With more than 300 members, the Emerging Leaders community is a dynamic cross-sector network of Chicago’s visionary, globally minded, locally committed leaders.
Minoo Javanmardian joined Oliver Wyman's health and life sciences practice with over 25 years of experience as a strategy consultant, executive coach, and business leader in the healthcare industry. She's focused on developing strategy-based transformation in the healthcare industry, including the payors (health plans) and providers (e.g., hospitals and clinics) sectors.
Harley Jones is a mission-driven leader with 21 years of experience in non-profit and emergency management. As the director of domestic programs at Project HOPE, a global health NGO, he leads strategic partnerships and health initiatives with community health centers, free clinics, and public health departments across the country.
Natasha Krol's work has included facilitating collaboration across distributed higher education systems, supporting the government of Nigeria in reducing poliovirus cases, and designing innovation labs. Recently, Krol supported Chicago and UILabs in their winning bid to launch a $320M public-private "Digital Lab" to support advanced manufacturing technology research, development, and demonstration.
Seema Kumbhat's experience includes directing medical device innovation, in addition to performing due diligence for strategic alliances and risk management activities, for the global pharmaceutical and medical device company Hospira. She's licensed to practice medicine and surgery in the state of Illinois and has traveled the world to examine healthcare disparities in other countries.
At Mount Sinai Hospital Benjamin Levy serves as the head of gastroenterology education for residents and medical students from several international medical schools. He founded a gastroenterology clinic for refugees resettling in Chicago, and also serves on the American College of Gastroenterology's Patient Care Committee where he is organizing a colon cancer screening campaign.
In her previous role, Absera Melaku provided overall direction for the University of Chicago's Center for Global Health by managing its long-term strategy, developing numerous educational programs, and overseeing the operational infrastructure. She developed collaborative relationships to further the mission to broaden global health education, training, research, advocacy, and engagement.
Before her time at UI Health, Yamilé Molina was an associate professor with affiliations to the School of Public Health, Center for Research on Women and Gender, and Cancer Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She's led multiple studies characterizing and intervening upon the disproportionate burden of cancer that Latinx, African Americans, and rural populations face.
Jacob Plummer's background is in management, operations, and investment in technology-enabled health services, and he previously led global business development at Allscripts, an international health software company. At Allscripts, he oversaw a variety of investment initiatives covering North America, the UK, Singapore, Australia, and beyond.
Currently at Yale University, Dr. Aisha Sethi also has experience serving on the steering committee as an assistant director of outreach for the Center for Global Health at the University of Chicago. After attending medical school in Pakistan, she completed her post-doctoral fellowship, internship, and residency in dermatology at Yale University, where she also served as chief resident.
Before joining the CDC, Dr. Nirav Shah was in the global life sciences practice of the law firm Sidley Austin, LLP, and a lecturer in the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago, where he taught courses in global public health and mathematical epidemiology. Shah also served as the chief economist of the Ministry of Health of Cambodia during his tenure as a Henry Luce Scholar.
