Patricia Odero

Dr. Patricia Odero leads the foundation’s efforts to support design and testing of promising innovations that address barriers to use of family planning. This includes generating evidence on the feasibility, cost efficiency, and scalability of approaches that can further private-sector delivery, digital platforms, and interventions that increase demand for and use of family planning.

Before joining the foundation, Patricia was the Africa Regional Director of Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center, where she led teams that provided strategic support to growth-stage ventures working across the health care value chain, including in family planning; reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health; and digital health. At this nexus of research and practice, she worked with health systems and entrepreneurs to adapt and scale up promising innovations while supporting policymakers and other partners in implementing financing and policy reforms. She also led the policy team that developed Africa’s first regional health data-sharing and protection policy, which was endorsed by eight countries in the Horn of Africa.

Patricia’s previous experience includes roles with bilateral funders and implementing organizations, where she provided technical expertise in areas such as health data policy, health financing, public-private partnerships, and quality improvement across Africa and Asia. She is passionate about supporting platforms that showcase innovation from diverse teams, and she sits on the editorial board of the journal BMJ Innovations.

Patricia began her career as a medical doctor in rural Kenya, an experience that greatly shaped her passion to transform systems and solve global development challenges through innovation. In addition to her medical degree, she holds an executive MBA and a master’s degree in social innovation from the University of Cambridge.