Our Experts

Heather Ross, IntraHealth International, Health Workforce Officer
Heather supports the Nursing Education Partnership Initiative, the Medical Education Partnership Initiative, and preservice education activities in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as contributing to the supply chain management workforce initiative (People that Deliver) and the HRH communities of practice for Africa initiative.

Prior to her employment with IntraHealth, Heather worked at the George Washington University’s Medical Education Partnership Initiative Coordinating Center. Also at GW, Heather earned her MPH with concentrations in global health and epidemiology. Prior to her time at GW, Heather spent several years with the American Red Cross, where she taught emergency response courses, led volunteer programs, and deployed with the US armed forces to Iraq and Kuwait. Her research has focused on whole-of-systems approaches to health, and her particular interest is in health systems building in crisis states.

Heather is married to Robert DeGraffenreid, and they have a son named Kai.

Expertise

• Preservice education
• Emergency response

Selected Publications
Ross, Heather, and Z. Talib. 2012. Exploring eLearning’s potential for enhancing and expanding medical education in Africa. Paper presented at the meeting of the 2012 eLearning Africa conference, Cotonou, Benin.

Mullan, Fitzhugh, Seble Frehywot, Francis Omaswa, Eric Buch, Candice Chen, S. Ryan Greysen, Travis Wasserman, Diaa ElDin ElGaili Abubakr, Madge Awases, Charles Boelen, et al. 2011. “Medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa.” The Lancet 377, no. 9771: 1113-1121.

Mullan, Fitzhugh, Seble Frehywot, Candice Chen, Ryan Greysen, Travis Wassermann, Heather Ross, Huda Ayas, Selam Bedada Chale, Soeurette Cyprien, Jordan Cohen, et al. 2010. The Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study: Data, observation, and opportunity. Washington, DC: The George Washington University Medical Center. http://www.samss.org/samss.upload/wysiwyg/SAMSS%20Report_FinalV2_120110b...

Frehywot, Seble, Fitzhugh Mullan, Perry W. Payne, and Heather Ross. 2010. Compulsory service programmes for recruiting health workers in remote and rural areas: Do they work? Bulletin of the World Health Organization 88, no.5: 364-370. http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/5/09-071605/en/index.html

Frehywot, Seble, Fitzhugh Mullan, Heather Ross, and Perry W. Payne. (Forthcoming.) Compulsory service programs as a means of deploying and retaining health workers in rural, remote and underserved areas: A global analysis. World Health Organization.

Degrees
Master’s in Public Health, Global Health, Epidemiology

Additional Staff Profiles

Photo by Picture People, courtesy of Heather Ross