Leadership Team

PMA is led by a team of men and women in ten countries dedicated to collecting high-quality family planning and sexual and reproductive health data.
Meet a few team members.
Philip Anglewicz, PhD                                                    PMA Principal Investigator and Director of the Research Program
Elizabeth Gummerson, PhD, MPA
Executive Director, Technical Unit
Dr. Philip Anglewicz is the Principal Investigator of the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) Project. In this capacity, he provides overall strategic direction to PMA as well as overseeing technical aspects of the project, including survey operations, data management and analysis. He works closely with PMA staff, faculty, and students to support our network of implementing partners and coordinates with funders and external partners to ensure progress against project goals and objectives. Dr. Anglewicz also leads the development and realization of the PMA Program of Research, which involves the generation and prioritization of research questions in close collaboration with in-country partners; offering guidance on the questionnaire and indicator development; and providing technical capacity development to partners in survey design, research, and analysis.

Dr. Elizabeth Gummerson provides technical and operational leadership for the PMA project. Prior to joining PMA, she worked on implementing household surveys in Africa for over a decade in partnership with US and African Universities. She received  her PhD in Demography and a Master’s in Public Affairs, both from Princeton University. Her research work focuses on economic inequality and the socioeconomic factors that determine access to healthcare.

Heather Harrison, MPH
Director, Project Management Unit
Aisha Siewe, PhD, MS MPH
Data Team Lead

Ms. Heather Harrison provides strategic direction for the project management arm of PMA including cost analysis, capacity development and business development. Prior to her work with PMA, Ms. Harrison worked with Jhpiego, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Catholic Relief Services and has lived and worked in Latin America and Africa.

Dr. Aisha Siewe provides oversight to the array of data collection, management and analysis activities for PMA and related projects. She oversees PMA technical capacity building efforts and assists in the planning, execution, and refinement of surveys. She received her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from Paris XI University. Some areas of her research expertise include mother-child nutrition, health disparities, and data modeling. Prior to joining PMA, Dr. Siewe was Senior Biostatistician within the Department of Epidemiology of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she provided data analysis consulting on various research topics, was responsible for development and management of database applications, and lead nutrition and census data management and analysis.

Linnea Zimmerman, PhD, MPH
Primary Investigator, PMA Ethiopia and Associate Director, Research
 

Dr. Linnea Zimmerman provides direction for PMA Ethiopia, overseeing both the survey implementation and intensive technical capacity building efforts. She also co-leads the research agenda and facilitates research and PMA2020 data utilization. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Zimmerman's research interests include contraceptive dynamics, measurement of pregnancy intention, and the intersection of reproductive health and humanitarian emergencies.

 

Georges Guiella, PhD
Principal Investigator
 

Dr. Georges Guiella is a professor and Deputy Director of the Higher Institute of Population Sciences (ISSP) at the Joseph Ki-Zerbo University in Ouagadougou. He is also the Director of the Francophone Hub for PMA. His research experiences include sexual and reproductive health, particularly that of adolescents and youth, including family planning and abortion. He also has an experience in evaluating Integrated Community Case Management of childhood diseases in the communities (iCCM). Dr. Guiella obtained his Master's degree in Demography from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and his Doctorate in Demography from the University of Montreal (Canada).

 

 

Rosine Mosso, PhD, DEA
Principal Investigator
Fassassi Raïmi, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator

Dr. Rosine Mosso is a statistician-demographer and lecturer at the National School of Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSEA) where she teaches statistical methods, demography and gender statistics. Her research focuses on reproductive health, gender inequalities and child mortality. Dr. Mosso is in charge of the monitoring and evaluation of the activities of the World Bank's African Centre of Excellence (ACE) program in statistics aimed at strengthening the availability of higher education in Africa. Dr. Mosso obtained her DEA in Demography from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) and her PhD in Demography from Paris Descartes University (France).

