EP91 The Dynamics of Private Public Partnerships with Samara Mbugua

Samara Mbugua is a GPH alumna, graduating with a concentration in Community & International Health in 2014, who now serves as the President of the school's inaugural alumni board. Samara currently works as a Global Health Analyst at Becton, Dickinson & Company (BD), a global medical technology company. [Samara holds a Bachelor's degree in Health Science from Boston University. Prior to joining BD's Global Health team, Samara worked as a consultant to hospital clinicians utilizing BD's disease surveillance software.] Samara is the proud child of Kenyan and Zimbabwean immigrants and this background heavily inspires the work she does, working to increase access to BD's products and resources in low- and middle-income countries. In this role, Samara especially focuses on strengthening public-private partnerships or PPPs, by supporting the planning, implementation, and monitoring of various programs on tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, infusion safety and laboratory quality among other topics. These cross-sector partnerships have resulted in global advocacy campaigns, capacity building for healthcare workers, laboratory systems strengthening, and other milestones. In this conversation, Samara explains more about what PPPs are and their impact and implementation as well as shares her global experiences as part of her role, and discusses the importance of having a seat at the table and diversity. To learn more about the NYU School of Global Public Health, and how our innovative programs are training the next generation of public health leaders, visit publichealth.nyu.edu.