Sera Bonds, MPH, COHI Founder
Sera is a social justice, grassroots activist committed to working towards balancing the scales of access, equity, and availability in women's reproductive health care. She has training in massage therapy, midwifery, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Women's Studies, and a Master's degree in Public Health. Her community organizing background ranges from reproductive rights to violence against women, to welfare and poverty issues to anti-war campaigns. She has worked on women's health issues with teenage and minority moms in rural areas of the Western US; with refugee communities in Boston, Massachusetts; and with rural midwives in northern India, Guatemala, Tibet, Palestine, tsunami-affected Sri Lanka, and Israel; with commercial sex workers on issues of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam; and with female evacuees from hurricanes Rita and Katrina in Louisiana. She founded Circle of Health International with the hope of giving voice to conflict and disaster-affected women's reproductive health needs on an international scale. Sera is currently serving as a visiting lecture and Public Health Scholar-In-Residence at Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheba, Israel. Sera was recently selected as a recipient of Boston University's School of Public Health's Distinguished Alumni Award.

Imtiaz Kamal, Board of Directors Member
Imtiaz T. Kamal is a nurse midwife educator and public health scientist. She got her professional education from the U.K. and the U.S.A. She worked with the WHO as staff and in many countries in the field of Maternal and Newborn Health and Family Planning. She retired from WHO as the Regional Nursing Advisor for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and established the office of Pathfinder International in Pakistan. She served in the Family Planning Association of Pakistan for 17 years as a volunteer and worked with IPPF as Director of Programmes for Middle East and North Africa Region. She has worked in more than 45 countries, has published in national and international journals, and has conducted and guided research and authored books. She is the recipient of many awards from the Government of Pakistan and national and international organizations for her work in the field of Maternal and Newborn Health and Family Planning. She is one of the three core members of the National Committee for Maternal and Neonatal Health and its secretary general. She established the Midwifery Association of Pakistan in 2005 and is its founder President. She was recently reelected the Vice President of Maternity and Child Welfare Association of Pakistan.

Suzi Garner, Board of Directors Member
Suzi Garner is a researcher, artist and development consultant who works with ethnic minority groups throughout Vietnam. She is passionate about strengthening the voices of underrepresented members of society and discovering creative strategies for communicating new cross-cultural ideas. Working with various INGOS, schools, and museums, she works to promote the integration of traditional cultural ideas and practices into socio-economic development projects. Over the years she has studied art, photography, Vietnamese, and has a Masters in Sustainable Heritage Development Studies. She recently began a new adventure studying midwifery and hopes to promote the role of traditional healers within women’s healthcare. In 2008 she intends to conduct research on the possibilities for integration of ethnic minority knowledge and practices into the medical education system in Vietnam.

Jessica Mack, MTS, Board of Directors Member
Jessica is a brainstormer and activator who is passionate about doing reproductive health work in local communities to effect lasting, meaningful change. Her background is in Buddhist cultural studies and gender issues in Buddhism, which has informed her travel and research throughout India working with Tibetan Buddhist nuns on empowerment and health initiatives. Jessica is motivated and enthusiastic, and open to new and seemingly-impossible schemes in the fight to ensure reproductive health and rights to women and men all over the world. Jessica is currently living in NYC working with the International Division of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Terri Clark, PhD, MSN, CNM, RN, Board of Directors Member
Terri Clark is an Associate Professor at Seattle University College of Nursing. She has a degree in philosophy from Yale College, a PhD in sociology from University of California, San Diego, and an MSN in Maternal-Newborn Health/Nurse-Midwifery from Yale School of Nursing where she was also on faculty for many years. She has a total 25 years of clinical experience as a CNM, including nine years as Director of Obstetrics Education in a Family Practice Residency Program the South Bronx in the 1990s. She has worked in Southern Africa, Mexico, Cambodia and Haiti where she developed and participated in global midwifery educational and service partnerships, as well as volunteered in HIV nursing educational collaboratives. Her most recent publication is a Malaria, HIV, and TB clinical resource guide in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health.

