HMN Secretariat
Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Executive Secretary ad interim
Dr Jane Thomason, Advisor to the HMN Executive Board
Dr Jane Thomason has worked in international health programme policy and implementation in the Asia- Pacific Region for 30 years. Her international career has included work for governments and donors including the Asian Development Bank, WHO, World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and AusAID.
She has also held key Australian appointments including Queensland Director of Women’s Health, Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Royal Children’s Hospital, Commissioner on the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse in Queensland, Chairman of the Wesley Hospital Board and Member of the Uniting Health Care Board, the International Operations Committee of the Red Cross, the Consultative Council of the Australian Centre for International Tropical Health and Nutrition and the Aid Advisory Council to the Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
In the course of her career, Dr Thomason has worked extensively on health information systems strengthening in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific. This includes the development and strengthening of routine health information systems for improving the management of health services, including hospital patient information systems, public health information systems, district health information systems, human resource information systems, and financial management information systems. Dr Thomason has an MPH from the University of Sydney and a PhD from the University of Queensland.
Mark Amexo, Senior Technical Officer (Monitoring of Vital Events)
Mark Amexo is responsible for HMN's work with partners and countries on Monitoring of Vital Events for the Millennium Development Goals.
Dr Amexo is a public health physician and a health information system expert with many years experience in national and sub-national health systems management, including in priority interventions planning and strategy implementation.
Dr Amexo worked previously in the WHO Country Office in Ghana and UNITAID in WHO Headquarters, Geneva. He also served as an expert on the Technical Review Panel of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
He combines expertise in health systems, quality management and health information use for improved performance and better outcomes for health intervention programmes. His previous work in HMN included providing guidance to countries on health information system strategic planning, policy and tools development for reform of country health information systems.
His earlier professional work included clinical practice, hospital management and a position as District Medical Officer during which period his expertise proved invaluable in an era of health sector reform, decentralization and strengthening district health systems. Dr Amexo is an alumnus of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST, in Kumasi Ghana), Galilee College (Tivon, Israel) and The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (Germany).
Christopher Jones, Information Technology Officer
Christopher Jones is responsible for HMN's web site, results-based management system and partners' database. He also liaises with HMN project leads to provide guidance on information technology (IT)-related issues. In addition, he works in the Executive Office of the Assistant Director-General of WHO's Cluster on Innovation, Information, Evidence and Research where he is developing a cluster-wide web strategy and managing various IT projects.
Mr Jones has been with WHO for more than six years. Prior to his time with HMN, he first worked for the WHO Department of Knowledge Management on the development of a global public health database and then for the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform where he was responsible for web and communications, and acted as a liaison with national clinical trials registries, particularly those in development in the African Region.
Mr Jones holds degrees in computer science (BS), business administration (BA) and French. He also has completed post-graduate studies in pharmaceutical economics and policy, and is currently completing a MBA in management of technology at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.
Abir Shady, Technical Officer (Governance and Partners)
Abir Shady is responsible for HMN governance and matters relating to the Network's partners. She has been a WHO staff member since early 1992, and has always been involved in project management of WHO collaborative programmes in the health and social development sectors in different countries and in various settings. She was also a member of WHO humanitarian and emergency teams in several developing countries.
Prior to joining HMN, Ms Shady worked in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, country offices, and the WHO Office at the United Nations in New York. She thus gained a multi-faceted, profound knowledge of the work of WHO and the United Nations system with comprehensive country, regional, and global perspectives.
Through her academic background and 19 years of experience within WHO, Ms Shady broadened her expertise in technical areas such as project/programme management, governance, policy and international relations, advocacy, partnership and resource mobilization, as well as monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
Hernan Velasquez, Finance and Administrative Assistant
Hernan Velasquez carries out a number of HMN administrative tasks with a focus on financial management and the budget. Mr. Velasquez is Colombian and Swiss, and has a background in accounting. After studying in Switzerland at the Cours Commerciaux de Genève, he gained 10 years experience in finance and administration while working in the private sector and at WHO starting in 2001.