Traci L. Baird, MPH, is an American non-profit leader with 30 years of experience in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and in the United States. Traci is currently President and CEO of EngenderHealth, a global organization committed to improving SRHR, maternal and newborn health, and gender equality. A focus of her leadership is ensuring that EngenderHealth “walks the talk” of promoting opportunities for all, advancing locally-led development, and designing authentic partnerships.

Traci is also an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of International Health & Sustainable Development of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She earned a master of public health degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor of arts degree in human biology with a concentration in women’s health from Stanford University.

James Chau is a British-Chinese news anchor. He was a guest presenter on the award-winning show Horizons on BBC World News, and is now a Special Contributor to CCTV International. His programs are watched by over 100 million people in China and globally.

He has earned a special reputation for his in-depth interviews with world leaders in politics and science. In December 2016, he spoke with Ban Ki-moon in his last conversation as United Nations Secretary-General. Among others, he has interviewed Nobel laureates Kofi Annan, Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Muhammad Yunus and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi – and also Winnie Mandela, Joko Widodo, Robert Mugabe, Tung Chee-hwa, Paul Kagame, Arianna Huffington, Elton John and an exclusive with China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan.

He is a frequent moderator at major events: the UN High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance; the G20 Summit with Jack Ma and Justin Trudeau; the Global Partners Meeting on Neglected Tropical Diseases with donors including Bill Gates; and a conversation in Los Angeles on the future of global health with Laura Bush and Charlize Theron.

In 2009, James was named UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, and in 2016 he was appointed WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goals and Health. Born in London, he studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music, and graduated from Cambridge University where the John CB Chau Prize in Engineering is named for his father. He lives in Beijing.

GH5050 Testimonial

Helen Clark, ranked by Forbes as one of the most powerful women in the world, is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017 where she was the highest ranking woman in the United Nations.

Throughout her exceptional career Helen Clark has continued to achieve many firsts, including becoming the first elected woman Prime Minister of New Zealand and the first woman head of UNDP. As Prime Minister, she served for three consecutive terms. During her tenure at UNDP, the ratio of female to male staff reached 50 per cent, including at the most senior levels. She is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders.

Helen Clark is a passionate communicator, and engages widely with the public, using social media as a tool to advocate on important global issues, and was consistently ranked as the top communicator at the UN for her continual interaction with broad audiences. A new film, ‘My Year with Helen’, follows her attempt to become the first female Secretary-General of the United Nations and her continued pursuit of breaking glass ceilings.

Dr Jocalyn Clark is Canadian public health scientist and professional journal editor, currently working as International Editor at The BMJ in London UK. She has experience working in numerous organisations including as Executive Editor at The Lancet, Executive Editor at icddr,b, an international health research organisation located in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Senior Editor at PLOS Medicine, and Assistant Editor at The BMJ. She is also an adjunct Assistant Professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and former consultant to Grand Challenges Canada. She holds a PhD in Public Health Sciences, for which she was a doctoral fellow of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, studying the medicalisation of sexual assault and gender-equity in public health issues. Her recent Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio residency produced a 5-part series critiquing The Medicalisation of Global Health.

Jocalyn is dedicated to building capacity in research, writing, and knowledge translation among developing country investigators and institutions, and is a recognised leader in the mechanics of writing, writing for publication, publication ethics, social determinants of health, and global/women’s health. She has over 125 publications in peer-reviewed medical journals.

Kana Halić Kordić is a final-year medical student at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and Vice President for External Affairs of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), representing 1.5 million medical students worldwide.

Her work focuses on global health governance, health workforce education, youth engagement, and advancing equity through universal health coverage and digital health policy. Kana has represented IFMSA at major global health fora, including the World Health Assembly, the United Nations General Assembly, and the World Health Summit, advocating for the integration of youth perspectives in shaping equitable and sustainable health systems.

She currently serves on the WHO Youth Council Working Group on Health Literacy and Patient Safety and previously served on the Executive Council of the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), where she contributed to advancing standards in medical education and institutional accountability.

Kana is passionate about bridging the gap between young health professionals and decision-makers, championing innovation, inclusivity, and accountability in global health.

Katja Iversen is an internationally recognised expert on development, advocacy and communications, Katja has over 20 years of experience working in NGOs, United Nations agencies and corporations. She is a member of President Macron’s G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council, and the MIT Women & Technology Solve Leadership Group. She is the former President/CEO of Women Deliver. Her unwavering commitment to the principles of equality, justice and human rights was celebrated in 2018 when she was named Dane of the Year. 

Dr. Mahesh Puri is Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Environment Health and Population Activities (CREHPA) – a national non-profit research organization based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Dr. Puri has been actively involved in the areas of reproductive and sexual health and rights including gender-based violence, menstrual justice and men’s health related research studies and programs for more than 20 years in Nepal and the Asia. His areas of expertise are on mixing of qualitative and quantitative research methods in researching sensitive topics of reproductive and sexual health and rights. His research focuses on menstrual justice, unintended pregnancy and abortion, family planning, maternal and child health, adolescent health, gender-based violence, gender and men’s health. He has published extensively on these issues in international journals. Dr Puri led Nepal team for ever conducted study the Nepal 50/50 on gender (in)equality in the health sector in Nepal. He sits on various national and international advisory committees. Dr Puri has extensive experiences to engage concerned national level stakeholders in the research process and results uptake.

Marijke Wijnroks has served as Head of the Strategy, Investment and Impact Division since January 2023. She served as Chief of Staff at the Global Fund from 2013 to 2022. During that time, she also served as interim Executive Director from June 2017 to February 2018, as interim Head of Human Resources from September 2021 to February 2022, and interim Head of the Strategy, Investment and Impact Division from April to December 2022.

As head of the Strategy, Investment and Impact Division, Wijnroks oversees four departments: Access to Funding, Health Finance, Community, Rights and Gender, and Technical Assistance and Partnerships. She also oversees the Catalytic Investments Office, and acts as as Chair of the Grants Approval Committee.
With over 30 years of experience in global health and development, Wijnroks began her career as a field doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières in Sudan. She spent five years in El Salvador as a technical adviser developing health systems for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), and two years as a project manager with Helen Keller International in Bangladesh focusing on maternal and child health.

Wijnroks has served as ambassador for HIV and AIDS, and deputy director of the social development department, both with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, overseeing policy and strategy development in areas related to HIV and AIDS, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender, education and civil society. Before joining the Global Fund, Wijnroks served one term on the Global Fund Board as a Board Member and two terms as an alternate Board Member, as well as for two years as vice–chair of the Board’s Ethics Committee.

Wijnroks earned a medical degree from Maastricht University and a degree in tropical health and medicine from the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.