Mindy Levy, Board of Directors Member
Mindy Levy currently works as a homebirth midwife and a midwifery educator in northern Israel. She worked as a hospital midwife for nine years in Haifa, left the hospital three and half years ago and has been working independently ever since. She has a Masters Degree in Women's Studies from Lesley University. Mindy teaches midwives, midwifery and nursing students, doulas and childbirth educators. Her special interest is trauma and its effect on women's maternity experiences, a topic that she has researched in the past and continues to investigate today. She is now training to become a Somatic Experience Practitioner. She serves as the Israeli coordinator for the Israeli-Palestinian Coexistence Project and joined the Kisarawe-Kilimanjaro Challenge in Tanzania last summer.

Erica Meadows, Sudan Project Manager
Erica has a long-standing interest in international health work. Her background in Public Health has led her to work in Haiti on a project with HIV-positive adults on a tuberculosis prophylaxis project sponsored by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She has worked with refugees and displaced persons in refugee camps on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. She spent more than seven years in former Yugoslavia, working with the United Nations in Bosnia and Croatia focusing on health and humanitarian issues and refugee returns. Starting in March 2008, Erica is leading the COHI assessment project in Sudan. She also has a strong commitment to human rights, gained through her many years of service with the United Nations in South Africa, Haiti, and the Balkans. She is also involved in a small NGO that works to end gender-based violence in conflict areas.

Matt Bieber, Tanzania Project Coordinator (2008)
Matt Bieber grew up in Lancaster, PA. After spending the second half of 2006 volunteering at Blue Dragon Children's Foundation in Hanoi, Vietnam, he was keen to continue his involvement with grassroots humanitarian work. At COHI, Matt focuses on documenting COHI's work through written reports and other communications initiatives. Matt lives in New York. He works for Mobile Commons, helping non-profits and other organizations use text messaging to mobilize their supporters.

Vanessa Barienbrock, Tanzania Project Coordinator (2007)
Vanessa’s interest in COHI stems from her passion for global women’s healthcare and her commitment to working with underserved communities to ameliorate social inequities both domestically and abroad. Vanessa is a women’s health advocate who worked for several years in a women’s healthcare clinic educating women about STIs, HIV, Family Planning, and reproductive healthcare. She is a trained Midwife Assistant who has worked with midwives in the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, and India. Her commitment to promoting social progress is exemplified by her diverse volunteer activities including: migrant farm worker rights in California, women’s fair trade association in Costa Rica, and education for disadvantaged children in Honduras. She recently led a group of university students on service-oriented semester abroad through Central America. Currently she is working with COHI, coordinating the Kisarawe-Kilimanjaro Challenge: Summit for Women and Children’s Health, which will take place in Tanzania this Fall. Vanessa has a Bachelors Degree in International Studies and plans on pursuing a Masters Degree in International Public Health.

Stephanie Chaban, Gender-Based Violence Researcher
Stephanie is currently working on her Master's degree in Women's Studies with a focus on gender-based violence and violence against women in conflict. During the fall of 2006 she lived in Nablus, researching the effects of conflict, displacement and militarization on family violence rates in Palestine. Having formerly worked as a domestic violence advocate with the US military, she developed a great interest in how militarization affects the lives of women. With a background in the visual arts, she has also worked with agencies that have combined the creative arts with social services, working primarily with children. Past education, work and volunteer opportunities have led her to India, Israel, Palestine,Thailand, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. In the summer of 2007, Stephanie hopes to return to Israel and Palestine to assist with COHI's gender-based violence assessment of the region.

Laura Williams, MPH, Katrina Response Project Coordinator
Providing general support to COHI through assisting with a variety of projects, from promotional material to annual reports, Laura was also responsible for organizing and maintaining the initial volunteer database. Through this involvement she took over leadership of COHI's relief effort in Louisiana resulting in almost $400,000USD worth of grants and medical supplies raised to support COHI's local partner. Laura is currently involved with a Boston-based working group focusing on strengthening COHI's organizational infrastructure. Laura holds a masters in international public health and has experience working in India, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. Currently she works at Boston EMS as the Deputy Chief of Staff.

