We are Global Leaders

Industry Experts

& Inspired Citizens

The Global Health Crisis Coordination Center (GHC3) was tasked by the CDC Foundation to share information and coordinate resources between public health, private sectors and philanthropic organizations during this public health crisis through: 

  • Improved resource coordination
  • Better information sharing
  • Enhanced emergency preparedness and training
  • Coordinated preparedness planning
  • Innovation
  • Secured by a Community of Trust™

The world’s best minds

in healthcare, emergency response, business and technology working together.

Leadership

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Stephanie Adams, PhD

Executive Director, Interim
Dr. Adams has more than 20 years of experience in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industry....

Dr. Adams has more than 20 years of experience in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, she served as a consultant with King and Spalding’s intellectual property counseling practice. As Senior Patent Agent, she worked with inventors, universities and biomedical companies to evaluate potential inventions for patentability and commercial value while developing and implementing appropriate strategies. Her management and prosecution of global patent portfolios for over a decade resulted in the issuance of dozens of patents. Stephanie’s expertise extends across a wide range of biotechnology areas, including molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology and vaccines.

Stephanie also served as Executive Director of Southeast Life Sciences (formerly Southeast BIO). As director of this regional nonprofit organization, she augmented the growth of the life sciences industry in the Southeastern U.S. through efforts that promoted entrepreneurship and brought together companies, investors, universities and support organizations.

She has been active in the Georgia and Southeastern life sciences communities for over twenty years, promoting its growth through involvement in industry organizations, events, speaking and client counseling. This promotion has extended into the community through a variety of science-based initiatives at local schools.

Stephanie obtained her Ph.D. from Emory University. Her research focused on the molecular biology of novel peptides involved in the central control of reward and satiety and was presented at numerous international symposiums and published in prominent scientific journals

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Rob Breiman, MD

Chief Scientific Officer
With an over 30 year career in public health and academia, Dr. Breiman was most recently. Director of the Emory Global Health Institute ...

Dr. Breiman was most recently Director of the Emory Global Health Institute and holds faculty appointments in the Hubert Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health and in the Infectious Disease Department of the Emory University School of Medicine. During his over 30-year career in public health and academia, Dr. Breiman’s primary areas of research have been related to addressing inequities with focus on child mortality, immunizations, urbanization in impoverished settings, and a range of respiratory and enteric diseases, as well as a variety of emerging infectious diseases.

In addition to his research, Dr. Breiman is currently working on translating global health work to increase public awareness and engagement. Until 2020, he was the Executive Director and Principal Investigator for the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) network. CHAMPS, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), is designed to characterize and provide crucial data for preventing childhood mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; it currently works in S Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and India. Dr. Breiman has also been PI of BMGF and Gavi-funded projects focused on typhoid surveillance, rotavirus immunization impact, and characterizing the evolution of pneumococcal genetics globally during the era of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine use. 

Before joining Emory in 2013, Dr. Breiman worked at CDC for 26 years. From 2004-2013, he was based in Nairobi, Kenya as the Director of CDC-Kenya’s Global Disease Detection Division, and for three years as overall Director of CDC-Kenya. Breiman was Head, of the Programme on Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Sciences at the internationally acclaimed International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) from 2000-2004. He was Director of the United States National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) from 1995-2000 and was Chief of the Epidemiology Section of the Respiratory Diseases Branch (RDB) from 1989-1997. He served in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at CDC from 1987-1989 in RDB. 

Dr. Breiman was elected into the National Academy of Medicine in 2017 and is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH).

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Leo Weakland, MSPH

Director, Public Health Planning and Operations
Mr. Weakland has more than 30 years of experience directing and managing international...

Mr. Weakland has directed and managed international and domestic health programmes for over 30 years. He most recently served as the Senior Advisor for Strategic Management and Operations and guides and supports the development of public health programme management and business operational systems for advancing Africa CDC scientific and strategic goals and objectives within the context of the African Union. Prior to joining Africa CDC, Mr. Weakland served in a number of executive and line management functions with the US CDC, including serving as the Deputy Director, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria and Associate Director for Management and Operations in the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases.

In his 28 years with CDC, Leo is most proud of his work in supporting research leading to the successful antiretroviral therapy and life-saving treatment of Africans living with HIV. His work in collaboration with WHO, UNICEF, the American Red Cross and the UN Foundation to support African Member State efforts to immunize children against measles helped achieve a 60% reduction in related mortality between 2002 and 2007 in Africa. Mr. Weakland holds a Master of Science in public health with specialization in health policy and administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is fluent in English, French and Haitian Créole.

