About GHIC

Labeeb M. Abboud

Chairman and CEO

Labeeb Abboud has served in various leadership roles in global health product development and innovative financing, including the establishment of GHIC and the launch of its inaugural Global Health Investment Fund (GHIF). As Chairman since 2014, he has led GHIC’s engagement with government, philanthropic and private sector stakeholders and investors, oversight of GHIF’s investment management and operations, and third-party fund investments. In 2021, Labeeb joined GHIC as CEO as the organization expanded its mission to include global health security and launch its BARDA partnership and has led the evolution of organizational strategy and growth across key partnerships, investment management, and operational capabilities. Labeeb is a member of GHIC’s investment committee and serves as a board director or board observer for two of GHIC’s portfolio companies, Micron Biomedical and Univercells. Previously, he spent seventeen years in senior leadership roles at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), where he was responsible for structuring a wide range of vaccine and antibody research, development, and licensing agreements in the fields of HIV, tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other emerging infectious diseases, with the goal of ensuring that products developed were made accessible and affordable globally. Prior to IAVI, his work experience spanned almost two decades in international law and financial services, including the structuring and launch of investment funds. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Olayinka Fagbayi

Vice President

Olayinka Fagbayi works closely with the CEO and broader organization to help shape and implement the organizational strategy, and ensure GHIC’s programmatic activities are innovative, mission aligned, and effectively executed and operationalized. Olayinka leads impact activities for the firm and supports the management of key partnerships, including BARDA. Olayinka joined GHIC from IAVI, where she was Senior R&D Program Director, serving as a key partner to senior leadership in the execution of the organization's scientific strategy. Additionally, Olayinka directed and managed global vaccine and antibody research and development programs and consortia, fostering growth, driving change, and developing partnerships with governments, industry, academia, and civil society. Olayinka graduated with a B.S. in Biology and minor in Chemistry from Stanford University.

Charlie Petty

Managing Director

Charlie Petty helps lead the investment team and is a member of GHIC’s investment committee. Charlie serves as a board director or observer for GHIC’s investments in Endpoint Health, Vaxess Technologies, Centivax and Monod Bio. Previously, he was a co-founder and Principal of Adjuvant Capital, an investment fund focused on infectious diseases, where he was involved in the firm’s investments in Codagenix, Vitrivax, Minervax, Curevo, Excision Biotherapeutics, and ChromaCode and serves as a board director or observer on VitriVax, and Curevo. Previously, Charlie was an Associate with GHIC’s Global Health Investment Fund, where he was involved in the firm’s investments in Eubiologics, IanTech, Alydia Health, and Medicines Development for Global Health. Charlie began his technology investing career as an Associate at Artemis Capital Partners, a technology growth and buyout private equity firm, after spending several years in Port au Prince, Haiti, where he worked with the country’s largest microfinance bank. Charlie serves as a board director or observer for Endpoint Health, Vaxess Technologies, Centivax, Monod Bio, VitriVax, and Curevo. Charlie is a graduate of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and is a Class 25 Kauffman Fellow.

Damien Soghoian

Venture Partner

Damien Soghoian serves as a Venture Partner, Health Security Advisor, and is a member of GHIC's investment committee. At GHIC, Damien has focused on early-stage life science investments, including GHIC’s investments with Bugseq, Centivax, Jumpcode, and The Public Health Company. Damien is also the CEO of an early-stage biotech company in the immunology space. Previously, Damien served as Director at Foresite Capital Management and Head of Strategy and Operations at Foresite Labs and an employee at Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences). At GHIC, he focused on early-stage life science investments. At Foresite, he was a member of the Life Sciences Investment Team, and helped found and run the firm’s incubator, Foresite Labs. At Verily, Damien was scientific lead for Project Baseline, a research study and next-generation clinical trial platform, as well as technical lead for Verily’s Immune Profiler, a population-scale immune analysis technology. Damien completed his undergraduate work at Caltech and has a PhD in Virology from Harvard University. He is also a former Ending Bioweapons fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks and a founding member of the Alliance to End Biological Risks.

