AIDSPAN WELCOMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Author:

Download PDF Aidspan, publisher of Global Fund Observer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kate Macintyre as Aidspan’s new Executive Director. Dr Macintyre will take up her new duties on 1 September 2012. The appointment of Dr Macintyre was made at the end of a three-month global search which produced over one hundred applicants. Dr Macintyre, a UK citizen who has a master’s degree in…

Article Type:

Article Number:

ABSTRACT Kate Macintyre has been appointed as Aidspan's new Executive Director. Dr Macintyre has significant experience in research, public health, journalism and NGO management. She will take up her new duties on 1 September 2012.

Aidspan, publisher of Global Fund Observer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kate Macintyre as Aidspan’s new Executive Director. Dr Macintyre will take up her new duties on 1 September 2012. The appointment of Dr Macintyre was made at the end of a three-month global search which produced over one hundred applicants.

Dr Macintyre, a UK citizen who has a master’s degree in public health (specialising in international health policy and management) and a PhD in health policy and social demography, is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in the United States. She is based in Nairobi, Kenya, where she moved in 2007 to focus her research on HIV, TB and malaria in East and Southern Africa. Dr Macintyre is relinquishing her tenured position at Tulane to take up the Aidspan job.

In her work, Dr Macintyre has spent significant time studying the impact of HIV, TB and malaria on health systems. She has also consulted for the Global Fund on monitoring and evaluation issues, and has solid knowledge and understanding of the Fund’s operations.

Dr Macintyre has considerable experience managing non-governmental organisations. She is a board member of Samburu Aid In Africa (SAIDIA), a health and development-focused NGO she co-founded in Kenya after she got her first degree from Cambridge University. SAIDIA provides curative and preventive health services, education bursaries and support for community-led development initiatives.

Early in her career, Dr Macintyre worked as a freelance journalist, writing for The Economist, the International Herald Tribune, the Africa Economic Digest and other news publications.

At Aidspan, Dr Macintyre will take over the reins of an organisation that has grown from one person ten years ago to 12 people today. She will replace Bernard Rivers, the founder of Aidspan, who has led the organisation for a decade. During this time, Aidspan has grown in influence and regard, developing substantive donor relationships, and relocating from New York to Nairobi.

Aidspan Board chairman Michael Hirschberg said that Dr Macintyre’s appointment constitutes a significant step in Aidspan’s evolution. “The Board chose Kate because of her perfect mix of experience working in Kenya and elsewhere on public health research, monitoring and evaluation, journalism and NGO administration,” Mr Hirschberg said. “We look forward with enthusiasm to Kate’s taking Aidspan into its second decade.”

“Aidspan has an impressive track record and I too am excited by the chance to work with this team over the coming years,” added Dr Macintyre. “I also greatly look forward to working with Bernard Rivers during the transition and afterwards as he continues to contribute to Aidspan’s commentaries and publications.”