Dr. Ekpenyong (Kokzy) Ekanem MD, MPH, is public health physician and global health policy professional with over 9 years of experience in public and private sectors of health service delivery. Kokzy possesses significant health systems research and project implementation experience, especially in developing countries in Africa – Nigeria, South-Sudan, Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia – as well as Brazil. He has substantial experience with international donors, including USAID, DFID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Packard Foundation. His portfolio of work includes international health systems development, quality improvement in resource-challenged settings, growth and strengthening of health systems’ service delivery models, and the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of lower-level district to country-wide programs.

He has consulted with GHS since 2011, initially full time, then on an ad-hoc basis, focusing on a wide range of global health issues including polio eradication, reproductive health and family planning, maternal and child health, and immunization. In addition, Kokzy has contributed to building and managing GHS’s media relationships, particularly in Anglophone West Africa. Kokzy graduated with a Medical degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and an MPH in Global Health Leadership from New York University (NYU) where he was the founding president of NYU’s Global Public Health Action Network (GPHAN), a not-for-profit graduate student body committed to community service, public health networking/mentoring, bridging/capacity building and increasing awareness of global health issues both on the NYU campus and beyond.