OLD About | Impact For Health

Who we are

We are a women-led boutique consulting firm with extensive in-country experience in health system strengthening and sexual & reproductive health. Based in Canada and founded in 2017, we collaborate with both local and international changemakers to deliver actionable blueprints to our clients regarding global health investment strategies and program design.

Nikki Charman

Partner | Scotland

Nikki has 27 years of experience in health delivery in lower and middle-income countries, with a focus on private sector engagement, market system development, and consumer and provider behaviour change. Prior to joining Impact for Health Nikki enjoyed a long period working for Population Services International (PSI), both at the country level (implementing interventions to improve health delivery through networks of private providers in Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar and Kenya) as well as part of global advisory teams based out of Nairobi and Washington DC. More recently, while Vice President Marketing, Nikki led the launch and roll out of an innovative program design process (Keystone Design Framework) for use across the PSI Network of over 50 country programs, in order to develop improved intervention investment cases that are underpinned by systems thinking, behavioural theory and human-centred design. Prior to PSI, Nikki worked for Marie Stopes International, both at the country level and global level on planning, strategic facilitation and performance improvement.

Phil Frei, MSc

COO | Toronto, Canada

Phil manages all aspects of the operations for Impact for Health. At times, Phil gets pulled into projects that require innovations around business models, like our work with Triggerize to develop new models for incorporating user feedback, or analysis and modeling of data, like CIFF’s Rapid Composite Analysis of FCDO cuts to SRHR. Phil is a business leader with decades of experience building new business with a focus on impact and scale. Phil has a Bachelor and Masters of Science from MIT

Gabrielle Appleford, MSc

Senior Consultant | Nairobi, Kenya

Gabrielle has been working with IHI as a Senior Consultant for over 7 years on numerous projects. She has specific subject experience in health financing, sexual and reproductive health/family planning, community and health systems strengthening, private sector engagement, and monitoring, learning and evaluation (MLE). She possesses strong management, leadership, creative and analytical skills and has employed these in a wide range of contexts. Gabrielle has worked or consulted for a wide range of organizations in sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific, and Asia. Gabrielle holds a master’s in public health from LSHTM and a master’s in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia.

Our Team

Claire Gapare, MSc

Associate | Montréal, Canada

Claire supports our clients’ work through rigorous data collection, analysis, and communication. Claire holds a MSc in Public Health from McGill University with experience in Infectious diseases and Women’s health. During her time McGill, she worked in research on cervical cancer in Sub-Saharan African and studied the effects of postpartum depression in infants. She played an important role in the landscape analysis of Tuberculosis in people living with HIV in developing countries for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Additionally, Claire was the Editor-in-chief for the McGill Perspectives on Global Health blog. Claire holds a BSc in Neuroscience from Michigan State University. She is originally from Zimbabwe and speaks both Shona and English.

Katherine Jennings, MSc

Associate | Montréal, Canada

Katherine supports client initiatives through rigorous data collection, analysis and communication. Previously, Katherine worked as a policy analyst at Health Canada where she aimed to develop a policy framework outlining how vulnerable populations can be better considered in the chemicals risk assessment and management process in Canada. As part of this project, Katherine was responsible for conducting an international survey on OECD countries as well as a review of international environmental health policy. Katherine holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Ottawa and a MSc in Public Health from
McGill University.

Miraal Mavalvala, MSc

Associate | Toronto, Canada

Miraal supports clients’ goals through rigorous data collection, analysis and communication. Miraal holds an MSc in Public Health from McGill University and has experience in women’s health and infectious diseases in South Asia and North America. She has previously worked for the Aga Khan University and the USAID-Health Policy Plus project in Pakistan, where she was involved in program design and policy implementation for family planning, and assisted WHO Sri Lanka in the development of the national nutrient profile model. She completed her practicum at the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, D.C., where she evaluated the economic impact of the 2016-2019 Yellow Fever outbreak in Brazil. Miraal is from Pakistan and speaks English, Urdu, and Gujrati.

Justine Fisher, BDES

Information Designer | Toronto, Canada

Justine supports Impact for Health in their quest to make technical information visually comprehensive. She holds a degree in graphic design at the Ontario College of Art & Design University in Toronto, during which she was given the opportunity to explore animation, packaging design, wayfinding systems, and more. Her thesis was an 8-month exploration into mental health, cognitive behaviours and emotional processing, which is collectively known as “Emotional Architecture”. Through this work she uncovered a passion for combining health and information design, which is what makes her so well-positioned to foster efficient and effective understanding of what we do here at Impact for Health.