Michael Chang

Venture Partner

Michael Chang helps with investment pipeline sourcing and evaluation, and has led GHIC’s research team strategy and activities. Michael is cofounder and CEO of Tether Therapeutics, an early-stage drug development company. He was previously on the investment team at Adjuvant Capital and a member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Strategic Investment Fund and Global Health Division on research and development investments. Prior to the Gates Foundation, Michael spent several years covering the specialty pharmaceuticals sector as an equity research analyst at Piper Jaffray in New York. Michael has experience investing in the development of drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and health data solutions across a wide range of high-burden and neglected disease areas. Michael graduated with a B.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and is an MPH candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Melinda Hamer

Operating Partner

Melinda Morton Hamer MD, MPH will serve as Operating Partner at GHIC*, leveraging expertise in medical, clinical, biodefense, and US government biomedical research domains to help drive value for the organization and investment strategy via operational and strategic support to portfolio companies and strategic engagement with government and private sector partners. She previously served as Deputy Director at Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, and at the Department of Health and Human Services, BARDA. She also served as Director of the Clinical Trials Center at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and was principal and associate investigator for more than 20 FDA regulated and other clinical trials, including multiple first-in-human vaccine trials and the largest in history controlled human malaria challenge trial. Dr. Hamer is a U.S. Army flight surgeon and board-certified emergency physician, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Military and Emergency Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. She received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, completed residency in emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and holds an MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

*Melinda Hamer previously served as a Health Security Fellow at GHIC (November 2023-March 2024) and will transition to Operating Partner in September 2024.

Joseph Lee

Principal

Joseph Lee is a member of GHIC’s investment team and helps facilitate the investment pipeline, deal execution, and thesis generation. Joseph led GHIC’s investment in Cytovale, serves as a board observer for GHIC’s investment in Jumpcode, and manages GHIC’s investment in BugSeq. He previously worked for Sender Company and Partners investing in pharmaceutical and biotechnology public equities, and at Great Point Partners on their private equity team. He has a background in medicine, surgery, and global health, and has provided care to medically underserved communities in India and Guatemala. Joseph received his MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and was a general surgery resident at the University of Colorado. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sifan Zheng

Associate

Sifan Zheng is a member of GHIC’s investment team and helps facilitate the investment pipeline, diligence processes, and deal transactions. Most recently, he worked as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he focused on strategy development for global health organizations and conducting commercial due diligence in the biopharma sector. Previously, Sifan had founded a start-up building machine learning algorithms in the dermatology space. Sifan received his MD from King's College London and also holds a BSc in Management from Imperial College Business School.

Justine Potemkin

Associate

Justine Potemkin is a member of GHIC’s investment team and helps facilitate investment and research activities. Justine previously worked as a venture capital investor at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) where she focused on investments across biotechnology and digital health verticals. Before NEA, she was at Goldman Sachs on the Healthcare Investment Banking team where she worked on equity financings and M&A transactions. She began her career conducting clinical research in rare dermatology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and HIV and HCV at Mount Sinai. Justine graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and is pursuing her M.D. at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Katharine Rubin

Associate

Katharine Rubin is a member of GHIC’s investment team and helps facilitate investment and research activities. Prior to joining GHIC in July 2021, Katharine worked for a healthcare technology startup on the business development team. Previously, she worked in academic research for Stanford Department of Medicine's Prevention Research Center supporting U.S. and global public health studies focused on COVID-19 and to assess tools to prevent chronic diseases. Katharine graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology and a minor in History. She is pursuing a master’s degree in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Kathryn Swan

Strategic Partnerships Associate

Kathryn Swan strategically supports domestic and global partnerships across GHIC, with a concentration in government affairs and impact. Previously, she worked as a Charitable Partnerships Associate where she advocated for biosecurity and AI safety in charitable giving. Additionally, she completed multiple fellowships in Effective Altruism from the Stanford University chapter and has a background in government, business, and philanthropy. Kathryn graduated with a B.A. in International Affairs and a minor in Business from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Julian Peat