Jacquelyn Caglia, MPH, Public Relations Coordinator
Working with COHI to spread the word about our work, Jacque Caglia is a community health practitioner from Boston. Originally from PA with roots in community organizing and service learning, Jacque holds a Masters in Public Health from Boston University. She is a researcher at a community-based participatory research institute in MA where she is focused on how race, ethnicity, language and culture affect health and on working with community agencies to evaluate health interventions. Jacque served with the Peace Corps as a community health volunteer in the Dominican Republic and is the Vice-President of the Boston Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. Jacque is excited to be part of the COHI team and to further her commitment to a participatory process of improving health.

Jasper Webb, Administrative Manager
Based on a long-term interest in philanthropy, Jasper Webb has spent the majority of her career working in the non-profit sector for a variety of organizations. Since landing in New York City in 2004, Webb has dedicated herself to working in the arts, specifically in dance which has been an fundamental part of her life from her youngest days. The work she's taken on in NYC has been primarily in grantwriting / fundraising, as well as general administration, and she is glad to bring these skills to COHI. Webb first got involved with COHI during its 2008 NYC benefit, and was thrilled when the opportunity arose to support the organization on a day-to-day level.

Chris Sutton, Information Technology Manager
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Chris has a background in journalism and web development. Chris spent two years in the West African country of Benin, where he was a Peace Corps Education volunteer. He currently lives in Be’er Sheva, Israel, where he works in the Resource Development department of a Palestinian human rights organization.

Mary Drake, RN, MPH, Volunteer
Mary is interested in COHI due to her passion for working side-by-side with others for change, to improve social equity and combat structural violence which more often and more dramatically impacts women in the developing world. Her professional focus is Quality and Performance Improvement within Reproductive and Child Health Services and narrowing the gap between known best practices and their application and use at service delivery level. She currently focuses at COHI on the initiative in Tanzania on improving the quality of reproductive and child health services with nurses, nurse midwives, OB/GYNs and ministry of health, as well as organizational development, and fundraising issues. She is currently living and working in San Salvador, El Salvador on Reproductive Health-related programming.

Monica Onyango, RN, MPH, Volunteer
Monica is currently working at Boston University (School of Public Health) as a lecturer on Reproductive Health in disasters and emergencies. Monica focuses her attention with COHI in technically advising on issues of programming in emergency settings, and she recently conducted COHI's needs assessment in Sudan to determine COHI's programming in the region. She worked for more than six years with international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in relief and development in Southern Sudan, Kenya and Angola, managing community health programs and training health workers. She served in the Kenya Ministry of Health (MOH) for ten years as a nursing officer in management positions at two hospitals, and as a lecturer at the Nairobi Medical Training College – School of Nursing. She has a proven ability to start and manage health programs under difficult conditions. She is presently earning her Ph.D. at Boston College in Nursing while focusing her research on Post-Abortion Care in conflict settings.

Holly Bullock, MPH, Volunteer
Holly is currently involved with clinical research at Boston Medical Center. Prior to this, she served with the Peace Corps in Swaziland from 2003-2005, assisting the grassroots HIV prevention and AIDS impact mitigation efforts of rural chiefdoms. Activities included designing life-skills curriculum for in-school youth, accessing resources of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to start community gardens and orphan feeding schemes, and introducing girls’ football as a women’s empowerment and health education vehicle. She is a proud member of COHI’s Boston-based working group, and looks forward to returning to the field after acquiring a clinical skill set.

Joanna Michler, MPH, Volunteer
Joanna Michler is currently studying to become a Nurse Practitioner with the intent of returning to the work that most inspires her: providing healthcare services to refugees and displaced persons. As a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1999-2002 in Zimbabwe, she worked with a local HIV/AIDS NGO, an experience that piqued her interest in global health, leading her to pursue an MPH in International Health from Boston University. She then returned to sub-Saharan Africa to work on an HIV peer education project for youth in Malawi. Soon after she was presented with an excellent opportunity to work with conflict-affected people in Darfur. As a Health Manager for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in North Darfur, Sudan, she worked for over a year to manage the implementation of public health and clinical services for the displaced populations in two IDP camps. She then worked in a similar capacity in Thailand, managing IRC's health program for Burmese refugees on the Thai-Burma border. She currently resides in Cambridge, MA and volunteers with other members of the Boston-based COHI Working Group.

