Team PATA
Members of Team PATA contribute to delivering on the mission and vision of the organisation through a culture of transparency, accountability, trust, and mutual respect. They use their competence and skills in the consistent, orderly ownership of tasks through to the delivery thereof, and PATA invests in their growth as individuals and team members.
As a small team, they leverage success through collaboration with funders, partners and stakeholders, whose satisfaction and shared success is paramount.
The Team PATA structure includes a core executive, programming and operations team, primarily located in Cape Town, South Africa, who are supported by Country Representatives and Technical Advisors located throughout the region, facilitating in-country representation, technical support, training and local programme implementation.
Gayle Northrop
President, Northrop Nonprofit Consulting
Faculty, UCLA Anderson School of Management, USA
Dr Shaffiq Essajee
Senior Advisor, HIV Section, UNICEF Programme Division, USA
Dr Patrick Oyaro
Chief Executive Officer of Health
Innovations, Kenya
Yumna Gamieldien
Finance Director, TB/HIV Care Association,
South Africa
Dr Nandita Sugandhi
Product Introduction Coordinator, OPTIMIZE at ICAP, Columbia University, USA
Sharifah Nalugo
JCRC, Uganda
Youth Advisory Panel
Phakamani Moyo
United Bulawayo Hospital,
Zimbabwe
Ange Fouakeng Mereille
Chantal Biya Foundation,
Cameroon
Sharifah Nalugo
JCRC, Uganda
Grace Ngulube
Zalewa Clinic, Malawi
Ariel Nyamba
Khalembelembe Clinic, DRC
Moses Rutatina
Baylor, Uganda
Technical Advisory Panel
Dr Elvin Geng
USA
Dr Mo Archary
South Africa
Dr Dorothy Mbori-Ngacha
Nigeria
Professor Lucie Cluver
South Africa/United Kingdom
Dr Nandita Sugandhi
USA
Luann Hatane
Executive Director
Luann Hatane
Executive Director
Thandi Moyo
Head of Finance and Operations
Thandi Moyo
Head of Finance and Operations
Thandi Moyo joined PATA as the Head of Finance and Operations in October 2020. After leaving the auditing and accounting world at EY, Thandi worked for several years for Save the Children UK as a Deputy Country Director. Save the Children is one of the largest relief organisations in the world and their work focuses on orphans and vulnerable people.
Thandi then joined Leap Science and Maths Schools initially as their Finance Manager but was soon promoted to their Business Manager, a role which saw her co-ordinating the finance, administration and operations of a network of six schools across the townships in South Africa.
Thandi is very actively involved at Bishops where her two sons are in Grade 10 and Grade 6. She has been a member of the Bishops School Council for the past 5 years and currently serving her second term in that capacity.
Thandi is a Certified Chartered Accountant (ACCA) and holds a Master of Business Leadership (MBL).
Her hobbies and pastimes include reading and wogging (walk/jogging). These days you are likely to see her pounding the pavements as she aims to run her first Two Oceans half marathon next year (2021).
Agnes Ronan
Head of Programmes and Knowledge
Agnes Ronan
Head of Programmes and Knowledge
Agnes Ronan brings more than 13 years of public health experience, specializing in maternal, child and adolescent health. Agnes has recently re-joined as Head of Programmes and Knowledge. Agnes was previously Technical Advisor for Adolescent Health at mothers2mothers, leading programme design and implementation for the Adolescent Health portfolio.
She also held project management positions at the University of Cape Town’s School of Public Health and Family Medicine; and Department of Adolescent Health where she managed clinical trials as well as observational studies in reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health.
Prior to that, she worked at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, focusing on various clinical trials as well as observational HIV prevention studies for adolescents. Agnes is a nurse by training and has worked in research at St Georges Hospital and Kings College, London. She also holds an MBA from the University of Reading, UK and an MPH from the University of Cape Town.