Lead, Catalytic Health Investment Platform

Julian Peat, PhD, leads the Catalytic Health Investment Platform (CHIP), a twenty-year partnership between GHIC and the Government of Germany, through its Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and KfW, to accelerate the development of public health technologies and products to improve global health. Previously, Julian was Senior Director of Global Health Research at Eisai. In this role he oversaw development of Eisai's pipeline of new medicines for diseases afflicting low-and-middle income countries, and led strategic initiatives including venture capital investment, new technology evaluation and capacity building in Africa. Prior to joining Eisai, Julian was responsible for R&D partnerships and commercialization of biomedical innovations at the Mass General Brigham research hospitals. Julian also has experience in international development and academic research, and previously co-founded a biotechnology accelerator platform. Julian received a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Applied Science in biotechnology from the University of Otago, New Zealand.​

Devin Sok

Head of Science

Devin Sok, PhD provides scientific and technical support across GHIC's investment, impact, and programmatic activities and leads the GHIC Frontier Fund, a non-dilutive funding initiative launched in partnership with BARDA to accelerate early stage technologies in the field of global health security. Previously, Devin was Vice President of Discovery at IAVI, a global health R&D organization, where he led discovery and innovation efforts across IAVI's global research portfolio, including scientific direction for HIV antibody and vaccine research programs in Africa and India. Devin also led the Sok lab at the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center at Scripps Research, focused on the mechanisms of antibody-mediated protection against infectious diseases and antibody product development to prevent or treat neglected diseases that disproportionately affect low and middle-income countries. Devin received his B.S. in Chemistry from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research.

Patrick Ho

Head of Legal and Compliance

Patrick Ho provides legal guidance and support across GHIC’s corporate, investment and programmatic activities and oversight and management of GHIC’s compliance policies and systems. Previously Patrick was Associate General Counsel for Apple Tree Partners, a life sciences venture capital firm, where he provided general legal support to the firm and its funds and portfolio companies, including in company formation, equity investments, strategic partnering transactions, and corporate governance. Prior to Apple Tree Partners, Patrick was Associate General Counsel and Director of Business Development at IAVI, a global health R&D organization. His previous experience also includes co-founding and managing legal affairs and business operations at Vaxess Technologies and representing technology companies as a litigation associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. He received an AB in physics from Princeton University and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Evelyn Yanatos

Head of Finance

Evelyn Yanatos has served as the organization’s senior finance professional since 2016. Evelyn oversees accounting, manages risk, and directs compliance, audits, and financial controls, and serves as Treasurer and Secretary of GHIC. Evelyn has extensive experience in investment analysis and valuation, fundraising, SEC, tax, and other financial reporting, and has held a variety of senior finance roles in New York-based funds and other companies. Evelyn received an MBA from the Fordham Gabelli School of Business and a BS in Accounting from Binghamton University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in New York State.

Justin Yang

Head of Government Affairs and Corporate Development

Justin Yang serves as Head of on Government Affairs and Corporate Development, advancing GHIC’s US public sector engagement and corporate development strategy, as well as supporting fund formation activities and GHIC portfolio company development. Justin is a co-founder of DMV Bio, a consulting and advisory firm, and Kaibab Health, a venture creation studio. Additionally, Justin serves as an advisor on Neuroene Therapeutics and Neoclease, and previously worked at Lyndra Therapeutics as the Chief of Staff, Head of Corporate Development and Government Affairs. Previously, Justin served in various roles within BARDA, Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures and the Department of Defense, Uniformed Services University, and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Hansilla Alaigh

Impact Advisor

Hansilla Alaigh is the founder of Global Action Alliance, a consultancy firm. Previously, she had 14 years of experience working in biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Clover Pharmaceuticals, Emergent BioSolutions and GSK. Her roles included R&D strategy, stakeholder management, and policy, and collaborating with government and non-government agencies on national and international levels. Hansilla helped advance programs from target identification, through clinical development and regulatory approvals. She received her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Neuroscience from the University of Surrey, a master’s degree in Systems Engineering from Cornell University, and is currently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from Columbia University.