Jessica Alderman, Volunteer
Jessica Alderman grew up in Massachusetts and studied photography in the darkroom for four years under the instruction of Anne Rearick. She published her first book called "The Children of Laos" in 2002. She continued her studies in college, both in Italy, where she had the opportunity to enroll in studio photography courses at the Academia Italiana in Florence, and at Colorado College where she published her second book, "Contours." While in college, she received a grant to go to Kenya to do a photographic comparison of the public health system at the Nakuru Provincial Hospital. An article about Jessica was published in the Colorado College bulletin. Jessica graduated from the Colorado College in 2007, completing a degree in Microbiology with a minor in the Arts in Theory and Practice and is currently working in Denver focusing on health policy.

Jordyn Bonds, Founders Circle Member
Jordyn specializes in web and print wizardry, spinning straw into gold for non-profits and rock bands across the nation. She also has a deep background in feminist issues, focusing on pro-choice and reproductive rights. Jordyn's area of focus at COHI is in design and web-related activities. She is a student of religion and critical theory, and an activist for feminism and music.

Sarah Chynoweth, Founders Circle Member
From 2004 to 2005, Sarah worked as COHI's Tibet Project Manager during which she designed, managed, and implemented maternal and child health trainings for rural Tibetans. She currently works with the Reproductive Health Program at the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. In this position, she strives to improve the lives and defend the rights of refugee and internally displaced women and girls as well as helps to ensure that their voices are heard from the community level to the highest councils of governments and international organizations. Sarah's professional experience includes projects in Sudan (Darfur), Tibet/China, the Thai-Burma border, Romania, Palestine/Israel, Nepal, Malta and Germany. She holds a Master's degree from Columbia University where she specialized in the sexual and reproductive health issues of Tibetan women. Sarah is a certified carpenter, has been studying Tibetan for the past two years, and is originally from Germany. Sarah focuses her activities at COHI on technically advising the field staff in Tibet, and elsewhere, to ensure a high level of quality in COHI's programming.

Dr. Nathalie Kapp, Board of Advisors Member
A warm and motivated OB/GYN hailing from Idaho, Nathalie Kapp is a Medical Officer in the Department of Reproductive Health and Research at the World Health Organization in Geneva. She completed her training at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in New Hampshire after graduating from the University of Utah Medical School. Her current research topics include innovations in techniques of induction abortion, medical eligibility for use of contraception and detection of fetal genetic material in maternal blood. She recently completed her Masters in Biostatistics at Boston University's School of Public Health. She is an active member of multiple professional associations. When she is not providing instruction or conducting research, she practices yoga, is an active modern dancer and fabulous chef, plays a mean game of boggle, and passionately pursues adventures in rock climbing.

Kerri Kimball, Founders Circle Member
An advocate for global humanitarian and environmental causes, Kerri Kimball focuses her time at COHI on financial planning, management, and strategy. She earned her BA in Business Administration and Finance from Brigham Young University and went on to work for eleven years in corporate advertising and financial management in San Francisco, Sydney, and New York City. Currently a financial planner and coach, Kerri is also a student of Buddhism, ontology, and modern literature.

Adam Rosenbloom, MPH, Founders Circle Member
Adam is a budding young humanitarian aid worker who is currently earning his MD at Columbia University's Middle Eastern affiliate, Ben Gurion University, focusing on International Health. Adam served as COHI's Project Manager, demonstrating his ability to lead, work under incredibly challenging conditions, and his commitment to women's health. He has circumnavigated the globe (only once) and hopes to continue his journey while working to alleviate the suffering of the poor through small and focused community-based programs affecting women and children. Adam cites his experience as a High School teacher in rural Henderson, North Carolina, as a catalyst to use his privilege to serve those who are less privileged in an attempt to address issues of inequity. In his free time, Adam likes playing music, listening to music, and dancing to music.