Agnes is passionate about programming for children and adolescent health that applies sustainable interventions, empowering communities by promoting home-grown solutions and ensuring that service delivery is embedded within the communities being served.
Dr Puri González Díaz
PATA Country Representative-Mozambique
Dr Puri González Díaz
PATA Country Representative-Mozambique
Puri González Díaz is a medical doctor and an Internal Medicine Specialist with postgraduate studies in HIV&Viral Hepatitis. Dr. González has over 10 years of experience in supporting HIV programs in several sub-Saharan countries with a focus on advanced HIV and related diseases, PMTCT and HIV paediatrics.
She enjoys mentoring frontline health providers and community volunteers as well as creating educational tools for family and caregivers HIV and ART literacy sessions.
Dr Margret Elang
PATA Country Representative-Uganda
Dr Margret Elang
PATA Country Representative – Uganda
Dr. Elang Margret is currently serving as the PATA Country Representative for Uganda. With over a decade of experience in the implementation of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health projects at social health marketing organizations and non-profit organizations.
Dr. Elang possesses a wide range of skills, including quality improvement management of health programs, health program management, design and delivery, proposal writing, and capacity development for community-based organizations in health interventions. She brings a unique perspective to her work as a medical doctor by training.
Dr. Elang Margret has pursued further education to enhance her expertise. She holds a master’s in public health (MPH) from Makerere University School of Public Health and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Edinburgh Business School | Heriot-Watt University.
Dr. Elang is deeply driven by her passion for promoting the health and well-being of children and adolescents. Her unwavering commitment lies in the implementation of sustainable interventions that address their specific needs. She firmly believes in empowering communities by fostering the development of solutions that originate within their own context. Dr. Elang also emphasizes the importance of integrating service delivery directly into the communities she serves, ensuring accessibility and effectiveness.
Heleen Soeters
Senior Programmes Manager
Heleen Soeters
Senior Programmes Manager
Heleen has been working in the field of paediatric and adolescent HIV/AIDS since 2012. She has two MSc degrees in Neuroscience, and Management, Policy Analysis and Entrepreneurship in Health and Life Science, specialising in International Public Health, from the University of Amsterdam and VU University in the Netherlands respectively.
Since 2016 she been focusing on the youth space, working with national and regional A/YPLHIV networks in sub-Saharan Africa in Peers2Zero (P2Z).
Isobella Chimatira
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
Isobella Chimatira
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
Isobella Marlyn Chimatira joined PATA as the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in September 2020. Isobella is a Statistician and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist by profession. She has more than 10 years’ M&E experience in the social and health sectors, with a bias towards HIV prevention and treatment, and HIV/Gender-based Violence and other social care services. She has worked for MOSAIC a Western Cape Based NGO as a Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and Namibia Planned Parenthood Association in Namibia as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. Isobella has also provided Monitoring and Evaluation consultancy services for Creative Consultancy and Development Works and CESVI in Cape Town South Africa. In addition to her extensive M&E experience, Isobella is a trained credit analyst, who worked for National Merchant Bank (NMB) bank in Zimbabwe.
She holds an MSc Degree in Statistics (Univ. of KwaZulu Natal); BSc Degree in Statistics and Mathematics (Univ. of Zimbabwe); Certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation of Health Programmes (Univ. of Pretoria), Post Graduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation Methods (Univ. of Stellenbosch), Certificate in Fundamentals of Epidemiology (University of London “London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine”) , and Health Management Certificate from Foundation for Professional Development (FPD).
Isobella is now looking at making a significant contribution in Monitoring, Evaluating, Learning and Research programmes/projects at PATA and in Africa.
Glynis Gossman
Operations Manager
Glynis Gossman
Operations Manager
Glynis is a member of the PATA senior management team and has been an integral part of PATA since 2011. As Operations Manager, she oversees all logistics, office and human resource aspects of the organisation. Glynis has completed various courses whilst working at PATA which includes Human Resource Management and NPO leadership and strategy development.
