Nina Schwalbe

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor
  • Principal Visiting Fellow

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Overview

Nina Schwalbe started her work in public health in a refugee camp in Northern Thailand. Nina current currently leads a public health advisory service that provides policy and strategy guidance to governments, international organizations and foundations. Nina has served as the acting Associate Director of the Program Division and Chief of Health for UNICEF, implementing health-related programs in over 150 countries. In her time at UNICEF,  she developed a new agency-wide strategy for health.

Prior to UNICEF, Nina served on the executive team of Gavi, the vaccine alliance. As Managing Director for Policy and Performance, she led Gavi's work in strategic planning, policy development, market-shaping, performance management and monitoring and evaluation. She developed Gavi's strategy, a key component of their successful advocacy and replenishment efforts. Before Gavi, Nina directed the policy department at the Global Alliance for Tuberculosis Drug Development, where she focused on product introduction and advocacy. Nina came to the TB Alliance from the Soros Foundations, where she had developed and directed their global public health program. Nina has also worked for the Population Council and AVSC International (now EngenderHealth) implementing programs and advocating with governments for the adoption of new technologies. She has worked across Asia, Europe and Africa.

  

Academic Appointments

  • Adjunct Assistant Professor
  • Principal Visiting Fellow

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • BA, 1988 Harvard/Radcliffe Colleges
  • MPH, 1993 Columbia University
  • Certificate, 1993 Harriman Institute, Columbia University

Committees, Societies, Councils

Member, Council on Foreign Relations

Principal Fellow, UNU-International Institute of Global health

Commissioner, Women's Refugee Commission

Honors & Awards

Feranc Boyan Memorial Lecture, European Public Health Association

Research

Research Interests

  • Community Health
  • Global Health
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Public Health Education

Selected Publications

Nguyen A, Schwalbe N. Apples and oranges? Can second generation vaccines become as low cost as generic medicines?. Vaccine. 2019;37(22):2910‐2914. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.04.016

Schwalbe N, Wahl B. Artificial intelligence and the future of global health. Lancet. 2020;395(10236):1579‐1586. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30226-9

Wahl B, Cossy-Gantner A, Germann S, Schwalbe N. Artificial intelligence (AI) and global health: how can AI contribute to health in resource-poor settings?BMJ Global Health 2018;3:e000798.

Brumana L, Arroyo A, Schwalbe NR, et al Maternal and child health services and an integrated, life-cycle approach to the prevention of non-communicable diseases BMJ Global Health 2017;2:e000295.

Nina Schwalbe, Ibrahim El Ziq. GAVI's Advance Market Commitment. The Lancet 2010, 375 (9715): 638-39.

Subhashani Chandrasekharan, Tahir Amin, Joice Kim, Elaine Furrer, Anna Carin Matterson Nina Schwalbe, Aurelia Nguyen. Intellectual property rights and challenges for development of affordable human papillomavirus, rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines: Patent landscaping and perspectives of developing country vaccine manufacturers. Vaccine, 33 (2015) 6366-6370

Celina M Hanson, Eliane Furrer, Nina Schwalbe, Seth Berkley. Prediction of immunization performance. The Lancet, Vol 381, February 2, 2013.

Tania Cernuschi, Eliane Furrer, Nina Schwalbe, Andrew Jones, Ernst R Berndt & Susan McAdams. Advance market commitment for pneumococcal vaccines: putting theory into practice. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2011; 89:913-918; doi:10.2471/BLT.11.087700

Helen Saxenian, Santiago Cornejo, Kira Thorien, Robert Hecht, and Nina Schwalbe. An analysis of how the GAVI Alliance, low-income, and middle-income countries can share costs of new vaccines. Health Affairs, 2011 Jun, 30:6 (1-13).

William A. Wells, Niranjan Konduri, Cynthia Chen, David Lee, Heather R. Ignatius, Elizabeth Gardiner, and Nina R. Schwalbe. Tuberculosis regimen change in high- burden countries. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 2011 Mar, 15(3): 425.

Global Health Activities

Global Health: Nina served on the design team for the Global Financing Facility in Support of Every Woman Every Child and advises a number of public-private partnerships including Gavi, the vaccine alliance, CEPI, Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, UNICEF and WHO. She chaired the WHO's Research Network on COVID-19 and Educational Institutions and serves as a peer reviewer for the Lancet, BMJ, Nature, and the UK Medical Research Council, among others.

Gavi, the vaccine alliance: Nina chaired Gavi's Evaluation Advisory Committee

Urban Health Activities

International Society for Urban Health: Nina helped ISUH develop its new strategy.

Fondation Botnar: Nina has been working with Fondation Botnar as a senior advisor on strategy since 2017.