Martha Madison Campbell is a political scientist and health policy specialist with interests in population, economics, issues of scale, and reproductive rights for women. In the 1990s she directed the population program in the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In 2000 she formed Venture Strategies to create large scale change where it is wanted in low resource countries around the world, while maintaining a compact structure. Dr. Campbell led the first comprehensive review of the broad range of barriers that stand between women in low resource settings and the family planning methods and information they need for managing their childbearing. She has written and spoken widely on the sensitivities and widespread silence around the subject of population growth, and the nature of conflicting perspectives in this area. Her academic degrees are from Wellesley College and the University of Colorado. She is a Lecturer in global health in the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.

Lauren has extensive experience in the area of international maternal and child health. Drawing on her background in journalism, anthropology, and public health, she has worked in United Nations organizations and other international NGOs in Ecuador, Honduras, Uganda, Thailand and Kenya. Prior to joining Venture Strategies she served as a researcher for the Berkeley Human Rights Center, assisting in a project to establish accountability for sexual assault in Kenya following the 2007 post-election violence. At Venture Strategies she works on health and population issues. Lauren holds a master in medical anthropology from University of South Florida and a master in public health from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Eliya Msiyaphazi Zulu earned his PhD in Demography at the University of Pennsylvania, and is originally from Malawi.  Before founding AFIDEP Dr. Zulu was the Deputy Director and Director of Research at the acclaimed African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). He also headed at APHRC the Urbanization and Wellbeing Research Program, and the Policy Engagement and Communications Unit.  He is the elected president of UAPS, the Union for African Population Studies, which has a membership of 1,700.  In Venture Strategies (VSHD) he holds the title of Director of Development Policy.

Dr Zulu's research and policy engagement interests cover a wide range of issues in international development, including population growth, urbanization, reproductive health, poverty, health systems, and policy analysis. 

Karen’s experience ranges from proteomics research, healthcare information technology, to HIV/AIDS prevention. She has worked in both the public and private sectors including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Oracle Corporation, start-up biotechnology companies, UCSF, and most recently the nonprofit Venture Strategies for Health and Development. She also served as a contract program advisor at the United Nations Population Fund, China, based in Beijing. Her work there focused on advocating for the improvement of condom quality in China and its implication on HIV/AIDS programs, and integrating HIV/AIDS services into the existing far-reaching family planning system. In 2008, Karen, through her work as a program manager at Venture Strategies, played a key role in the starting up of World Health Partners. Karen holds a bachelor of science in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, a master of science in biotechnology from Northwestern University, and a master of public health from the University of California, Berkeley.

Matthew Hamilton graduated from North Carolina State University in 2004 with BS degrees in physics and mathematics. After graduation, Matt entered the Biomathematics Graduate Program at NCSU, where he studied statistics and ecology. His research used mathematical models and computer simulations to study mechanisms that generate and sustain complexity in ecological systems. After graduating with an MS in Biomathematics in 2007, Matt came to Berkeley to study global health and development.

While enrolled in the Berkeley MPH program, Matt worked for VSHD on two output-based aid programs in western Uganda. Output-based aid (OBA) is a way to increase utilization of facility-based health services by means of a direct subsidy in the form of a voucher. Patients purchase vouchers at a subsidized price and trade them for care at contracted private sector health care facilities, which then submit claims for reimbursement. The first OBA program in Uganda, known as HealthyLife, provided voucher patients with affordable testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Matt collaborated with Berkeley doctoral student Ben Bellows to measure the program’s population impact and cost-effectiveness.

After graduating in 2009, Matt stayed on at VSHD to conduct a population survey and impact evaluation of the second OBA program in Uganda, known as HealthyBaby, which provided poor mothers with access to facility-based maternal deliveries. Matt’s interests include impact evaluation, survey design, and causal effect estimation; performance-based financing mechanisms; and private sector health care in developing countries.

Joanna Ortega is an MPH student in the Health and Social Behavior program at UC Berkeley. She completed a BA in Global Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Before coming to UC Berkeley, she spent two and a half years working as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Ecuador. During her time in Ecuador, she worked in a variety of areas such as microcredit, health education, malaria prevention, demographic and epidemiologic data collection, and water and sanitation, among others. One of her primary projects was the recruitment, management, and training of a network of health promoters—local volunteers from 26 rural communities who received training in first-aid and other preventive health strategies.

After returning to the U.S. from Ecuador, she joined the board of directors of the Minga Foundation, a nonprofit that she worked closely with during her time in the Peace Corps. As a board member, she collaborates with a team to manage and support various projects aimed at improving the health and well-being of people in developing countries primarily through capacity-building.

She is passionate about improving access to family planning and reducing maternal mortality in developing countries through programs that build local capacity and support and empower people to make the changes they wish to see in their communities.

Prior to joining the Venture Strategies team in 2006, Brandon worked for the Bay Area International Group (BIG) and for the Center for Entrepreneurship in International Health and Development (CEIHD), both affiliated with the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. His work has included research and data analysis using the Demographic and Health Surveys in preparation for the publication of the article “Barriers to Fertility Regulation”, recently published in the journal, Studies in Family. He received a Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in 2010, majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in ‘Health and Poverty in Developing Countries.’ His undergraduate thesis explored the potential scale-up of programs involving task-sharing of family planning services in sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to joining Venture Strategies for Health and Development, Nadia worked as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India, doing a study on maternal anemia in the low income and slum population.  While pursuing her master's degree, Nadia focused her thesis research on malaria in pregnancy in India.  As an undergraduate, she conducted thesis research on fertility decline in Southern India, specifically looking at gender preference and sex selective practices.  Nadia also worked at San Francisco General Hospital doing research on hepatitis B.  Nadia has participated in research projects in Tanzania on contraceptive use and maternal mortality while an intern with the Bixby Center for Population, Health and Sustainability, and in rural Guatemala on the effects of indoor air pollution on maternal and child health.

Nadia received a master of science degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a bachelor of arts in Human Biology from Brown University.