Introducing our new Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Dr. Sharmin Akhter Zahan, a global health professional, joined ideSHi, as its Chief Operating Officer. Previously, she was Head of Ecosystem and Business Development at Digital Healthcare Solutions and Telenor Health AS of Grameen. Dr. Zahan is trained in Medicine, Public Health, and Global Health with almost 20 years’ experience at local and international level. Her long experience includes running large scale health programmes, dealing with development partners, NGOs, public and private sector organizations. Earlier, she managed Brac International Health programmes, and has served at Gavi (The Vaccine Alliance) as Gavi Civil Society Organization Steering Committee Member (CSO SC) and represented Bangladesh and BRAC. She was also Special Advisor to the Gavi CSO Board Member, and a Member of Coalition for Cholera Prevention and Control of Taskforce for Global Health. She did clinical practice in Obstetrics and Gynaecology under different NHS hospitals in England, including The Royal London Hospital, and worked in the voluntary sector in the U.K. notably, Tower Hamlets Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Center, and Women’s Health and Family Services, London. She has obtained MBBS from Dhaka Medical College (DMC), MSc Global Health, Law and Governance from Queen Mary University of London, UK, and a Master’s in Public Health from James P grant School of Public Health. During her career, she has received different training from home and abroad, and a fellow of Abshire Inamori leadership training of Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Washington DC. She is passionate about ensuring equity in health through use of research, technology and developing human resources for health.