With a background in tourism, Glynis started her professional career working in Europe in 1997. She continued working at various tour operators in South Africa and gained extensive experience within the travel industry before joining PATA.
Dr Charmaine Khudzie Mlambo
Senior Programme Manager
Dr Charmaine Khudzie Mlambo
Senior Programme Manager
Charmaine Khudzie Mlambo is PATA’s Senior Programme Manager and has 10 years’ experience in developing, managing, and successfully implementing multi-disciplinary health-related projects. Khudzie was awarded a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in 2010 where her research determined for the first time, the genotypic characteristics of multi- drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR) strains circulating in Johannesburg and investigated treatment outcomes of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis patients in Gauteng.
Since returning to Eswatini in 2010, Khudzie has worked for several non-governmental organizations including ICAP, URC and CHAI. Her passion for working in public health was realized when she joined as Program Manager on the Swaziland HIV Incidence Measurement Survey (SHIMS), the first population-based HIV incidence measurement survey in Eswatini.
Since then, Khuzdie has proceeded to work in several health-related projects that contain both programmatic and research aspects. Notably to date has been the MaxART programme, which in 2016 contributed to adoption of the Test & Start policy change in Eswatini.
Khudzie is excited to join the team at PATA and to contribute to the important work being done to ensure effective positive change in the paediatric – adolescent HIV response.
Barbara Engelsmann
Technical Advisor
Barbara Engelsmann
Technical Advisor
Barbara Engelsmann is a highly experienced German medical doctor dedicated to global health and passionate about and finding homegrown solutions to address the service delivery gaps for the less visible faces and the less heard voices of need. Equipped with a MBBS (Munich University), MD (Ulm university), MRCGP (UK) and MSc in Public Health (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), she brings 20+ years of clinical and project implementation experience in HIV/MNCH/SRH in Nepal, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Singapore and Zimbabwe to the table.
In 2007, Barbara founded the Zimbabwean NGO OPHID (Organization of Public Health Interventions and Development), which focuses on implementing HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs with a particular interest in operational research. Under her leadership, OPHID matured into the largest local HIV program implementer, a PEPFAR/USAID primary recipient, with more than 300 employees. Barbara’s strategic planning abilities were vital to the organizational growth of OPHID, as she worked closely with the board, government officials, donors, and partner representatives to shape national policy developments and position OPHID in the stakeholder environment.
In September 2022, Barbara joined PATA as a Technical Advisor, her extensive experience and skills in strategic planning, technical oversight, programme implementation, operational research, and compliance and risk management make her an asset to any organization in the field of global health.
Chipo Mutambo
Senior Project Management Support Officer
Dr Chipo Mutambo
Senior Project Management Support Officer
Dr Chipo Mutambo is a public health expert with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Education and Health Promotion, a Master of Public Health degree, and a PHD in Public Health. She has extensive experience working on various HIV and Maternal & Child health projects in Zimbabwe and South Africa. In South Africa, Chipo has been an active member of the National Technical Working Group for Paediatrics and National Technical Working Group for Care and Support since 2018. Her contributions to these forums include involvement in the development of the current Adherence Guidelines and Disclosure guidelines for children and adolescents.
Chipo’s research interests focus on Paediatric and Adolescent programs with an emphasis on interventions targeting gender-based violence, mental health, adverse childhood experiences, and implementation science research in the context of HIV, reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health. She has presented the results of her evaluation of implementation science intervention programs at several prestigious conferences, including the South African AIDS Conference, the International AIDS Conference, and ICASA.
In 2021, Chipo joined PATA as the Senior Project Management Support Officer, responsible for supporting the Unfinished Business 2 programme. Her current focus is on public health interventions aimed at improving paediatric HIV, mental health, and reducing gender-based violence in adolescent and young girls.