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Management Board

Clark Dean

Chairman, GHC3 Management Board
As Chair of GHC3, Clark Dean helps directs the organization's operations, strategic vision and partnerships. Clark is a Partner ...

Founding Board of Directors, Center for Global Health Innovation

Executive Managing Director and Partner, Board Director, Transwestern

Clark Dean helps directs Transwestern’s Occupier Solutions business and is the founder of the company’s Transaction Sciences platform, which operates across service lines. Clark is a member of Transwestern’s Board of Directors and its National Occupier Solutions Steering Committee. He also helps lead the company’s global partnerships with BNP Paribas Real Estate and Devencore.

With a background in biomedical engineering, management consulting, and financial structuring, Clark is known for being a disruptive innovator in the brokerage industry. His Transaction Sciences practice combines robust brokerage capabilities with behavioral science, organizational science, and decision science to deliver real estate solutions that optimize culture, function, and economics for occupiers and investors.  Prior to joining Transwestern, Clark was a founding principal of Studley’s Corporate Services Group where he spent over a decade working on some of the firm’s largest and most complex assignments. Before that, Clark was a management consultant and later chief operating officer for a management consulting firm specializing in strategic and operational consulting for insurance and financial service companies. He began his real estate career with Studley as a financial analyst in Washington, DC.

Clark is an active member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta and the Harvard Clubs of Georgia and New York City. He is an elected Deacon in the Baptist Church, a former coach for youth football (PeeWee Coach of the Year 2008), and a frequent contributor to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He serves on several boards including The Rotary Club of Atlanta (President 2017-18; Chairman 2018-19), Shepherd Center (Executive Committee), YMCA of Metro Atlanta (Executive Committee), Covenant House GA (Secretary), the Honduras Agalta Valley Education Foundation (Chairman), and the Georgia Global Health Alliance. Clark is also Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Chick-fil-A Foundation and serves on the Board of Councilors for The Carter Center. He is a member of the 2012 Class of Leadership Atlanta and was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in its annual “40 Under 40” list in 2005.

Clark graduated cum laude with an A.B. in Engineering and Biological Sciences from Harvard University, where he played varsity football, served as a class officer, and delivered the Harvard College oration as a graduating senior. He furthered his professional development through executive education at Harvard Business School, where he completed the Real Estate Management Program: Developing Future Leaders and Distressed Real Estate: Examining Debt and Equity Structures to Mitigate Losses and Identify Opportunities.

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Jeff Dunkel

Chief Strategy Officer, Mindset Medical
Jeff Dunkel has 20+ years of leadership and medical industry experience in medical device, hospital research, pharma, ...

Jeff Dunkel serves as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) on Government, Regulatory, and Strategic Initiatives at Mindset Medical.  Mr. Dunkel is recognized as a leading health care strategist and national lecturer with successful experience in taking innovative products and processes from initial concept to successful commercialization.  His contributions to population health in the areas of novel technology access, post market surveillance, real world evidence, and substance use dependency.

Mr. Dunkel’s experience spans from startup clinics to research institutions, includes smaller device companies to Fortune 500 healthcare mainstays, and has involved successful exit strategies of acquisitions and divestitures.  His contracting strategies, which included accountability for patient outcomes and cost guarantees, have been recognized by Forbes magazine for leading the industry in risk share arrangements.  Mr. Dunkel led efforts on the creation of a CMS new technology categories and eight Section X ICD-10pcs codes for a previously unrecognized area of orthopedic medical devices.  He holds an advisory role with the US Department of Health and Human Services Center for Clinical Innovation, sits on the Executive Committee for the Food and Drug Administration sponsored Medical Device Epidemiology Network, is a mentor for small businesses working with the National Institute of Health, held two former population health advisory roles with the White House, is a special advisor to the Global Health Crisis Coordination Center, and actively contributes to national legislation language with members of Congress and the Senate. 

Mr. Dunkel has a Bachelor of Science from the School of Public Health at Indiana University, where he spent three years in pre-med studies and two in business studies.

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Steve Gertz

11|Ten Innovation Partners Co-Founder and Rhythmic Ventures Chairman
Steve Gertz is known nationally as a business development authority with 25+ years of experience ...

