Deputy Director, Center for Innovation in Global Health & Program Director, Blantyre Prevention Strategy
Sara M. Allinder is Deputy Director for the Center for Innovation in Global Health (CIGH) at Georgetown University and Program Director of the Blantyre Prevention Strategy (BPS), as well as Associate Director of CIGH’s Policy and Law Initiative at Georgetown’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Ms. Allinder oversees BPS strategic planning and execution, coordinates implementation across the BPS consortium of partners, and lends her programmatic, policy, management, and technical expertise to BPS implementation.
Ms. Allinder has extensive experience in global health, foreign policy, international development, human rights, and program management. Previously, she was Executive Director and Senior Fellow in the Global Health Policy Center (GHPC) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) from 2016-2020. In addition to leading GHPC’s work on HIV, Ms. Allinder supported activities on nutrition, other infectious diseases, global health security, and women’s and family health; was a frequent host of its Take as Directed and AIDS 2020 podcasts; and oversaw GHPC operations. She retains a CSIS Senior Associate (non-resident) affiliation.
Prior to joining CSIS, she worked for more than 10 years on the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Washington and in Uganda where she served as Country Coordinator of the $353 million PEPFAR program (2013-15). She led preparation of the 2013-15 Country Operational Plan (COPs), advised the Ambassador, contributed to the response to the Anti-Homosexuality Act, led development of Uganda’s DREAMS strategy targeting adolescent girls and young women, and revitalized engagement with civil society organizations. In four stints at the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State (2003-16), Ms. Allinder was a senior advisor on PEPFAR management, operations, and policy issues.
In earlier roles at the U.S. Department of State, Ms. Allinder was policy adviser in the Office of International Health Affairs, where she led the policy response to the SARS and Avian Flu outbreaks and served on the Steering Committee for the PMTCT Initiative, which preceded PEPFAR. She also served as senior editor for Africa of the Human Rights and International Religious Freedom reports in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
Ms. Allinder was a Class of 2000 Presidential Management Fellow. She holds a Master of Public Policy, concentration in International Development and Health, and a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in Political Science and Sociology, both from The American University, Washington, DC.
Could a Systems Approach be the Disruptor Needed in HIV Prevention?
December 1st, 2020
Business as usual is not working in HIV prevention. The latest UNAIDS data from 2019 demonstrates that we are collectively failing to bring down the number of new infections globally. Despite…
