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Dr. Fiona Mactaggart is a multi-disciplinary technical advisor with more than 10 years of experience in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL); infectious disease control; and public health. As a co-lead of Abt's MERL portfolio, she draws on complexity theory and scientific methods to help clients test what works, discover why it works, and provide timely evidence-based recommendations to inform important decisions about policy and practice. Mactaggart contributes to business development, programme delivery, and thought leadership. She works in five key areas: monitoring (e.g., design of digital tools and visualisation platforms) research (e.g., cross-sectional survey design), evaluation methodologies (e.g., contribution analysis), learning (e.g., portfolio level evidence-informed strategic decision making), and cross-cutting MERL capabilities (e.g., adaptive management and GEDSI). Mactaggart has worked extensively in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Dr. Hecht is an environmental economist with more than 19 years of experience in economic analysis, policy analysis, and research. His primary areas of expertise are in environmental economics, cost-benefit analysis, regulatory economics, and decision analysis. Dr. Hecht is an expert in estimating the monetary value of “non-market” benefits, such as improvements in environmental quality, public health, safety, and security. Dr. Hecht has over 10 years of experience in the economic analysis of climate change and in evaluating the costs and benefits of climate change mitigation measures.

Sean McClellan, Ph.D. is a mixed-methods researcher with over a decade of experience in full cycle health services research. He has experience managing research projects, developing analytic designs, cleaning and analyzing administrative data, fielding rigorous surveys, conducting qualitative interviews, and communicating findings in plain language.

Sarah Gibson is a project-management specialist with 23 years of experience in public policy research. She has more than 20 years of experience managing complex projects, implementing random assignment studies and researching and analyzing policy for clients such as the Social Security Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She is proficient in project management, including resource management, budgeting and quality control. She develops process improvement recommendations, identifies end-user system requirements, and designs and delivers training. She helps federal agencies implement regulations and track progress toward meeting goals.

Elizabeth Giardino’s evaluation and technical assistance work on housing, community development, asset building, and government innovation policies and programs promotes more equitable access to opportunity and healthy outcomes for people across the U.S. Giardino specializes in leading teams, strategic planning, and relationship building, and has proven expertise in community-based participatory research and incorporating equitable approaches into technical assistance engagements.

Mbuso Jama has more than 17 years of experience as a Monitoring Evaluation Accountability Research and Learning expert (MEAL and MERL). His work has involved humanitarian, rehabilitation, and development efforts in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Partnership countries. His experience ranges from designing MEAL systems for adaptive management to impact evaluations. He has worked on projects funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), United Nations, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Canadian International Development Agency, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, European Union, and European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Adam Schaefer has over 16 years’ experience developing and managing environmental epidemiology research and evaluation projects. He is an expert in the health impacts of environmental exposures and has worked on both national and international projects, focusing on infectious disease, toxicology, health surveillance, and One Health. Before coming to Abt, Schaefer was a researcher at Florida Atlantic University. He has published numerous epidemiological studies in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Karen Stein is a lead survey methodologist with more than 15 years of research experience designing and pretesting surveys, conducting qualitative studies, and managing projects and programs. She has overseen teams designing and implementing methodologies, including 1:1 interviews, usability testing, and data analysis. She has made recommendations to major clients such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Census Bureau, Food and Nutrition Service, Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Department of Justice (DOJ).

Dr. Tiffany G. Harris is an epidemiologist with over 20 years of experience working in public health. She has overseen surveillance, program implementation and management, monitoring and evaluation, informatics, and data analysis and dissemination at the local, federal, and international level. She focuses on HIV, tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Joe Baweja is the Abt Digital Public Health Lead with over thirty years of experience in software development, IT solutions, and project and portfolio management. Baweja supported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 20 years, and the intelligence community for nearly 10, in developing and delivering IT solutions that enable clients to better meet their mission. Joe has led a division with over $40M in annual revenue and 175 people, including the integration of a team gained via an acquisition, and strived to foster an environment of delivering innovative solutions to meet the customer needs. He is a project management professional and certified scrum master, and has participated in three Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level 2 and 3 successful certifications.  Baweja has also collaborated with U.S. Congressional staff during appropriations season as a subject matter expert for public health projects in over 100 meetings on Capitol Hill.