Steve Gertz is known nationally as a business development authority with 25+ years of experience. He is the Founder of Rhythmic Ventures, a growth consulting and business development firm that focuses on curating, cultivating, and compounding high-impact relationships for venture-backed companies, accelerators, private equity portfolios, and large corporate enterprises. Steve's life and business mantra has always been "1+1=10!" Or in other words, empowering people, businesses, and industries to create more and do more by matching the right partners in the most ideal ecosystem that drives value creation. This mission led him to co-found 11|TEN Innovation Partners. At 11|TEN, he focuses on developing strategic partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and high potential startups in healthcare, technology, food, and agriculture to build out rich ecosystems that can accelerate innovation and grow businesses. Today, Steve and his team at 11|TEN Innovation Partners oversee the direction and operation of the Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub (EHIH). For EHIH, they incubate, pilot and commercialize new solutions between healthcare and technology partners to improve the evolving health and wellness needs of patients and providers. Partners include Verizon, Cerner, Konica Minolta Healthcare, Novo Nordisk, Merck, Philips, Sharecare and Stryker.

Prior to Rhythmic Ventures and 11|TEN, Steve served for a decade as Partner and Chief Strategy Officer for an accelerating growth platform backed by Joe Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl Champion Coach and current owner of a NASCAR Cup Series Championship race team. At Joe Gibbs Driven (JGD Investors), Steve built and managed a very successful investment and business development portfolio. Steve resides in Atlanta with his wife Lani and four kids under the age of eleven. Steve enjoys traveling, being involved in his church and the community, playing golf (if there’s time) and experiencing life with his family.

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Rebecca Gittelson

Rebecca Gittelson

Associate (Healthcare), King & Spalding
Rebecca Gittelson is an associate in King & Spalding’s Atlanta office and is a member of the firm's healthcare ...

Rebecca Gittelson is an associate in King & Spalding’s Atlanta office and is a member of the firm’s Healthcare practice. Rebecca's practice focuses on the representation of healthcare clients in litigation, investigations, transactions, and regulatory matters. Rebecca also maintains an active pro bono practice, primarily focusing on immigration, pandemic response, and health equity.  She is the current co-chair of the Atlanta Associates Committee Pro Bono & Community Service Sub-Committee.

Rebecca graduated with high honors and Order of the Coif from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she was awarded the Chancellors Scholarship and served as a Comments Editor for the North Carolina Law Review. She also holds a Master's of Public Health in Healthcare Policy & Management from the University of North Carolina.

Prior to joining King and Spalding, Rebecca served as a law clerk for the Honorable Julia Smith Gibbons of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Before law school, Rebecca worked as an ORISE Fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and as a healthcare systems researcher with a university-based research program.

Rebecca earned her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, in International Studies and Global Health from Emory University, where she was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Emory's 100 Senior Honorary.

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Clifford Goldsmith, MD

US Chief Medical Officer, Microsoft Health and Life Sciences
Clifford Goldsmith brings a unique experience to Microsoft as a physician who also has over 33 years ...

Clifford Goldsmith brings a unique experience to Microsoft as a physician who also has over 33 years of know-how envisioning, designing, developing, and selling high-performance solutions for the healthcare industry.  He has been with Microsoft’s Healthcare team for more than 20 years and in his current role of US Chief Medical Officer, he designs, develops and executes Microsoft’s strategy for the US Healthcare Provider Industry.  Dr. Goldsmith has focused on numerous areas of healthcare information technology including value-based payment models, AI and ML for Health, rare diseases, clinical trials, medical devices and embedded systems, clinical process improvement and patient engagement.  He has also served as Chief Medical Officer of Aptima Corporation, where he led a team in transitioning well-tested concepts on human-centered engineering from aviation and the military into healthcare.  Prior to joining Microsoft in 1998, Dr. Goldsmith worked for Harvard University’s Department of Medicine and the Center for Clinical Computing, developing and managing various aspects of IT for both Beth Israel and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals.  During this appointment, he pioneered full, remote access electrocardiograph (ECG) integration with the EHR.  He founded and managed LINK Medical which delivered a commercial product that integrated ECGs and other waveform diagnostics into the EHR.  He joined the HL7 (Health Level 7) Committee in its early years and collaborated on both the Order Entry and Results Reporting standards.  Dr. Goldsmith received a B.S. and a M.B.B.Ch (MD) from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

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Tripp Hardy

Tripp Hardy

Chief Operating Officer, Reprivata
Tripp Hardy is COO of Reprivata and Partner at Gallatin Capital LLC. Prior to co-founding Gallatin Capital in May 2003 ...

Tripp Hardy is COO of Reprivata and Partner at Gallatin Capital LLC. Prior to co-founding Gallatin Capital in May 2003, Mr. Hardy was at Moore Capital LLC, a New York based hedge fund manager where he was responsible for institutional business and product development.

