Our Leadership

Dalitso Baloyi is the Malawi Country Director for Last Mile Health. In this role, he oversees Last Mile Health’s partnership with the Malawi Ministry of Health as they work to improve access to health services for 15 million people living in rural areas.

Dalitso is a seasoned program and country management professional with more than 18 years of progressive INGO management experience. Prior to joining Last Mile Health, Dalitso worked for Winrock International in the role of Country Director, where among other accomplishments, he spearheaded and supported the government of Malawi in the development of the first ever National Child Labour Mainstreaming Guide and developed a guide (known as Mbali Yanga- meaning “My Part”) for teachers to use in child and school-led advocacy to address child labour for Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania. He has also worked with BuildOn Inc and World Vision International. During his time with World Vision International, Dalitso developed an Integrated Primary Health Care Manual for Schools for use by teachers and community level health workers and participated in the development of Global Fund Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and TB for Malawi.

In all his roles, Dalitso has fostered country strategy development, built new programs and projects, developed comprehensive operational policies, fostered strong donor and stakeholder engagement, mentored staff, and designed program management tools (including undertaking gender analysis for different programmes and projects). He has experience managing USAID, DFID, Irish Aid, World Bank, EU, private sector, and philanthropically funded projects in the fields of education, nutrition, health, child protection, agriculture, disaster response, WASH, and governance. He is working to publish two books- “Compendium of Best Practices on Advocacy and Policy Dialogue” and “What Works to Integrate Gender and Social Inclusion in programmes?”

Dalitso is also an award-winning poet and a member of the Rotary Club of Bwaila in Lilongwe. He has an MA in Gender and Development Studies, and a Bachelor of Education degree.

Christina Bowles is Country Director, Sierra Leone for Last Mile Health. In this role, Christina oversees our partnership with the Ministry of Health in Sierra Leone to strengthen the implementation of the newly integrated community health program. The team in Sierra Leone leads several initiatives, including quality assurance of pre-service training for community health workers, partnering with the Ministry to operationalize the National CHW Program, co-designing sub-national exemplars in community health research, and digital training for the COVID-19 response.

Christina is passionate about implementing effective programs that meet the needs of key stakeholders and generate actionable results. Prior to joining the Sierra Leone team, Christina served as Interim Managing Director for the Global Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) team at Last Mile Health. In that role she oversaw global team support to MERL work across all Last Mile Health country programs. She was also the MERL lead for the Ethiopia and Sierra Leone country programs where she led the co-design of internal evaluations for multiple projects related to upskilling community and frontline health workers. Prior to joining Last Mile Health, Christina led the MEL department of OneVillage Partners, a community-led development organization in Sierra Leone, where there is a strong focus on participatory and community-focused evaluation methods. Christina also has experience coordinating multi-country Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health academic research projects and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) research. Christina holds a MPH in Community Health & Prevention from Drexel University and a BA in Biology from Hope College.

Nan Chen is Co-Executive Director of Africa Frontline First. Before assuming his current leadership role with this initiative, he served as Managing Director, Health Systems Strengthening, supporting Last Mile Health’s global work to understand what works and why in community health program scale. He also worked to diffuse those lessons via partnerships and advocacy for community health systems in collaboration with peer organizations to support countries strengthen their community health systems. Prior to Last Mile Health, Nan worked with the Millennium Challenge Corporation on private public partnerships, policy analysis, and nutrition/stunting interventions. Additionally, Nan worked with Open Capital Advisors in Kenya advising SME and impact investors on pathways to scale for social enterprises. Nan has also advised NGOs and social enterprises through the Harvard Law and International Development Society and Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs. Nan has an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, JD from Northwestern University, and BA from University of Chicago.

Courtney Evans Henke is the Managing Director of Partnerships & Communications. In this role, she oversees Last Mile Health’s Partnerships & Communications department, which aims to cultivate and steward partnerships that advance and elevate Last Mile Health’s mission. Courtney has over 10 years of experience in fundraising, grant writing, and non-profit management. Previously, she served as Senior Director of Development at the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality, an organization committed to improving child health outcomes in the United States. She began her career as a teacher and coach. Courtney obtained a BA in Anthropology and an MA in Educational Studies from Tufts University.

Meggan Ireland is the Chief Financial & Operating Officer at Last Mile Health. In this role, she oversees the organization’s financial strategy and the management of financial resources as well as risk, compliance, and components of enterprise operations. 

