The Strategic Analysis, Research & Training (START) Center is thrilled to introduce the twelve newest team members joining our Center this fall. The team includes two MBA students from the Foster School of Business, one MPH and three PhD students in Epidemiology, one MPH student in Global Health, two PhD students in Implementation Science, two DrGH in Global Health Leadership & Practice students, and one new Faculty Lead. Learn more about each of these impressive new team members below.

INCOMING GLOBAL INNOVATION FELLOW 

ESTHER KIM, MPH

Esther Kim is an MBA candidate at the Foster School of Business with experience spanning health economics and public health research. Holding an MPH in Epidemiology, her career bridges evidence synthesis, field research, and healthcare strategy. Her thesis research in Zambia examined contraceptive utilization among women living with HIV. As a healthcare consultant, she led strategic portfolio evaluations and translated clinical and economic evidence into market access strategies for leading pharmaceutical clients. Esther brings the ability to move fluidly across evidence, strategy, and implementation to deliver solutions built for real-world impact.

SOURAV KUMAR

Sourav Kumar is an MBA student at the Foster School of Business. Before Foster, he spent seven years at The D. E. Shaw Group, a quantitative hedge fund. As a Tech Lead, he led a team of engineers and managed enterprise technology infrastructure. At Foster he completed a product strategy consulting engagement with a Seattle-based healthcare startup, developing a prioritized roadmap for AI-powered features for a health technology platform. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from Jadavpur University, where he co-authored published research on multi-lingual scene text detection. Sourav brings experience in cross-functional team leadership and translating technically complex work into actionable recommendations, skills he looks forward to applying at the intersection of business strategy and global health research.

INCOMING RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

ELISABETH BURNOR, MSc

Elisabeth is a PhD student in Epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health. She earned her Master of Science in Environmental Health from the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington, where she worked on laboratory and modeling methods to support environmental surveillance for Salmonella Typhi. Since then, she has worked at the University of Southern California, investigating the effects of air pollution exposure on the neurodevelopment of adolescents. She also worked for four years as an epidemiologist on the wastewater surveillance team at the California Department of Public Health, where she developed novel analytics, visualizations, and communication tools to translate complex environmental microbiological data into actionable public health insights. She is interested in applied epidemiology, public health practice, and infectious disease epidemiology.

DARIA GAUSMAN, MS

Daria Gausman is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Washington. She graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cell Biology and a minor in Anthropology in 2018. She completed her Master of Science in Epidemiology at the University of Washington in 2026. Prior to joining START, Daria worked as a clinical research coordinator for the hematologic malignancies team at the University of Washington. In this role, she collaborated with physicians, regulatory teams, and pharmaceutical partners to coordinate care and research activities for patients on phase I, II and III clinical trials. Daria is excited to gain experience in global health and strengthen her quantitative skills with START. Her research interests include infectious disease, sexual and reproductive health, and molecular epidemiology.

ALAZAR MENBERE HAILE, MD

Dr. Alazar Menbere Haile is a medical doctor from Ethiopia with specialized training in orthopedic surgery. His research experience spans clinical research coordination, data collection, data cleaning, and statistical analysis. As a Clinical Research Fellow at the AO Innovation Translation Center, Dr. Haile developed additional expertise in systematic reviews, core outcome set development, Delphi methodology, study planning, budgeting, and project monitoring. He has contributed to multicenter studies examining fracture-related infections, the burden of lower limb amputation in sub-Saharan Africa, and adherence to the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist in LMICs. His research interests focus on addressing surgical and public health needs in underserved populations through collaborative research aimed at improving health outcomes in resource-limited settings.

JIN KYUNG JUNG, MSc

Jin Kyung Jung is a PhD student in Global Health Implementation Science at the University of Washington. She has spent more than a decade working across Africa and Asia on tuberculosis, maternal and child health, primary health care, and health systems strengthening. Trained first in law and later in health policy and financing at the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, she studies a question that has followed her across settings: why do promising health programs falter in real-world systems? Her research focuses on policy implementation, health financing, and service delivery, with the goal of designing practical, context-responsive strategies that improve access, equity, and long-term sustainability.

VARSHA KUMAR, MPH

Varsha Kumar is a public health professional and program leader with extensive experience in global health strategy, data analytics, and outbreak response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She earned her Master’s of Public Health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health with a concentration in Global Health and a certificate in Global Complex Humanitarian Emergencies. In her current role as a health scientist in the CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, she manages evaluation efforts for a $125M+ data modernization portfolio supporting national forecasting and outbreak detection initiatives. Her 6 year career at CDC has spanned global laboratory systems strengthening, Global HIV and TB, and forecasting and analytics. Throughout her career, she has led international collaborations across more than 40 countries, partnering with governments, industry leaders, WHO, and other global organizations to develop grant management and evaluation frameworks for over 20 multimillion-dollar programs.

RAPHAEL ONYANGO MANDO, MPH

Raphael Onyango Mando is a Global Health Implementation Science PhD student at the University of Washington. He possesses eight years of experience in the implementation and evaluation of implementation science projects in chronic communicable and non-communicable diseases, using implementation sciences techniques. Raphael holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as a certificate in tobacco control in Africa. As a Fogarty/IeDEA fellow, he led a study comparing the clinical outcomes of tobacco users versus non-tobacco users in a cohort of persons with HIV in East Africa. Prior to joining START, he contributed to research on the integration of tobacco use cessation into HIV clinics in Western Kenya, among other projects. His research interests encompass the application of implementation science techniques in tobacco use cessation interventions and differentiated service delivery models in chronic care, particularly for HIV.

ANDRÉS MORA, MD, MS, MSc