Dr. Fassassi Raïmi is a lecturer and researcher at the National School of Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSEA), Abidjan. He teaches courses in statistics and survey techniques. He has over 25 years of experience in designing and organizing surveys. He has organized and supervised data collection, management, and coordination efforts of numerous statistical, health, economic and social projects in Côte d'Ivoire and West Africa. Dr. Fassassi holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin in Yvelines, France. He is the Secretary General of the SNIGG (National Society of Ivory Coast Geriatrics and Gerontology) and head of the "Transition of Fertility and Development in Africa" research Network at GRIPPS (International Group of Partners in Population-Health). He is married and a father of two children.

 

Pierre Z. Akilimali, PhD, MD, MPH
Principal Investigator
 
Dr. Akilimali is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the Kinshasa School of Medicine and the Kinshasa School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa. He has extensive research experience in HIV and family planning program evaluation and has accrued over 10 years of research experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His current research focuses on behavioral determinants of HIV and Reproductive Health. He holds an MD, a master in Health Economics, a Masters of Advanced Study (DEA) in Biostatistics and Epidemiology and PhD from The Kinshasa School of Public Health. His work on PMA builds upon a longstanding collaboration of Kinshasa University with the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health.  

 

Solomon Shiferaw, MD, MPH
Principal Investigator
Assefa Seme, MD, MPH
Co-Principal Investigator

Dr. Solomon Shiferaw is an Associate Professor at the Addis Ababa University in the School of Public Health, Department of Reproductive Health and Health Service Management. His research background includes, adolescent reproductive health, and potential use of mobile phone based applications to improve maternity service utilization and inventory management of contraceptives at health facilities. His work on PMA builds upon a longstanding collaboration of Addis Ababa University with the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population & Reproductive Health. Dr. Solomon holds an MD from the University of Gondar and an MPH from Addis Ababa University.

Dr. Assefa Seme is an Associate Professor at the Addis Ababa University in the School of Public Health, Department of Reproductive Health and Health Service Management. His research background includes adolescent reproductive health, maternal health with a focus on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) and contraceptive use to improve maternal and child health. His work on PMA2020 builds upon a longstanding collaboration of Addis Ababa University with the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population & Reproductive Health; one that includes support for the multi-country “Family Health and Wealth” panel survey. Dr Assefa holds an MD and an MPH from the Addis Ababa University.

 

Anoop Khanna, PhD
Principal Investigator
 
Dr. Anoop Khanna, a public health expert and researcher, currently works as Professor at IIHMR University in Jaipur. Dr. Khanna has a PhD in Sociology. He is an expert in Health Management Information System (HMIS), monitoring & evaluation (M&E), large-scale surveys, database management and analysis. He has carried out more than 30 evaluations and research studies on various health programs and projects in the last two decades, authored many research papers in national and international journals and published two books. He has been involved in carrying out and coordinating projects funded by UNFPA, PLAN International, PATH International, Futures Group International, SIFPSA, European Commission, WHO, UNFPA, USAID, NIDI, Johns Hopkins University-USA, UNICEF and CDC, CRS India, the Government of India and other state governments like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. He has organized various training programs in the areas of reproductive health, family planning, HMIS, M&E, research methods and design and gender.  

 

Peter Gichangi, PhD
Principal Investigator
Mary Thiongo
Senior Technical Advisor & Data Manager
Dr. Peter Gichangi is the Country Director and Director of Science and Research at International Centre for Reproductive Health Kenya (ICRHK), which collaborates with the University of Nairobi on broad areas of HIV, gender based violence, family planning and reproductive health. His research background and professional experience include reproductive health, family planning, HIV/AIDS, gender based violence and TB/HIV and project implementation and management. Dr. Gichangi holds a masters degree and PhD in obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Gichangi is also the Principal Investigator for the Missed Opportunities in Maternal and Infant Health (MOMI) project in Kenya. Mary Thiongo leads the data management unit at the International Centre for Reproductive Health Kenya (ICRHK). She is the in-country data manager for PMA in Kenya. Mary’s professional background includes extensive experience in data management and database development. She was a data manager for several multi-country randomized controlled trials. She also has helped develop protocols and standard operating procedures for data management. Mary holds a BS in Computer Information Systems from Kenya Methodist University. She is also a member of The Association for Data management in the Tropics (ADMIT), an international data management group.