Prior to joining Moore Capital, Mr. Hardy worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. where he was a Vice President in the Investment Management Division and a founding member of the Firm’s Investment Management Services Group. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Hardy was at Smith Barney where he was a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division and co-head of the Client Development Group.

Mr. Hardy received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , where he was Academic All ACC in Football. He received his Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Chicago.

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David Hartnett

Chief Economic Development Officer, Metro Atlanta Chamber
Before joining the Chamber, Hartnett served as the president and CEO of Maco Pharma® (formerly United Pharma) ...

Before joining the Chamber, Hartnett served as the president and CEO of Maco Pharma® (formerly United Pharma) a privately held US medical device/pharmaceutical company based in Duluth, Georgia, headquartered in Lille France. Before Maco Pharma, Hartnett was president and CEO of SteriFx® Corporation, a specialty chemical start-up, contracted by U.S. Department of Defense (DARPA). Prior to SteriFx, he was the executive vice president of the North American headquarters of Given Imaging, Inc. an Israeli start-up with corporate headquarters in Yokneam, Israel. Under his leadership, the company commercialized the “PillCam” video capsule, a disposable capsule that captures video after it is ingested by the patient. Hartnett helped to raise close to $30 million in a private placement for corporate infrastructure development and product commercialization before the company going public in 2001 (GIVN-NASDAQ). Hartnett served as vice president of marketing at ERBE Electro-surgery, the largest manufacturer of electrosurgical systems in the world, where he was responsible for commercial marketing throughout North America.

He has also served in a variety of other senior sales and marketing roles for the following companies: Karl Storz Lithotripsy, Genzyme (formerly Deknatel), STERIS (formerly AMSCO) and the XEROX Corporation.

He holds a B.A. in Communication from San Diego State University with a master’s equivalent in marketing through post-graduate studies.

He currently serves on the following boards:

- Carter Center, Board of Councilors

- Atlanta Science Festival™, Chairman of the Board

- Georgia Global Health Alliance, Board of Trustees

- Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership, Chairman

- Southeastern Medical Device Association, President Emeritus

- Venture Atlanta™ Coalition Director/Co-Founder

- Georgia Bio (statewide trade association), Director

- Institute for Healthcare Information Technology, Director/Co-Founder

- Leadership Atlanta Alumni 2013

Hartnett is married with four sons, was raised on Coronado Island, California and is an active member of the Atlanta business community.

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Kevin Heath

SVP and COO, OMNIA Partners
Kevin Heath works with a team of more than 1,100 people responsible for in excess of $10 billion in annual spending ...

As senior vice president and chief procurement officer Kevin Heath works with a team of more than 1,100 people who are responsible for over $10 billion in annual spending. The team source and procure goods and services ranging from wood fiber and energy to manufacturing equipment, construction services and safety glasses. Kevin believes that supply chain leaders are working to unlock the potential of current and future technologies and that collaborating with the best minds will help drive innovation at a faster pace.

When not at work, Kevin supports CHRIS 180 and coaches baseball at Northside Youth Organization. He also served as a mentor at The Bridge.

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Russell M. Medford, MD, PhD

Ex Officio Chairman, GHC3 Management Board; Board of Directors, Center for Global Health Innovation, Inc.
Russell M. Medford, MD, PhD is Chairman and CEO of Covanos, Inc, an Atlanta-based ...

Russell M. Medford, MD, PhD is Chairman and CEO of Covanos, Inc, an Atlanta-based development stage medical device company, developing advanced computational technologies for the non-invasive diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. He is a senior executive with over 25 years private and public company experience as Chief Executive Officer and Board member of multiple public and private biotechnology, medical technology, digital health and other health related companies, organizations and research institutes.  

Dr. Medford serves as Founding Chairman of the recently formed Center for Global Health Innovation that represents a coalition of over 250 Georgia and national organizations and companies involved in global health, life science innovation and health technology through the merger of Georgia BIO, Georgia Global Health Alliance and Global Health ATL. Previously, he was Chairman of Global Health ATL, Founding Vice-Chairman of the Georgia Global Health Alliance and a past Chairman of Georgia BIO.

