Advisory Board
Julie Makani, MD
Dr. Julie Makani is a lecturer at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), which is the main clinical, academic and research centre in Tanzania.
Her two related areas of specialty are malaria and Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), a blood disorder. SCD confers protection against the malaria infection. Hematology (the study of blood) and blood transfusion are her major areas of study. With support from the KEMRI-Wellcome program she received a Training fellowship from the Wellcome Trust to establish a systematic framework for comprehensive research and care, with one of the largest cohorts of SCD patients in Africa. Due to its molecular basis, SCD presents great opportunities for integrating clinical, epidemiological, patho-physiological and genetic research.
MUHAS is a collaborative site for the Malaria Genomic Epidemiology Network (MalariaGEN) Grand Challenges Program which attempts to combine human genome technologies with large-scale epidemiological studies. Dr. Makani is a member of Multi-lateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Secretariat Advisory Committee and of the Royal College of Physicians of United Kingdom, and holds an appointment as Clinical Research Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford.
Carol Atwood
Carol Atwood is CEO, Spartacus Media Enterprises and co-founder of Generous Returns, and is a successful entrepreneur who is actively involved in creating, investing in, and participating in socially focused ventures. She has received many awards, including “NYE Entrepreneur of the Year”, sponsored by NASDAQ, Kaufmann Foundation, and Ernst & Young. Carol is the found of Spartacus Media Services, a social mission media company which produces conferences and advisory support for mission-driven media makers and their supporters. She is the CEO of Spartacus Capital, a firm that assists with fund formation to help raise money and facilitate strategic partnerships. Two major focuses of the firm include assisting in the facilitation of socially responsible joint ventures and other business partnerships with Asian companies as well as with global renewable energy buyers and funders. Carol is also committed to many non-profit and socially minded organizations, serving as a member, board member, advisor, or committee head of many of these organizations.
Alisa Swidler
Alisa Swidler is one of the world’s leading activists and campaigners for funding and awareness across a host of aid and health related issues in the developing world.
In the past 5 years, Alisa has partnered with both The President William Jefferson Clinton Foundation to provide access to vaccines in Liberia and Timor Leste and with Sir Richard Branson’s foundation, Virgin Unite, advising their civil society work in Zimbabwe.
She is a Trustee of The Walkabout Foundation which distributes wheelchairs in developing countries and an Ambassador to Prince William’s Centrepoint, the UK charity for homeless youth. Her most recent appointments include Global Ambassador with Cate Blanchett for Solar Century’s SolarAid. She has also been named a Trustee of Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium Promise and of The Gates-funded Sabin Vaccine Institute and The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases in Washington DC. Alisa has 5 young children and lives outside of London.
Cynthia Ryan
Cynthia Ryan is Principal of The Schooner Foundation, a progressive family foundation that focuses internationally on human rights, peace & security and economic opportunity. Domestically, the foundation supports progressive media, campaign finance reform, the green economy, investigative reporting, and judicial reform. They seek to honor human dignity, think big, and act where trustees see the greatest need and opportunities for leverage locally, nationally and globally. Ms. Ryan is a current or former trustee of the Fund for Global Human Rights, the Nation Institute, the Ploughshares Fund, Green for All, Women for Women International, National Braille Press, and the National Association of Health Education Centers. She is an advisory board member of the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic and The Foundry 47 Foundation. She is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, Global Philanthropy Forum, Peace & Security Funders Group, the International Human Rights Funders Group, and Grantmakers Without Borders. She has served on the Women’s Leadership Board and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, both at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She was the Outreach Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. She is currently a partner in the Democracy Alliance. Cynthia received her Bachelor of Arts from the New School for Social Research in New York and a Masters of Arts from the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London in England. She is a contributing author in the book, Women, Philanthropy and Social Change: Visions for a Just Society. Cynthia currently resides in Washington, D.C.