Donna Russell, Mha Email & Phone Number

Greater Seattle Area

Greater Seattle Area

Global health professional with 15+ years experience in strategic planning and program development, strategic partnerships, and program leadership and management. Expertise in establishing multi-country pregnancy cohorts and bio-repository networks; developing research capacity; and improving access to precision medicine in community settings. Projects include:PRECISE (Pregnancy Care Integrating translational Science Everywhere) Network, Kings College London - Leading the effort to… Show more Global health professional with 15+ years experience in strategic planning and program development, strategic partnerships, and program leadership and management. Expertise in establishing multi-country pregnancy cohorts and bio-repository networks; developing research capacity; and improving access to precision medicine in community settings. Projects include:PRECISE (Pregnancy Care Integrating translational Science Everywhere) Network, Kings College London - Leading the effort to establish harmonized, in-country biobanks that will support and facilitate translational research to improve maternal and newborn health across Africa. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - conducted a landscape review of foundation-funded pregnancy and birth cohorts and evaluated opportunities to synchronize and harmonize activities across similar research projects.World Health Organization - AMANHI Study - established standardized and harmonized collections of research quality biological samples and associated data from pregnant women in low-resource sites in Africa and SE Asia. This network of in-country biobanks is now supporting and facilitating research to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes.University of Oxford - The Global Health Network - advised on the content development of the Mother Child Link hub, which is part of the larger TGHN and supports maternal, newborn, and child health researchers in low-resource settings.Saving Lives at Birth Development XChange (2012), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - worked closely with the other Saving Lives at Birth Partners: USAID, Grand Challenges Canada, Government of Norway, and UK AID (DFID) to develop and manage an agenda that achieved the Saving Lives at Birth strategic goals of fostering a community of innovators in maternal, newborn and child health. Show less

Greater Seattle Area

Co-founded the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS), an initiative of Seattle Children’s. As co-founder, I identified, developed and maintained strategic partnerships internally within the organization and externally within the global health community. As Director of Research Development, I provided strategic leadership to align and accelerate research globally to improve maternal and newborn health. Achievements included:GAPPS Repository Provided the vision… Show more Co-founded the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS), an initiative of Seattle Children’s. As co-founder, I identified, developed and maintained strategic partnerships internally within the organization and externally within the global health community. As Director of Research Development, I provided strategic leadership to align and accelerate research globally to improve maternal and newborn health. Achievements included:GAPPS Repository Provided the vision and leadership for the creation of the GAPPS Repository network of hospitals in Washington State to support and facilitate research on normal and abnormal pregnancy outcomes to improve maternal, newborn and child health. This has become a model for setting up similar collections in the developed and developing world. Cohort Harmonization Convened Principal Investigators of large prospective cohorts of pregnant women, as well as experts in genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and other relevant fields to explore opportunities to harmonize / standardize collections and collaborate on future studies.The meeting resulted in a series of recommendations for promoting collaboration across studies and settings.MotherChildLink eHubCollaborated with University of Oxford Global Health Network team to develop a hub within the Network that is focused on supporting maternal, newborn and child health researchers and clinicians in low-resource settings. Provided leadership for brand creation and website development. LINK RegistryLed a core team of experts in the design and development of the LINK Registry (www.linkregistry.org), a user-friendly searchable, web-based database of detailed information about data and specimens collected from pregnancy and birth cohorts from around the world. The project has an overarching goal of facilitating collaboration among researchers and leveraging resources for future research. Show less

Served as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control on the revision of guidelines to prevent neonatal GBS disease. Initiated dialogue and raised visibility for neonatal group B strep (GBS) disease among key stakeholders in Washington State, which led to the creation of a GBS Workgroup and recommendations to improve data collection and raise awareness. As senior policy advisor to the Washington State Board of Health, served as lead staff on the Board’s Health Disparities Priority.… Show more Served as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control on the revision of guidelines to prevent neonatal GBS disease. Initiated dialogue and raised visibility for neonatal group B strep (GBS) disease among key stakeholders in Washington State, which led to the creation of a GBS Workgroup and recommendations to improve data collection and raise awareness. As senior policy advisor to the Washington State Board of Health, served as lead staff on the Board’s Health Disparities Priority. Convened key stakeholders; facilitated discussions; and analyzed and interpreted health disparities data to address policy-related questions. Served as consultant to the State Workforce Training & Education Coordinating Board, which is charged with developing a highly skilled workforce. Facilitated committee meetings of the Recruitment and Retention Committee, comprised of representatives of the labor unions, nursing commission, among others to establish priorities, outline a strategy and leverage opportunities. This project culminated in a final report and recommendations that resulted in significant federal funding.Provided program oversight and served as community liaison for the federally funded program 'Steps to a Healthier Washington' that provided funding to four Washington communities to work with local partners to identify, implement and track interventions addressing obesity, diabetes, and asthma in the targeted communities.Created the organizational infrastructure and provided leadership for the Local Capacity Development Funds (LCDF) program for the Washington State Department of Health. This new program provided $15M per biennium in flexible funding to the 34 local public health jurisdictions to develop and strengthen local public health capacity. Provided consultation and technical assistance to local health jurisdictions; developed contractual agreements and budget control systems and procedures; and reported progress to the State Legislature. Show less

Mha, Public Health Policy

Bs, Nutrition & Food Science