuses in particular on lower and middle income countries. Ms. Gerber is an experienced advocate, policy expert, coalition-builder and innovative communicator. Her critical areas of expertise include global health institutions and policy, health system strengthening and reform, capacity-building and technology implementation in the developing world, public health and informatics, electronic health records, healthcare quality, incentivizing patient-centered healthcare and data privacy and security.
Ms. Gerber has worked for nearly two decades with legislators, regulators, international agencies and civil society to achieve public policy change and identify the funding and cooperation needed for better health worldwide. Ms. Gerber previously served as the Vice President for International Programs and Public Policy at the eHealth Initiative (eHI), as founder and director of the Leadership in Global Health Technology (LIGHT) program and as a Senior Advisor and Chair of the Global Health Technology Practice at Manatt Health Solutions. In that capacity, she was a key advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation on the organization’s eHealth and health system transformation initiatives in the areas of global policy, strategy and communications. Recently, Ms. Gerber composed a Global eHealth Call to Action and wrote the first large–scale publication on eHealth in the developing world. She holds an MHS/HP from Johns Hopkins University.