Labeeb M. Abboud

Chairman and CEO

Labeeb Abboud has served in various leadership roles in global health product development and innovative financing, including the establishment of GHIC and the launch of its inaugural Global Health Investment Fund (GHIF). As Chairman since 2014, he has led GHIC’s engagement with government, philanthropic and private sector stakeholders and investors, oversight of GHIF’s investment management and operations, and third-party fund investments. In 2021, Labeeb joined GHIC as CEO as the organization expanded its mission to include global health security and launch its BARDA partnership, and has led the evolution of organizational strategy and growth across key partnerships, investment management and operational capabilities. Labeeb is a member of GHIC’s investment committee and serves as board member or board observer for two of GHIC’s portfolio companies, Micron Biomedical and Univercells, S.A. Previously, he spent seventeen years in senior leadership roles at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (“IAVI”), where he was responsible for structuring a wide range of vaccine and antibody research, development and licensing agreements in the fields of HIV, tuberculosis, COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases, with the goal of ensuring that products developed were made accessible and affordable globally. Prior to IAVI, his work experience spanned almost two decades in international law and financial services, including the structuring and launch of investment funds. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. 

Paul Klingenstein

Director

Paul Klingenstein was the founding managing partner at Aberdare Ventures, a San Francisco based venture capital firm supporting new companies using technology to drive change in healthcare.  Earlier he worked at Accel Partners and Warburg Pincus.  He’s been an advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation and a field biologist in Africa.

He is a board member at the MacArthur Foundation, The Campaign Legal Center, Nia Tero Foundation, and several public and private companies, formerly served as board chair of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and as a former board member of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Berkeley School of Public Health.

George W. Wellde, Jr.

Director

Goldman Sachs and Co.

Mr. George Wellde served in various leadership roles at Goldman, Sachs & Co. during his 30 year tenure, including as Vice Chairman of the Securities Division until his retirement in 2008. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Wellde worked for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington D.C. Mr. Wellde was one of the founding board members of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, where he served as a director for 15 years, and helped structure the International Financing Facility for Immunization, which has mobilized over $6 billion to accelerate funding for vaccines and helped GAVI immunize more than 700 million children in poor countries. He serves as a director of Fortress Investment Group, Revolution Global, and the Partnership for Public Service in Washington, D.C., and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Wellde holds an M.B.A. from George Washington University and a B.S. from the University of Richmond.

Arlina Elmiger

Director

KfW Development Bank

Arlina Elmiger is Director for Innovation, Digitalisation and Communication at KfW Development Bank. The department strives to support and improve digitalisation and innovation within the bank and its projects througout the world with a current portfolio of more than 10 billion EUR. In her capacity, she also heads an initiative to explore new possibilities for mobilising private capital for SDGs.

Arlina has been working for KfW in various positions, regions, and sectors for more than 25 years. Prior to her current position, she headed the Department for Non- Financial Risk and two divisions on Health & Social Security and Financial Systems Development in Eastern Africa and North Africa & Middle East. In these functions she was setting-up the SANAD impact investment fund, a 500 million USD fund dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa and was member of the Board of Directors of the Moroccan Microfinance Fund JAÏDA.

Apart from managing a wide range of health projects such as health insurance, pandemic preparedness and health education Arlina was also responsible for the implementation of Germany’s bilateral support to Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance as well as the German contributions to Product Development Partnerships (PDP) supporting research activities in the field of neglected and tropical diseases.

Arlina was key to KfW’s first investment into the Global Health Investment Fund (GHIF) in 2012 and the longstanding relationship between KfW and the Global Health Investment Corporation (GHIC).

Arlina studied economics at the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) and Warwick University (England) and holds a postgraduate degree of the German Development Institute.

Dr. Seth Berkley

Senior Advisor

Seth served as the Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2011-2023. During his tenure, Gavi substantially increased coverage of routine immunization in lower-income countries, and Dr. Berkley played a pivotal role in helping accelerate the development of and access to new vaccines against diseases such as Ebola and malaria; and in ensuring emergency vaccine stockpiles for diseases of epidemic potential, including cholera, Ebola, meningitis and yellow fever. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Berkley co-created COVAX, to provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for people in all countries, regardless of their ability to pay, and helped drive the international COVID-19 pandemic response by working with partners and the leaders of 193 countries to put in place the mechanisms and funding to secure and ship nearly 1.9 billion doses to 146 countries. Prior to Gavi, in 1996, Dr Berkley founded the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), where he served as President and CEO for 15 years. Previously, Dr. Berkley served as an officer of the Health Sciences Division at The Rockefeller Foundation. He has worked for the Center for Infectious Diseases of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; and the Carter Center. Dr. Berkley sits on a number of international steering committees and corporate and not-for-profit boards. Dr Berkley received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University and trained in internal medicine at Harvard University.   

