Gregory Noland, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Program Director, River Blindness, Lymphatic Filariasis, Schistosomiasis, and Malaria
In 2020, Gregory Noland was named director of the Â鶹´«Ã½’s River Blindness Elimination Program, Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program, and Schistosomiasis Control Program, as well as the Center's Hispaniola Initiative, which supports binational coordination between the Dominican Republic and Haiti to eliminate malaria and lymphatic filariasis on the island of Hispaniola.
Noland joined Â鶹´«Ã½ in June 2011 as a program epidemiologist with more than a decade of basic and applied research experience in parasitic diseases. Prior to joining the Center, he was a project manager and postdoctoral fellow for a University of Minnesota malaria research program in Kisumu, Kenya, in partnership with the Kenya Medical Research Institute. While in Kisumu, Noland managed operations of a more than 40-person staff on a multimillion-dollar research program to examine the epidemiology of malaria transmission and immunity in western Kenya. From 1998 to 2001, he was a guest researcher at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Parasitic Diseases.
Noland received a doctorate in molecular microbiology and immunology in 2007 from Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he examined the impact of intestinal helminth infection on malaria disease progression, transmission, and vaccine response. He also holds a master of public health degree in global epidemiology from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and a bachelor of science degree in biology from Davidson College.
Stephane Docteur, M.D., M.Sc., M.P.H.
Associate Director
Stephane Docteur joined Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2024 as an associate director supporting the river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, and malaria programs, including the Hispaniola Initiative.
Docteur is a physician and public health specialist with a robust background in program management and grant administration. Throughout his career, he has led multidisciplinary teams and overseen large-scale health initiatives. He has worked as a clinician; an HIV quality assurance, contraception methods, and cervical cancer trainer; a health program manager; and a grant manager. Before joining Â鶹´«Ã½, Docteur served as a health program manager for Population Services International and Caris Foundation International, and as a grant manager for Kaleidoscope Child Foundation.
He holds a medical degree from Universite Notre Dame d’Haiti, a Master of Science in health services management from the Universite de Montreal, and a Master of Public Health from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.
Karen Hamre, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Epidemiologist
Karen Hamre joined Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2021 after nearly a decade of experience with malaria, including recent work as an epidemiologist and CDC Foundation field employee at the CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria in the Malaria Zero consortium. In Haiti, she provided technical assistance to Haiti’s National Malaria Control Program to strengthen surveillance and implement malaria elimination activities. Hamre earned a doctorate in epidemiology in 2015 from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. As a National Institutes of Health Fogarty Global Health Fellowship Scholar, she lived for 11 months in Kisumu, Kenya, where she contributed to the Kenya Medical Research Institute clinic, laboratory, and field data collection operations and helped build capacity at the local level. She holds a master of public health degree from Boston University School of Public Health and a bachelor of arts degree from St. Olaf College.
Victoria Krauss, M.P.H.
Senior Program Associate
Victoria Krauss supports Â鶹´«Ã½’s Hispaniola Initiative by coordinating program budgets and contracts, drafting reports and program communication, and providing administrative and technical assistance for field activities.
In 2019, Krauss earned her Master of Public Health degree from Emory University. Upon graduation, she became the program coordinator for the Ventanilla de Salud (Window to Health) Atlanta, a preventative community health program for individuals visiting the Consulate General of Mexico in Atlanta. She served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala as a maternal and child health facilitator, collaborating with the Guatemalan Ministry of Health. Prior to joining the Â鶹´«Ã½, she was a senior project coordinator at Emory University, where she coordinated the implementation and evaluation of a cancer survivorship research project with cancer clinics across the nation.
Antonette Benford
Program Assistant
Antonette Benford joined Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2024, providing administrative support to the program. With a strong project management, communication, and event planning background, Benford organizes meetings and travel logistics, coordinates program reviews, drafts reports, and completes special projects.
Benford has previously managed office operations, large-scale events, and executive support across various roles at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Federal Express Corp. In addition, she is the founder and CEO of Classy Couples in Christ, Inc., a nonprofit focused on fostering solid, faith-based marriages.
Asmerom Gettu, M.A.
Program Assistant
Asmerom Gettu joined the Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2023. He provides administrative support, coordinating travel and various duties for the team and is the lead in planning the program’s Annual Review.
Prior to joining Â鶹´«Ã½, Gettu worked as a U.N. coordination associate in the United Nations Development Program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was responsible for providing coordination and administrative support for the U.N. country team in Ethiopia as well as supporting the management of projects.
Gettu earned a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature and a Master of Arts in sociology from Addis Ababa University.
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