He is a board-certified physician, member of the External Advisory Board for the Petit Institute of Bioscience and Bioengineering of the Georgia Institute of Technology, member of the Board of Directors  of the cell-based therapeutics manufacturing company ThermoGenesis Holdings (Nasdaq:THMO), an inaugural Fellow of the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences of the American Heart Association, and a past member of Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) Board of Directors (2002-2014), Co-Chairman of BIO’s Bioethics Committee, Chairman of the BIO's 2009 International Convention Steering Committee (held for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia) and a member of the  Advisory Council of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. From 1995 to 2009, Dr. Medford served as co-founder, President, CEO and Director of publicly-held AtheroGenics, Inc (Nasdaq: AGIX) and was a founding Board Director of publicly-held Inhibitex, Inc. (Nasdaq: INHX).

He has received numerous awards including the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Southeast), the Biomedical Industry Growth Award (Georgia Bio), CATALYST Magazine's Top 50 Entrepreneurs, the SCRIPP Best Partnership Alliance (London) and Platinum Winner (Covanos) of the AMP'D Arena Pitch Competition at the 2019 Medical Innovation Summit, organized by Cleveland Clinic and co-sponsored by the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.

He received a B.A. from Cornell University, and a M.D. with Distinction and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, completing his residency and cardiology fellowship at Harvard’s Beth Israel and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals where he also served on the faculty of Medicine. He served on the faculty at Emory University as an Associate Professor of Medicine prior to founding AtheroGenics and serving as its CEO. He publishes widely and holds over 16 U.S. and international patents.

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Joel Stanojevich

Joel Stanojevich

Strategy & Planning Lead, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Joel Stanojevich has been working for the Centers for Disease Control and ...

Joel has been working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the past 10 years.  He currently serves as the Team Lead for Strategy and Planning for the Office of the Associate Director for Policy in the Center for Global Health. In this role, he oversees strategic engagements with key global health partners, including the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; manages the development and execution of all CDC non-binding international arrangements, and serves as the Gift Review Official and CDC Foundation Liaison for the Center for Global Health.

Prior to joining the CDC, Joel served as a Peace Corps Health volunteer in Choluteca, Honduras where he supported income generation projects for the local HIV/AIDS clinic and water filtration and sanitation projects for rural communities in the southern region.

Joel’s areas of interest include U.S. foreign policy and health diplomacy, public health implementation research, and using data for real-time decision making.

Joel holds a bachelor’s degree in Community Health and International Relations from Tufts University and a master’s in public health in Global Health from the Boston University School of Public Health.

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Monte Wilson

President and CEO, CHRISTUS St. Francis Cabrini
Monte Wilson has over 20 years of senior leadership experience in hospital administration and served as GHC3's first Incident Commander ...

Monte Wilson has over 20 years of experience in hospital administration and multiple tours leading incident commands, including serving as the first Incident Commander for GHC3. At Wellstar Windy Hill Hospital, he envisioned and directed Post-Acute Care operations, implemented system-wide business strategies and hospital alignment initiatives for the largest health system in Georgia consisting of 11 hospitals and an 1,100-member physician medical group.

Key responsibilities included identifying organization and departmental gaps and opportunities; developing strategic initiatives that benefit patients and staff with minimal operational disturbances while expanding growth opportunities; identifying staff and physician project champions and building effective teams. Responsible for the formation of Georgia’s largest Trauma Network; added four trauma centers aligned with WellStar’s existing trauma centers in coordination with the State of Georgia Public Health. Incident Commander for Wellstar for Ebola, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy.

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April Wood

April Wood

President and CEO, Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
Before joining VOAD, April served as Senior Director of External Program Services, Disaster Operations for the American Red Cross ...

Before joining VOAD, April served as Senior Director, External Program Services, Disaster Operations for the American Red Cross.

She is an executive leader with nearly two decades of experience leading change, shaping national policy and managing response efforts to some of the largest U.S. disasters. As a senior leader for premier non-profit organizations, most of her organization executive partnerships are personally cultivated and maintained leading to exceptional collaboration and coordination that drives successful operations.

Strategic planning, negotiation, communications, relationship management, conflict resolution, and program development are all key skill sets that have been mastered to achieve organizational objectives.

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GHC3 is a division of the Center for Global Health Innovation (CGHI). The Center for Global Health Innovation is an Atlanta based 501(c)3 organization that was launched in 2019 to bring together diverse Global Health, Health Technology and Life Sciences entities to collaborate, innovate and activate solutions to enhance human health outcomes around the world. At its core, CGHI will orchestrate programs that promote cross discipline cooperation to strengthen capabilities, accelerate problem solving and respond to global health crises. The Center will continue to support its subsidiary organizations, Georgia Bio and Georgia Global Health Alliance and is standing up a permanent Global Health Crisis Coordination Center to bringing to bear the best private sector and public sector capabilities and experience in times of need.

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