Board of Directors

President: Anne Peterson, MD, MPH

Anne Peterson, MD, MPH began her career in global health as a missionary in Kenya and Zimbabwe. She consulted on Neglected Tropical Diseases for CDC and WHO before moving into policy and political positions, first as the Health Commissioner for the State of Virginia and then as Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Global Health at USAID from 2001 to 2005. In that position, she oversaw all of USAID’s global health programs in maternal and child health, AIDS, family planning, NTDs, health systems and the launch of the Bush administration’s PEPFAR program. She served as Americares Senior Vice President for Global Programs until June of 2020.

Vice President:  Dick Day, MSc

Dick Day, MSc is Senior Vice President of Programs and Volunteers at CMMB. Dick has more than 35 years of experience in international development, including extensive field-based work, much of it focused on community-level development. He has a passion for assisting and empowering the poor and most vulnerable, particularly women and children. Most recently, as Peace Corps’ director for Africa, Dick provided strategic direction, leadership, and overall management of operations in 25 countries, responsible for more than 3,000 volunteers. Prior to his service at the Peace Corps, Dick was managing director at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, where he led the design of large-scale infrastructure programs.

 Secretary: Dennis Cherian, MHA, MS, BHMS

Dennis Cherian, MHA, MS, BHMS is a physician with a keen interest and specialization in alternative systems of medicine; he also has graduate degrees in public health administration and psychological counseling. Dennis is currently the Associate Vice President/Senior Technical Director for Health and Nutrition at Corus International. Prior to that position, Dennis was the Senior Director of New Program Development for Jhpiego. Prior to that role, he was the Senior Director of Health for World Vision, Inc. and served in senior advisor roles with the New York State Department of Health, Division of Tuberculosis, Medical Care Development International and Plan International. He has extensive experience designing and implementing a range of innovative public health interventions to include child survival, tuberculosis/HIV, neglected tropical disease, health systems strengthening, community health, and digital technologies for health in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. He has contributed to many publications and spoken at high level technical and policy forums. He also serves on the board of CORE Group. Previously, he served as an Advisory Member of Social Behavior Change for Faith-Based Organizations, the Country Task Force for mPowering Frontline Health Worker and the Global Digital Health Network.

Treasurer: Rick Santos, MBA, MTS

Rick Santos, MBA, MTS is President and CEO of the Africa Christian Health Network, Board Chair of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, and a Fellow at InterAction focusing on Faith and Development and localization. From 2009 to 2018 Rick was the President and CEO of IMA World Health, and in his nine years there led the organization through a period of rapid growth that included increasing program impact and building healthy communities in some of the most difficult places in the world. Rick led the IMA merger with Lutheran World Relief and stayed on as Senior Advisor through 2019.

Bob Blees has been in Medical Ministry Support for the last 12 years. He joined SIM USA in 1980 as a Services Division mechanic and Services Division Director in Liberia. He later went on to serve as ELWA ministries manager overseeing its five divisions which included Services, Hospital, ELWA Academy, West Africa Christian High School, ELWA Broadcasting, Print Shop and Dental Clinic. For nearly 30 years, Bob has contributed to the management of SIM worldwide operations.

Barbara Campbell, RPh, CCN is Executive Director of the Dalton Foundation, where she is developing and implementing strategic programs and partner relationships to support health system strengthening in contexts in which they work. Barbara is currently Co-Chair of CCIH’s Health Systems Strengthening Working Group, helping oversee CCIH’s 30×30 and member mapping initiatives. Barbara served in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, and subsequently worked in Haiti for over 5 and a half years as Director of Medical Operations with Mission of Hope.

Dave Evans, MS is President of LifeNet International, which works in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Malawi. Previously Dave worked as Senior Director for Innovation in World Vision International and Chief of Party in World Vision Zimbabwe. Dave also served for 22 years in Food for the Hungry, where he rose to the position of U.S. President and Global Executive Officer based in FH’s Washington, D.C. office. Dave’s experience includes relief and development leadership in the United States, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Amy Hewitt, Grants Manager for CURE International, believes grants are more than just money…grants bring people together to work on solutions. She works closely with program staff in conceptualizing, planning and submitting proposals. Amy focuses on long-term relationships, common interests with foundations and communicating the effectiveness of programs. In previous roles, Amy connected with mission-minded organizations working in global health development to assess and deliver appropriate and sustainable medical equipment to rural clinics and hospitals. Amy’s interests – when she is not advocating for global health – include writing, crazy quilting and spending time with her husband and family.

Zana Kiragu, MPH, MPharm is a Kenyan pharmacist and public health professional working in the access to medicines space. She is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of Global Health at Boston University School of Public Health. She volunteered with CCIH in support of the 2019 annual conference while she was pursuing a Masters of Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to this, she received her Bachelors and Master of Pharmacy at the University of Manchester in 2015, and practiced in industrial, clinical and retail settings in both the UK and Kenya.

Katelyn Long, DrPH is the John and Daria Barry postdoctoral fellow at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her current work focuses on determinants of well-being, group dynamics of religion on human flourishing, and the development of tradition-specific spiritual well-being measures. She completed her doctoral studies at Boston University School of Public Health where her dissertation focused on the role of faith-based and charitable health providers in health systems. She earned an MSc in Public Health from the University of Utah and bachelors in religion from Vanguard University.

Mwai Makoka, MBBS is Programme Executive for Health and Healing at the World Council of Churches in Geneva. Dr. Makoka also serves on the boards of the Africa Christian Health Associations’ Platform and the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network. He qualified as a doctor of medicine in Malawi in 2002, and received further training in public health microbiology and infectious diseases in the U.S. Besides clinical practice, Dr. Makoka previously worked in the national HIV programme and in academia and was previously Executive Director of the Christian Health Association of Malawi.

Jim Oehrig, MA, Vice President of Integral Mission at American Leprosy Missions. Jim develops partnerships and collaborations with Christian organizations and churches in communities where American Leprosy Missions works. He ensures that the organization continues to implement programs in a way that honors God and protects and restores people’s dignity. Jim graduated from Houghton College with a B.A. and received a M.A. in Latin American studies/international development from the University of Connecticut. He also did post-graduate work at the Centre for Development Studies at Swansea University, Wales in the United Kingdom. Before joining American Leprosy Missions, Jim and his wife were World Relief staff members in Honduras and Guatemala; from 1993 to 2005 they served with MAP International from the Latin America Regional Office in Quito, Ecuador.

Rebecca Waugh MDiv, MIA serves as Senior Programs Advisor for Faith Engagement at IMA World Health, part of the Corus International family. She has more than 25 years of program development and management experience in multi-cultural NGO/not-for- profit environments, including 15 years in the international development and human rights arena. Rebecca served as a Country Director for IMA’s work in South Sudan before her current position. She has a Master of Divinity in Theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1977) and a Master’s Degree from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (2000).

Doug Fountain, Ex Officio. Doug Fountain serves as CCIH Executive Director. Previously, he ​​​​​served as Vice President for Strategy and Impact for Medical Teams International. Before coming to Medical Teams International, Doug served on the executive staff at Uganda Christian University, where he began in 2004 as the head of the Department of Health Sciences and later served as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Development and External Relations as the university grew to five campuses. He helped establish the Christian Journal for Global Health to promote evidence-based practice. He is an advisor on evaluation and strategy for the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations, a consortium of corporations and NGOs working on disaster response and health system strengthening. He also brings a diverse background in teaching health and wholeness, conducting applied research in behavioral health, and promoting community reforestation in Tanzania. Doug has been a member of CCIH since 2006 and served on the board for four years. He holds an MPA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Oregon.