STAFF BIOGRAPHIES

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Ann Blanc, Director

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Ann K. Blanc, PhD is the Director of the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) at EngenderHealth. Dr. Blanc previously spent more than three years at The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she was a program officer in the Population and Reproductive Health Program. Prior to the Foundation, she was a Senior Evaluation Analyst for Macro International, Inc., on the USAID-funded MEASURE/Evaluation Project. There, she collaborated with developing country colleagues to design and implement household- and facilities-based surveys and conducted methodological research and statistical analyses. Earlier, Dr. Blanc served for more than a decade overseeing the implementation of demographic research in developing countries under the Demographic and Health Surveys Program. She is widely published in the area of reproductive health, serves on the Board of the Population Association of America and the editorial board of Studies in Family Planning. Dr. Blanc received her doctorate degree in sociology and demography fromPrinceton University.

Sara Gullo, Program Manager

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Sara started her career providing research support at the Centers for Disease Control, Division of Nutrition. She then spent a year in Zambia conducting research as a Global Field Experience Fellow with the Zambia Emory HIV Research Project. She has spent the last four years with CARE working in their Humanitarian Unit where she served in various capacities including Program Officer and Programming and Knowledge Sharing Technical Coordinator, working for extended periods in Ethiopia. Sara received a Masters in Public and Global Health from Emory University and her Bachelors of Arts degree from University of Michigan.

Ana Langer, Advisor
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Ana Langer, M.D., is the President and CEO of EngenderHealth. She is a physician with board certification in pediatrics and neonatology, as well as a reproductive health specialist and public health researcher. Dr. Langer is a distinguished worldwide leader in the application of research findings to influence policy and clinical norms for the improvement of reproductive health care services and the overall quality of women’s and family health. For the past 20 years, Dr. Langer has been a leading advocate for advancing women’s health and quality reproductive health services in the Latin American and Caribbean region. For 11 years, she was the Population Council’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, and she also served as Acting Director of the Council’s global Reproductive Health Program. In Mexico, Dr. Langer was a special advisor to the Minister of Health and directed the Division of Research on Women and Children’s Health for the National Institute of Public Health. Dr. Langer has published extensively in more than 30 peer-reviewed scientific journals and has authored numerous books on reproductive and maternal health. She is an active member in several international associations and currently sits on the World Health Organization’s Advisory Committee on Health Research, and is the chair of the International Planned Parenthood Federation's International Medical Advisory Panel. Dr. Langer also serves on several editorial boards, including those of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, The Lancet, and the WHO Reproductive Health Library. Dr. Langer attained her medical degree from the National University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Originally from Argentina, she is fluent in Spanish, French, and English and is proficient in Portuguese.

Sue Lee, Program Assistant

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Sue graduated from New York University in 2006 with a BS in Communications. After several internships with media and communications companies, she served as Coordinator at MTV’s Staying Alive Foundation. Then in 2007, she seized an opportunity to move to Taiwan where she perfected her Mandarin Chinese and taught English as a second language to children ranging from kindergarten to high school.

Kate Mitchell, Knowledge Management Program Assistant

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Kate holds a MPH in International Health from Boston University. She focused her studies on Reproductive Health and produced a 25-minute multimedia piece on the public health paradox of high levels of institutionalized deliveries and high levels of maternal mortality in the Dominican Republic. Before enrolling in the MPH program at BU, Kate spent most of 2006 working for the Institute for Latin American Concern in Santiago, Dominican Republic. She has also worked on water and sanitation projects in Nicaragua and volunteered with HIV/AIDS orphans in South Africa. She also has her own blog, Maternal Mortality Daily, that tracks news, events, and opportunities in the field of maternal health--on a daily basis.

Raji Mohanam, Knowledge Management Specialist

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Raji started her career at the Population Council where she was a Program Coordinator for six years. Subsequently, she served as an Account Manager at both Embryon and Adis International. In 2006, she became the Business Development Director for MedTex/Amtex with responsibility for identifying potential donors and supporters for large-scale eLearning programs for physicians, medical/nursing students, and patients. Most recently, Raji was the Director of Academic Institution Grants at WebMD and Medscape where she established alliances with public and private institutions to create more effective, higher-quality educational interventions. Raji received a Master of Arts degree in International Development from University of Dayton in Ohio and her Bachelors of Arts degree from Baldwin Wallace College.

Emily Puckart, Senior Program Assistant

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Emily began working in international development as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Romania. Over a period of two years she worked on sexual and reproductive health programs with women and girls, and served as the President of the Gender and Development Committee of Romania. After the Peace Corps, she worked for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington D.C., where she focused on programs aimed at increasing women’s political participation around the world. Most recently she spent time in India conducting an assessment of an adolescent girls' health and nutrition program in Maharashtra, India. She holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia. 

Tim Thomas, Senior Advisor

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Tim began his career at The Population Council in New York where he was the Special Assistant to the President, charged with cultivating and maintaining institutional relationships with government overseas development assistance agencies, as well as foundations, NGOs, multilateral institutions and UN agencies. He also served as the primary point of contact with the U.S. Government, managing the Council’s multi-million dollar co-operative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development. In 2001, Tim joined the London-based communications agency InterScience as a senior consultant where he worked with a range of clients on their sexual and reproductive health programs. In 2005, Tim was appointed Executive Director of the Staying Alive Foundation at MTV Networks International based in New York. As a global grant-making and advocacy organization, the Foundation encouraged and enabled young people who are involved in HIV and AIDS awareness, education and prevention campaigns especially in developing countries. When MTV changed its philanthropic directions in late 2007, Tim returned to private consulting. He serves on the board of Artists Striving to End Poverty and is on the board of advisors of The Condom Project. He has traveled extensively in Africa, South Asia and Europe. He graduated with honors from the Interlochen Arts Academy; he holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from Iowa State University and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from New York University.