Meggan first joined the organization in 2016 in our Monrovia, Liberia office, where she led our grants management and partnerships functions during a period of rapid organizational growth. Most recently, she stepped into the role of Interim Chief Operating Officer in May 2023, providing direct oversight of our Finance team and setting up a new Risk, Compliance, and Management Systems team. Prior to joining Last Mile Health, Meggan worked at the Tropical Health & Education Trust, overseeing grant giving under the £30m UK Aid-funded Health Partnership Scheme, a role she took after working for Barclays Bank in their growing Global Development Organizations team. Meggan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

Lisha McCormick is Chief Executive Officer of Last Mile Health, leading an international team to strengthen community health systems in partnership with governments in Africa. Lisha joined Last Mile Health in 2013, serving as Chief Development Officer and President and Chief Operating Officer before assuming the position of Chief Executive Officer. Under her leadership, Last Mile Health has grown from a district-level pilot in Liberia to an international organization reaching more than 19 million people at the last mile.

Lisha began her career as a community health worker. For more than 20 years, she has worked to design and implement systems of care that engage historically excluded communities. Prior to joining the Last Mile Health team, her work was principally focused on public sector healthcare in the United States, where she tailored programs and services to meet the needs of runaway and homeless youth, those living with mental illness, and those navigating substance use disorders.

Lisha holds a Master of Public Health from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, a Certificate in Executive Administration & Non-Profit Management from Harvard Business School, and a dual Bachelor’s degree in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Lisha currently serves as a Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government Social Innovation & Change Initiative Visiting Social Entrepreneur.

Dr. Divya Nair is Chief Technical Officer at Last Mile Health. She serves to provide executive oversight of the Health Systems Strengthening team and the Global Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning team. These teams together provide technical support for our work in Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, and Sierra Leone. Among other roles, Divya is tasked with developing a shared technical vision for how community health systems can consistently deliver care in remote communities at scale, at quality, and sustainably.

Prior to Last Mile Health, Divya has worked with governments, multilaterals, NGOs and donors for over 15 years to improve evidence-informed decision making. She’s worked with the World Bank in Washington DC, IFAD in Rome, and the Institute for Health Policy in Colombo. Most recently, as Director at IDinsight in New Delhi over the last six years, Divya led several high-impact engagements, managed diverse teams, and designed and executed collaborations to support data-driven programming and policy. Clients included key institutions in national and state governments and several transformative NGOs. Divya oversaw the conceptualization of these technical partnerships and deployed a range of analytical tools to drive towards higher social impact.

Divya has a Ph.D. in public health and economics from Johns Hopkins University, an MPA from Princeton University, and a BA from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi.  Divya is passionate about justice and equity and has engaged deeply on topics of health and nutrition as well as women and girls’ empowerment, and has also worked on financial inclusion, agriculture, and sanitation.

Motivated by a passion for building resilient health systems and leaders, James Nardella serves as Chief Program Officer for Last Mile Health. Through partnership with governments, Last Mile Health expands access to high-quality community-based primary healthcare for millions of people living in remote and rural communities. James guides programs that strengthen community health systems, upskill the health workforce, and deliver community-based care and treatment in Liberia, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone. He also oversees Last Mile Health’s global advocacy to ensure government, philanthropy, and aid organizations prioritize investments and plans to supervise, salary, supply, and upskilll community and frontline health workers.

Prior to joining Last Mile Health, James served as Principal on the Portfolio & Investments Team at the Skoll Foundation. He led the Foundation’s relationship with a $40M portfolio of current Skoll Awardees and managed a team responsible for tracking the pipeline of candidates and monitoring the performance of past Skoll Awardees.

Prior to Skoll, James led the Lwala Community Alliance, a Kenyan health and development organization known for its community approach to increasing child survival, skilled delivery rates, and access to HIV care.

James holds a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts from Boston University and a M.Ed. in International Education Policy and Leadership from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University.

Sarah Parish is Chief of Staff at Last Mile Health. In this role, she supports the Chief Executive Officer in the management and growth of organizational operations and strategy to strengthen community health systems. Sarah first worked with Last Mile Health from 2014 to 2016, serving as Grants Manager and Deputy Program Director in Liberia, where she oversaw fundraising and grant activities during the Ebola crisis and supported the successful execution of the organization’s program strategy.

Sarah has over twelve years of experience managing fundraising efforts and strategic initiatives for development and public health programs across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the US. Most recently, she worked as Director of Planning & Development for ICAP at Columbia University, leading efforts to secure diverse funding streams in support of their mission to transform the health of populations through innovation, research, and global collaboration. Sarah holds a BA in Foreign Languages and International Affairs from the University of Puget Sound and an MA in Rural Development from the University of East Anglia in the UK.

Mallika Raghavan is the Deputy Chief Program Officer. In this role, she directly manages Last Mile Health’s work in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Sierra Leone, supports Last Mile Health’s ongoing work in Liberia, and provides oversight on program strategy and performance functions in partnership with Last Mile Health’s Chief Program Officer.