Luciana Borio, M.D.

Senior Advisor

Luciana is a Venture Partner at ARCH Venture Partners. In this capacity, she advises on and helps develop new investment opportunities related to biologics manufacturing, clinical trials, novel therapies and areas with large unmet clinical needs. Dr. Borio is a specialist in biodefense, emerging infectious diseases, medical product development, and complex public health emergencies. Previously, she was a senior vice president at In-Q-Tel, an independent, non-profit, strategic investment firm. Past positions include serving as a member of President Biden’s transition COVID-19 Advisory Board and Director for Medical and Biodefense Preparedness at the National Security Council, where she coordinated the response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance, and the development of an Executive Order to modernize America’s influenza vaccines. Prior to that, she was the Acting Chief Scientist of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Assistant Commissioner for Counterterrorism Policy of the FDA. Dr. Borio is an adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University and is also a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.  Dr. Borio obtained her M.D. from George Washington University, completed a residency in internal medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and a combined fellowship in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins and critical care at the National Institutes of Health. 

Emilio Emini, PhD

Senior Advisor

Emilio is the Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. He joined the Institute following a six-year tenure as Director of the Tuberculosis & HIV Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Previously, Emilio worked for more than 30 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, during which he held senior positions in anti-infectives and vaccines R&D. From 1983 to 2004, Emilio led the biological research programs at the Merck Research Laboratories that resulted in the first of the highly active antiretroviral therapies for control of HIV/AIDS and, as Head of Vaccine Research, and led the research teams involved in the development of multiple licensed vaccines. Following a two-year leave from the industry at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Emilio joined Wyeth/Pfizer as Senior Vice President of Vaccine R&D. There, he led the development of a second-generation vaccine for prevention of pneumococcal disease in young children and adults. Emilio also served as a technical advisor to the COVID vaccine programs of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) and as a strategic advisor to the U.S. government’s COVID vaccine response effort. Emilio is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and an elected Fellow and Trustee of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.  

Paola Ravacchioli

Senior Advisor

Paola Ravacchioli is a funds-of-funds investment specialist providing strategic advice to investors in frontier markets, including private equity firms, consultancies, start-ups, development finance institutions, and governments. Her work has focused on training and advising fund managers and investors, carrying out project appraisals, and advising on programmes to promote the private equity and venture capital industry in various countries.  Previously, Paola spent 24 years with the European Investment Bank Group (six of which with the European Investment Fund). At the European Investment Bank (EIB), she carried out direct and indirect investments in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia in a wide variety of funds, and conceived and helped establish innovative initiatives to promote investment and entrepreneurship in the Middle East and Africa. At the European Investment Fund (EIF), Paola invested and managed a portfolio of venture capital and private equity funds in Europe and was part of the team that implemented the Jeremie initiative, which provides Member States with access to a revolving financial platform for SMEs. Paola also helped develop Boost Africa (a joint initiative between the EIB, the African Development Bank and the European Commission focusing on supporting the African venture capital industry through fund of funds investments and capacity building programs) and the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Seed Accelerators Facility (a capacity building program for MENA accelerators). Prior to the EIB, Paola worked in the investment funds department of Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild (Luxembourg).   

Kai Gesing

Advisor, Global Health

KfW Development Bank

Mr. Kai Gesing, MD served as a member of the GHIC Board from 2020-2023. Previously, he served as a Senior Health and Population Expert in KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW development bank). Since 2002, Mr. Gesing has worked for KfW and has overseen German financing for global health programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Previously, he worked as a health consultant with EPOS Health Management Consultants. He has also lived and worked on health in both East Africa and West Africa, including serving as the Regional Health Management Advisor in Mtwara, Tanzania, and a district medical officer and hospital director in Burkina Faso. Earlier in his career, he worked in general medicine and in surgery at St. Joseph Hospital in the Netherlands. Mr. Gesing completed an M.D. from the University of Antwerp and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. He graduated with a Master’s degree in Community Health and Health Management from Heidelberg University.