Global Health Diplomacy: Policy, Financing & Governance

Gabrielle Fitzgerald is a seasoned executive in the philanthropic and global health sectors, bringing over 20 years of experience in leading organizations and collaborating with influential leaders to drive global change. Most recently, she served as the Director of the Ebola Program at the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, where she managed Paul Allen’s $100 million commitment to addressing Ebola. Prior to this, Gabrielle was the Director of Global Program Advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she led a team focused on advancing the Foundation’s policy and advocacy agenda across 14 global health issue areas. Under her leadership, the team raised $1.3 billion from new philanthropists to tackle global health challenges and oversaw the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi in 2013, which resulted in commitments of $4 billion to achieve a polio-free world by 2018. She was also pivotal in establishing the Gates Foundation’s strategic relationship with the World Health Organization, managing $1 billion in grants. Gabrielle played a key role in putting malaria on the global agenda, leading initiatives that culminated in the 2007 Global Malaria Summit and the creation of the United Against Malaria campaign, which earned PR Week’s Global Campaign of the Year in 2014. Her contributions to malaria advocacy were recognized with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs Gold Medallion award in 2014. Gabrielle’s earlier career includes five years at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she led public affairs for HIV/AIDS programs, and she also served as the communications director for the U.S. Committee for Refugees. Her career began as a speechwriter for President Clinton at the White House. Gabrielle holds a Master of Public Administration from The Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts from American University in Washington, D.C.