She joined Last Mile Health in 2014. Most recently, she served as Director of Country Engagement from 2018 to 2021, where she supported the organization’s programming in Liberia and Malawi and led technical projects on community health systems strengthening. She served as Last Mile Health’s Director of National Community Health Systems from 2016 to 2018, and Deputy Director of Quality and Innovation from 2014 to 2016. In these roles, she helped lead the design, launch, and scale of Liberia’s National Community Health Assistant Program alongside the Ministry of Health

Mallika has over ten years of experience in community health systems. Prior to joining Last Mile Health, she worked under the Government of South Sudan to support eradication of neglected tropical disease efforts and in New Delhi and Bihar, India on disaster risk reduction programmes. She holds an MPH from Columbia University in Forced Migration and Health.

Katelyn Reinert is the Managing Director, People Operations. In this role, she leads the People Operations team to achieve ambitious strategic goals and organization-wide people strategies designed to recruit, develop, and retain top talent at Last Mile Health. Katelyn joined Last Mile Health in 2013 and has held roles across our operations and people operations functions throughout periods of rapid geographic and headcount expansion and organizational change. During Katelyn’s tenure at Last Mile Health, she has co-authored our compensation model; launched our country programs in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Sierra Leone; and presently serves as a member of the Safety & Security Council. She holds a BA in International Relations from Boston University and is a SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP).

Brittney Varpilah is Last Mile Health’s Liberia Country Director. In this role, she is responsible for shepherding all of Last Mile Health’s Liberia-based projects, people, and resources in order to attain multi-year strategic objectives, annual key results, donor milestones, and overall impact in accordance with Last Mile Health’s theory of change. Brittney has worked alongside the Ministry of Health since the launch of the National Community Health Program in 2016. Over the last decade, she has contributed to the building of community health worker curriculum; coordinated donor partner funding; tested new community approaches to immunization, nutrition, and contraception; revised the national policy based on learning; and ensured continued political support for the national program.

Previously, Brittney worked at Mercy Corps in Liberia on youth development and community health programming and at World Learning where she led international youth exchange programming. She holds a Master of Arts in International Education from the School for International Training and Bachelor of Arts in International and Global Studies from the University of Maine.

Barbara Willett is Managing Director, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL). In this role she works to support organizational strategy through effective monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning practices. She works across country programs to oversee the design and implementation of mixed methods MERL plans, data collection, analyses, data use for adaptive management and quality improvement, and dissemination of results to donors, partners, and the global community health sector.

Barbara joins Last Mile Health with more than 15 years of experience leading global MEL teams, designing M&E systems, building capacity, creating standards and policies, and adapting and adopting new and emerging tools and technologies for MERL. She previously served as MERL/MEL Director for Mercy Corps and American Red Cross (International Services), and has worked for a range of other nonprofits, domestic and international. For the past four years she has been a consultant, conducting research and evaluation and helping organizations build MERL structures, policies, and resources. Clients included Bixal (formerly Clear Outcomes), Mercy Corps, Digital Impact Alliance, American Red Cross, the Government of Canada, and World Learning. She has an MA in Development Studies from Ohio University, attended Claremont Graduate University’s Advanced Study in Program Evaluation certificate program, and completed doctoral coursework in qualitative and quantitative research at the University of Central Florida.

Naa Adorkor Yawson is Managing Director, Operational Services at Last Mile Health. In this role, Naa is responsible for developing, coordinating, and deploying high-quality operational services for our country programs across Africa. She will also serve as the head of Last Mile Health’s Ghana office.

Naa comes to Last Mile Health from Zipline Ghana, where, as Country Manager, she oversaw the operation of Zipline’s aerial logistics service in Ghana through its partnership with Ghana’s Ministry of Health. She led the expansion of the first national scale drone delivery service to cover about 60% of the country, including key hard-to-reach and island communities. Prior to this role, she was the Head of Health Systems Integration at Zipline, leading its integration into the existing health supply chain. Prior to Zipline, Naa served in senior operations, regulatory and technical advisory roles within Ghana’s pharmaceutical industry. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and a Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Abraham Zerihun Megentta is Country Director, Ethiopia for Last Mile Health. In this role, Abraham oversees our work with the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia to upskill the community health workforce. He leads several initiatives, including blended in-service training for community health workers, digital training for COVID-19 response, and health system leadership development for health leaders.

Abraham brings extensive experience working in public health programs implemented at primary healthcare and community levels to his work with Last Mile Health. Prior to joining our team, he worked at UNAIDS, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Yale University, and the Children Investment Fund Foundation in roles dedicated to health management, health system strengthening, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, and human resources for health in Ethiopia, Jamaica, Lesotho, and Rwanda. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Addis Ababa University and a Masters in Public Health from Mekele University.