Margail Brown
Senior Project Management Support Officer
Margail Brown
Senior Project Management Support Officer
Margail Brown has been part of TeamPATA since 2013, where she started as an administrator supporting the Operations Manager. Over the years, she has gained valuable experience and qualification, and now serves as Grants and Finance Officer. Margail’s primary responsibility is to provide support to the Finance team in regular donor reporting and maintaining program Service Level Agreements and budgets. Before joining TeamPATA, Margail worked as a Project Administrator and PA to the Vice President of PetroSA. Margail holds a qualification in Financial Management and Bookkeeping from the South African College of Business and studied Business Administration at the College of Cape Town. In her free time, Margail enjoys spending quality time with her family outdoors, singing, and listening to live music.
Shannon Adams
Finance Officer
Shannon Adams
Finance Officer
Shannon Adams joined PATA in 2022 as the Finance Officer. With her expertise in financial accounting, management accounting, income tax, payroll tax and VAT, she plays a crucial role in supporting the smooth running of the finance department at PATA. Shannon is currently finalising her bachelor’s degree in accounting sciences at the University of South Africa and completed her SAICA articles in 2021.She has a strong desire to become a qualified Chartered Accountant in the future. When she is not crunching numbers, Shannon enjoys spending quality time with her son on the soccer field and exploring the great outdoors.
Technical Support
Angelita Silva
Marketing and Communication Manager
Angelita Silva
Marketing and Communication Manager
Angelita is a creative marketing coordinator with over nine years’ experience in the development sector, with skills in hosting digital events, brand management and content creation.
Angelita developed a passion for HIV work when working as an HIV counsellor at Witkoppen Clinic, Johannesburg. She later worked at Dieplsoot Combined Highschool developing and supporting HIV awareness programmes and counselling. Before joining PATA, she worked with various organisations including, The Adolescent HIV Treatment Coalition (ATC), International AIDS Society (IAS), and The Regional Inter-Agency Task Team on Children and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa(RIATT-ESA)/Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI).
Angelita prides herself in being an artist and humanitarian, she is an advocate for Universal Health Coverage, and the rights of vulnerable women, children and all people living with or affected by HIV.
Dr Fileuka Ngakongwa
Country Representative-Tanzania
Fileuka Ngakongwa
PATA Country Representative-Tanzania
Dr Fileuka Ngakongwa has valuable experiences in Adolescent and Youth mental health through her clinical practice, research, teaching, and consultancy in improving the services in the country.
Fileuka has an interest in strengthening integrated mental health services in primary care facilities for adolescents and youth living with HIV.
Aveneni Mangombe
Country Representative-Zimbabwe
Aveneni Mangombe
Country Representative-Zimbabwe
Aveneni is a Social Scientist (Social Worker and Demographer) who has vast experience in Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) policy and strategies formulation, programming, advocacy, and research, with a special focus on adolescents & youths. He worked for Deseret International Foundation, The Bethany Project, Primson Management Services and Africare in the area of operational research, monitoring and evaluation for child protection, health and livelihoods programmes for children and young people between 2001 and 2007. He joined the Ministry of Health and Child Care in 2006, through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as the first ever National Programme Coordinator for the Adolescent and Youth SRH Programme. He has been working with PATA since 2016 through the READY+ Initiative.
Aveneni is motivated by his practical experience in designing, implementation, coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and documentation of both local and regional programmes on adolescent and youth health, in various settings (e.g., community, public health facilities, schools and tertiary institutions). He also manages the Partnerships Management portfolio for the Adolescent Wellbeing Professional Development Programme being implemented through a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Biomedical Research and Training Institute University of Zimbabwe and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is also a member of the Global Action for Measurement of Adolescent health (GAMA) Advisory Group and the Scientific Committee member for the International Workshop on HIV & Adolescence.
Aveneni is a self-starter, self-motivator and team player who is driven by passion for excellence.
Dr Teles Nhanombe
Country Representative-Mozambique
Dr Teles Nhanombe
Country Representative-Mozambique
Dr Teles Nhanombe is a Medical doctor (MD), completing his Masters in Public Health at the Catholic University of Mozambique with a missing dissertation.
