GUEST SPEAKERS

Ophelia Dahl co-founded Partners In Health (PIH), a global health non-profit dedicated to delivering high-quality care to the poor.  PIH’s history, from its origins in Haiti’s rural Central Plateau, where Ms. Dahl met PIH co-founder Paul Farmer over thirty five years ago, through its expansion to eleven countries on four continents and a global movement for the human right to health, was captured in the feature-length documentary “Bending the Arc.” Ms. Dahl led PIH as Executive Director for 16 years and sits on the Board of Directors. 

Ms. Dahl is a Trustee of Wellesley College, her alma mater, and a member of the Boards of Directors of the University of Global Health Equity, the Equal Justice Initiative, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.  She is on the Board of Silkroad and the Advisory Board of the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital.  Ms. Dahl is a recipient of the Radcliffe Medal, Union Theological Seminary’s Union Medal and, together with her PIH colleagues, the Hilton Humanitarian prize. She lives in Cambridge, MA with her family.

Vincent is the Associate Director of Health Policy & Advocacy at Partners In Health. He started volunteering with the Harvard College PIH Engage team when it began in 2014, and joined the Network Leadership Team in 2017. After graduating, Vincent joined the Boston City PIH Engage team and continued to support Engage through coaching, advocacy campaigns, training institutes, and an initial version of the crash course. He worked with Paul Farmer at Harvard Medical School for 3 years then joined the PIH advocacy team to lead the health workforce federal advocacy project. He continues to fundraise with PIH Engage and support behind the scenes. Feel free to email him at vlin@pih.org if you want to chat 1:1 anytime.

David Bryden is the Senior Policy Officer at Partners in Health.  He has more than 20 years of experience in advocacy on health, human rights and global economics. He got his undergraduate degree at William and Mary and then his masters at American University. From there he went on to advocacy and communications roles, including at Jubilee 2000/USA Network, Global AIDS Alliance, RESULTS, and the Frontline Health Workers Coalition. He lives in Washington DC with his partner and their young daughter.

Emily Bass is a journalist, author, historian, artist and activist focusing on pandemics, the forces that perpetuate them, and the movements within bodies and in communities that recognize and resist them. Her book, To End a Plague: America’s Fight to Defeat AIDS in Africa (PublicAffairs, 2021), was a finalist for the 2022 Lionel Gelber Prize. A Culture Push Associated Artist and Fulbright journalism fellowship recipient, Bass has also been awarded fellowships from NYSCA/NYFA (nonfiction), the Center for New Jewish Culture and the New York Public Library (Martin Duberman Visiting Research Fellowship). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, n+1, and many other publications, including ‘zines made with the What Would an HIV Doula Do? collective, of which she is a member. She has spoken at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the Newark Museum of Art, and served as an external expert for the World Health Organization. From 2017 to 2021, she co-led a transnational activist coalition fighting for comprehensive HIV programs in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, and worked alongside East and Southern African feminists for sexual and reproductive-health justice. As principal of The Bass Lab LLC, Bass has served as strategic advisor, communications strategist and writer for the Duke University Global Health Institute, the United States Department of State Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Georgetown O’Neill Institute for Global and National Health Law, Global Black Gay Men Connect, and many other organizations working on the frontlines of securing health and human rights for all.  Collaborative action to redistribute power is central to her practice as an activist and inquiry as a writer. A Manhattan native, Emily lives in Brooklyn with her family. 

Makhumbo Raymond Munthali joined Partners In Health/Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo (PIH/APZU), also known as PIH Malawi, in March 2023. As Director of Partnerships and Grants Acquisition at PIH/APZU since 2023, Makhumbo drives resource mobilization, partnerships and coalition building or advocacy around Universal Health Care (UHC) for the most vulnerable in Malawi. He also works closely with partnerships, fundraising, policy, government accompaniment, and advocacy teams, with close links to technical, clinical, and operational teams, to influence policy, advocate for the most vulnerable, and secure the resources necessary for equitable health care delivery.

Makhumbo brings over 10 years of experience in human rights, advocacy, and international development, having previously served as Director of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights at the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC). He holds a Master’s in Public Administration and Management from the University of Malawi. Mr Munthali also serves as a Secretary of Malawi’s Universal Health Coverage Coalition (UHCC). He also commands vast experience in governance field, having previously served as Southern Africa Regional Coordinator for African Political Science Association (AAPS) and currently (until August 2026) serving as Secretary General of Malawi’s Political Science Association (PSA) –a professional body with a diverse membership of academics and professionals in the fields of political science, political philosophy, political and economic governance, public administration, and international relations.

Isaac Mphande joined PIH Malawi, in September 2018. As RMNCAH Program Manager at PIH/APZU since 2025, Isaac leads implementation of maternal, newborn and primary health care programs, strengthening referral systems for emergency obstetric and neonatal care and supporting Ministry of Health collaboration to improve outcomes in rural districts.

Isaac brings over 17 years of experience in maternal and newborn health, primary health care and health systems strengthening, having previously served as Primary Health Care Manager at PIH/APZU and as Safe Motherhood Lead/Maternal and Newborn Health Coordinator at the Ministry of Health Malawi. He is currently a PhD Candidate in Interprofessional Health Care Leadership at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences and holds an MSc in Midwifery from the University of Malawi. He also serves as a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Integrating the Health and Care Workforce.

Dr. Melino Ndayizigye is a medical doctor with a Master of Science in Global Health Delivery from Harvard Medical School. He currently serves as the Executive Director of PIH Lesotho, where he leads a team of over 440 staff and more than 1,000 village health workers across 10 districts. Under his leadership, PIH Lesotho is advancing primary health care in hard-to-reach areas, supporting national health system reform, and strengthening programs for multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis.

He serves on the Strategic Advisory Group of the WHO Foundation and contributes to several technical working groups within PIH and Lesotho’s Ministry of Health. including national task forces on oxygen access, tuberculosis, HIV, mental health, and health system strengthening.

With over 15 years of experience in community health program implementation, he brings deep expertise in clinical service delivery, health systems design, and global health leadership. His work spans government, international nonprofits, and the private sector, with a strong focus on healthcare quality improvement, program design, evaluation, and resource mobilization in low- and middle-income countries.

He is also a guest lecturer at Harvard Medical School, where he teaches on mixed methods research and health project management in the Master of Medical Sciences program.

Asia has been a leader in the fight against HIV for over 20 years, first as a community organizer and treatment activist in Philadelphia, and ultimately as part of the group who founded Health GAP in 1999, serving as our Director of International Policy until 2014. Asia is a 2008 recipient of the Keith Cylar Courage Award from Housing Works, the 2010 Kiyoshi Kuromiya Award from Philadelphia FIGHT, the 2011 John M. Lloyd Leadership Award, and an award in 2011 from The AIDS Service Organization (TASO), Uganda for her exceptional contribution as an AIDS activist. As Executive Director, Asia is responsible for strengthening and expanding Health GAP’s programmatic work, including in East and Southern Africa, while continuing to lead international policy campaigns that secure real change for communities. She is currently based in Kampala, Uganda, where she works with a coalition of local human rights, HIV, sexual and reproductive health and rights, LGBTI organizations and other allies to win bold action by the Ugandan and donor governments on AIDS and health funding and policies, fight homophobic and stigmatizing laws, and to build the capacity of activist and other civil society networks.