 

Souleymane Alzouma
Principal Investigator
Sani Oumarou
Co-Principal Investigator
Mr. Souleymane Alzouma is an engineer in statistics and economics. He received a DESS in applied statistical analysis for development in 2004 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée (ENSEA) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Currently, he is Director of Surveys and Censuses at the Institut National de la Statistique (INS-Niger). In these roles, he participates in the design, sample design, collection, processing, analysis, and dissemination of all the surveys carried out by INS over the past 12 years, including two general population censuses (2001 and 2012).

Mr. Sani Oumarou is an engineer in demographic statistics. He received a DESS in demography in 2002 from the Institut de Démographie de l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne in France. Currently, he is an Advisor to the Director General of the National Institute of Statistics of Niger (INS), a position he has held since February 2016. He has significant experience in household surveys, notably the Demographic and Health and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (DHS-MICS).

 

Musa Sani Zakirai, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Funmilola OlaOlorun, PhD, MPH, MBBS
Co-Principal Investigator

A Demographer trained in Nigeria, Dr. Musa Sani Zakirai has been involved in both quantitative and qualitative data collection activities in Nigeria since 1990 . An excellent trainer, Dr. Musa holds a doctorate and master’s degrees in Demography and Social Statistics from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography from Bayero University, Kano. Musa has participated in survey and development of training activities with the Gates Institute of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has combed every state in Nigeria on survey work with the National Population Commission or CRERD.

Dr. Funmilola OlaOlorun is a Nigerian-trained community health physician who is passionate about the health of women across the lifecourse. She is particularly interested in family planning, women’s reproductive health, women’s involvement in household decision making, intimate partner violence, and menopause, as well as how these events, situations, and phases affect women’s general wellbeing. She has a PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins University, and has been a co-Principal Investigator with the PMA/Nigeria team since 2014. Funmilola has also been involved in research collaborations with colleagues from several non-governmental organizations. She is currently affiliated with the Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

 

Fredrick Makumbi, MHS, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Simon Peter Sebina Kibira, MSc, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Fredrick Makumbi is an Associate Professor and Deputy Dean at Makerere University School of Public health. He trained as an epidemiologist, statistician and demographer, and received MHS and PhD degrees from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2000 and 2004, respectively.He has a special focus on Data Management and Statistical analysis with extensive community-based research experience in randomized trials and longitudinal studies related to HIV interventions, accrued over a two-decade affiliation with the Rakai Health Sciences program. He has also conducted research on the impact of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) on HIV prevention and survival, as well as the effect of ART on reproductive health behaviors; coordinated and managed large databases as well as handled critical statistical analyses on various research studies including as the primary trial statistician on randomized trials of male circumcision and acyclovir prophylaxis. He has utilized national level datasets from Health Management Information System (HMIS) and demographic and Health Survey data to identify fertility hotspots in Uganda in order to improve family planning services. Dr. Makumbi is a member of ethical review committees at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, the National AIDS Research Committee and the MakSPH Research and Ethics Committee, and a member of the Safety Monitoring Team of the Safe Male Circumcision Program in the Ministry of Health. He has also conducted international training in data management and statistical analysis through the International Atomic Energy Agency Seychelles, Ministry of health, Family Health & Nutrition Unit and the Botswana National Food Technology Research Center in Epidemiology & Biostatistics.

Dr. Kibira is a Lecturer at Makerere University School of Public Health. He holds a PhD from the University of Bergen, an MSc, and BA from Makerere University. He has over 15 years’ experience in research, and facilitating learning in both academic and non-academic settings.  His research interests are in sexual and reproductive health, social and behavioral determinants of disease and health, especially using qualitative methods. His recent works in family planning (FP) involved identification of fertility hotspots in Uganda to inform context specific FP programs for USAID’s APC project. He serves as Secretary to the Research and Ethics Committee at MakSPH.