Author: Greg Ennis, Chair of Medic’s Board of Directors
We are elated to introduce Dr. Krishna Jafa as Medic’s CEO! A physician, epidemiologist, and public health executive, Krishna brings 25 years of deep expertise in health system design and strengthening, digital health innovation, and complex global partnerships on the frontier of public health progress. As a visible and visionary leader in the movement for global health equity, Krishna will build community, create space and momentum for change, and continue the legacy of values-driven leadership into our second decade of work.
Krishna’s leadership comes at a transformational moment for Medic and the Community Health Toolkit (CHT). Now on an official path to national scale in Mali and Niger, supporting enduring partnerships with the national Ministries of Health in Uganda, Kenya, and Nepal, and with a maturing community of technical and implementation partners, the potential to expand the opportunity for people and communities to achieve universal health coverage through tech-enabled care has never been greater.
“What draws me to Medic is the organization’s consistency in valuing and championing health as an essential human right. Medic’s work is centered in profound respect for frontline health workers and seeks to empower and enable them to promote the wellbeing of the communities they serve to the best of their ability. The creativity, innovation, and expertise that the Medic team brings is applied in a human-centered manner, and promotes an equity-based approach to healthcare for the most underserved.”
Krishna’s reflections during Medic’s virtual team meet-up in December
For more than two decades, Krishna has built sustainable, effective, efficient, equitable, and gender-intentional health delivery and social business models to scale up life-saving interventions. In her current role as CEO of Precision Global Health, she leads a minority woman-owned small business focused on health systems strategy, innovation, investment portfolio and intervention design, and monitoring and evaluation. The organization also has a deep focus in gender integration, health systems, and workplace emergency preparedness and response.
Krishna has excelled in leadership positions as Deputy Director in the Integrated Delivery Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Vice President of Sexual & Reproductive Health & TB and Deputy Country Director in Zimbabwe with Population Services International, and Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and Epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Throughout her career, she has advocated for and acted to strengthen community health systems – from service quality, data systems, and last-mile supplies perspectives as well as valuing human resources for community health through gender equality, career progression, remuneration, representation, and voice. Drawing on her experiences in community health and robust digital innovation and research initiatives, Krishna brings a global and evidence-based perspective that’s rooted in direct care to Medic’s mission of advancing good health and human flourishing for and with the hardest-to-reach communities.
“Krishna’s experience in both health system strengthening and scaling digital interventions inspires great confidence as Medic prepares the CHT for national scale in multiple contexts. We look forward to the leadership she’ll bring to our work in advancing precision public health within the CHT community.”
Dr. Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President of Health at The Rockefeller Foundation
As we welcome Krishna, the entire Board of Directors expresses its gratitude to Jacqueline Edwards for her dedicated and progressive leadership as interim CEO. Krishna will take the helm of Medic’s global team March 1st, and joins the Board of Directors in thanking Jacqueline for her continued thought partnership and guidance during this leadership transition.