Linet Okoth
Linet is a Clinical Officer registered by clinical officer’s council with Bachelors of Psychology (Counselling) Degree from the University of Nairobi. She is currently pursuing Masters in Public Health- Epidemiology at Maseno University. Linet has over 10 years’ experience in HIV/AIDS, TB/HIV, Nutrition, reproductive health and family planning, maternal, newborn and child health, and malaria service provision at both facility and community level. Linet is currently providing leadership, direction and technical oversight for the USAID SQALE program and community health programs for LVCT Health to ensure achievement of set contractual and organizational targets, providing strategic direction, forward thinking, visibility and documentation for the program area within the organisation, nationally and internationally and ensure it is recognized and its visibility maintained.
Dr Regeru Njoroge Regeru
After almost nine years in the United Kingdom, Regeru moved back home to Nairobi, Kenya in May 2016. What brought him home was his research project into the quality of data reported by Community Health Workers in selected sites in Kitui and Nairobi Counties. It was during this project that he gained a real admiration for Kenya’s Community Health Volunteers and an appreciation of how impactful they could be if engaged with the investment they deserve. Regeru now works as a Technical Officer in Community Health at LVCT Health where he provides technical support to the Work Improvement Teams implementing the USAID SQALE model in Nairobi County. In addition, Regeru is part of the team that developed the training materials and Quality Improvement tools used by the USAID SQALE Program. Regeru studied medicine at the University of Southampton from 2007 – 2012 and worked as a Foundation Doctor in West Yorkshire from 2012 – 2014. Thereafter, at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine he completed a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and then an Msc in International Public Health.
Dr Lillian Otiso
Lillian is a medical doctor and is responsible for all HIV/AIDS services programmes at LVCT Health, including HIV testing and counselling, quality assurance and community strategy. She has led project teams in establishing community units and implementing community strategy in various service delivery areas. She also provides technical assistance on government projects; actively supporting policy development, turning research into practice, and developing national guidelines.
Emily Ogwang
Emily has worked for 12 years in HIV programming with LVCT Health as a psychological counsellor cum lab technologist, Trainer of Trainers, and Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement Officer. Within the 12 years, she also served as Programme Officer coordinating community health programmes for five years. Currently she is working for USAID SQALE in Migori County.
Michael Ngugi Kimani
Michael is a nurse by profession and joined LVCT Health in 2012 as a Program Officer. From 2014 to 2017 he worked in Consortium with APHIA Nuru Ya Bonde. He is currently working in Kitui county as a Program Officer in Community Health supporting the USAID SQALE program.
Lynda Keeru
Lynda is a Communications specialist currently based at LVCT Health. She has a passion for telling stories and using it is a tool to relay information to educate and empower people, especially the vulnerable in society to make informed health decisions and choices for themselves particularly in the context of community health.
Dr Miriam Taegtmeyer
Miriam is a Reader at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine where she heads the Community Health Systems Research Group. The group consists of twenty staff and doctoral students with a research portfolio of over £8 million (2018), spanning eleven countries across Africa and Asia. As a public health researcher, practising consultant physician and qualified teacher she focuses on implementation research that bridges disciplines. Her research on models and approaches to HIV testing has supported the evolution of community-based services. By using her clinical background she has been able to bring a comprehensive understanding to implementation research through to the evaluation of public health impact. Her research in the complementary areas of HIV testing and counselling, community health systems and quality improvement has directly impacted public health and informed global and national policies and guidelines. Her research has demonstrated optimal strategies for scaling-up integrated, decentralised health services towards achieving universal health coverage and improved health equity in resource poor settings. Using mixed methods research she has designed and tested approaches to the scale-up of community health programmes that are both cost effective and of high quality, leading to over 70 peer reviewed publications in JAMA, AIDS, JAIDS and the WHO Bulletin among others. Through her unique approach to combining research with implementation she has produced research that is responsive to local needs, solution-based and builds on local capacity and priorities thus ensuring policy uptake and creating resilience in health systems. Her other research interests include community health workers, gender-based violence and its impact on health, TB and STIs in resource-poor settings. In 2015 Miriam was included in the Graduate Institute list of 300 Women Leaders in Global Health.
Faye Moody
Faye works as the Project Coordinator for the Community Health Systems Research Group within the department of International Public Health of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Faye provides project coordination across this portfolio, with primary responsibility for the USAID SQALE program in Kenya. Faye helps the project achieve its research objectives through contributing to and supervising the provision of research, managerial and logistical support to the USAID SQALE program and the varied projects of the Community Health Systems Research Group.
Meghan Kumar
Meghan is a global health professional with expertise in health economics, policy analysis, and capacity development on four continents. Most recently, she has honed her skills in cultivating strategic collaborations between governments and other stakeholders to drive high-quality, equitable delivery of community healthcare as the Research Manager of the REACHOUT Consortium. She leads the monitoring, evaluation and learning agenda for USAID-SQALE is also pursuing a PhD in international public health and health economics.
Dr Vicki Doyle
Vicki is a UK-based health development professional, with more than 25 years’ experience of working in research, education, management and consultancy. She has designed, delivered and evaluated quality improvement programmes for community, district, regional and national health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America working with government, UN agencies, global health partnerships, research institutions, consultancy companies and NGOs. She has extensive experience in the development of context specific quality improvement curriculum and training materials and has facilitated the development of national quality improvement strategies and training plans, facilitator manuals and training handbooks. In Kenya she has a long history of working with LVCT Health and played a key role in building quality into the scale-up of voluntary counselling and testing services across the country. Vicki is the quality improvement adviser to the USAID SQALE program and is working closely with LVCT Health and government at multiple levels to ensure that the right structures, systems, tools and support are in place to embed quality into community health services such that every Kenya can access quality essential health services without risk of financial hardship.
Beth Hollihead
Beth works as the senior Project and Capacity Development Manager for the Community Health Systems Research Group within the department of International Public Health of LSTM. Beth provides strategic project management services across this portfolio, with responsibilities including the legal, contractual, financial and administrative management of consortia; developing the appropriate processes and procedures for managing projects; providing smooth financial control and ensuring clear and accurate communications both within research consortia and with funders. Beth manages a team who provide project administration and coordination across the portfolio, and together they support the generation of strategic new proposals for funding as well as the accurate and timely reporting of current outputs and expenditures. Beth previously worked for LATH, the consultancy company of LSTM, providing programme coordination and project management for a portfolio of over £5,000,000 of long and short term global health initiatives, including a large World Bank project with the Ministry of Health in South Sudan. She has a wide range of experience and background in management systems, IT and finance, working with donors such as EU, USAID, UNITAID, the UK Department for International Development, Global Fund and DANIDA.
Kate Hawkins
Kate is the knowledge management advisor on the USAID SQALE program. Kate is a communications specialist with many years of experience in working on international health research programs. She previously worked for the REACHOUT Consortium and has extensive knowledge of community health workers and community health systems.