He is a dedicated, organized, focused and aligned professional, representing the goals of the organization. Teles is dedicated to achieving Goal 95-95-95, reducing stigma and discrimination and eliminating HIV in the coming years.
Teles, has over 6 years- experience working in programs related with HIV and AIDS in Mozambique, analyzing program indicators and defining strategies for improvement:
- HIV testing in the general population and high risk groups ( Key Population);
- Linkage of newly diagnosed HIV patients to care and treatment services and monitoring the offer of ART and prophylactic treatments;
- Screening for STI and Tuberculosis in HIV positive patients;
- Early and late retention;
- Participation in the discussion of cases of antiretroviral therapy failure as a permanent member of the provincial ART Committee.
Teles has skills in quality assurance management of health programs, Program design and delivery of integrated HIV and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights projects, including community engagement within HIV program.
His interests are in Public Health Programs, implementation in the context of Sexual Health Reproductive Rights, Young People, and Key Population rights to access of quality HIV.
Thabang Masangane
Country Representative-Eswatini
Thabang Masangane
Country Representative-Eswatini
Thabang is currently the PATA Country Representative in Eswatini. He is a double qualified nurse by profession and has also studied Development Studies and Total Quality Management. He is currently employed by the Eswatini Government’s Ministry Of Health as the Head of Quality Management Programme. He has vast experience in nursing, supporting children adolescent and young people living with HIV to start and stay on the treatment, implementing quality management and improvement models as well as programming, community development, health systems strengthening, integration of HIV/SRHR/PSS, education and training in quality of care, multi-disciplinary partnership building, and advocacy. He has successfully participated in the development of different health standards and Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs) for the health sector including the Eswatini Adolescent Youth Friendly Health Service Package.
He provides technical assistance to health providers in development and implementation of Quality Improvement plans.
Thabang is driven by an instinctive need to improve outcomes, innovation and using data to determine and improve skills performance.
Margaret Mbugua
Technical Advisor-You(th) Care
Margaret Mbugua
Technical Advisor-You(th) Care
Margaret Mbugua is a social scientist with over 10 years’ experience in the policy and advocacy, health programming, resource mobilization and gender mainstreaming with non-governmental organisations sectors. Having worked at various NGOs such as Echo Network Africa formerly Kenya Women Holding, Health Rights Advocacy Forum (HERAF), Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO), Kenya Network of Women with AIDS (KENWA), National Empowerment for People living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK), National Organization of Peer Educators (NOPE) and Alliance Regional Technical Support Hub for East & Southern Africa, she has gained vast experience in working with organisations in policy and advocacy for health, technical support provision in HIV work and SRHR as well as working with people living with HIV, implementing youth and workplace programs. Margaret is a trainer/facilitator and technical assistance provider. She has also spearheaded development of technical capacity assessment tools, provision of technical assistance to SBCC programs and organizational development.
Margaret gained considerable experience on different thematic areas such as Health Rights, HIV/AIDS, Gender, Democracy, Governance, Peace and Economic Empowerment which has enabled her gain knowledge, expertise and comparative advantage in addressing socio-economic problems facing the general population. She has been able to design programs and developed proposals for funding from key donors such as USAID, DFID, Global Fund, Ford Foundation, EU, PACF, Christian AID, Open Society Foundation, among many others. Margaret also gained exposure in working at international level as a Technical Support Officer at the Technical Support Hub for East & Southern Africa under the International HIV/AIDS Alliance where she managed a portfolio of countries such as South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia and Botswana.
Casco Mubanga
Technical Advisor-You(th) Care
Casco Mubanga
Technical Adivsor-You(th) Care
Casco S. Mubanga is a public health scientist (BPH), with a Master of Science in Project Management (MScPM) and is in the final stage of a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Casco is passionate about community health services, specifically in pursuing innovative ideas that promote SRHR, and the prevention of HIV in adolescents and young people. Prior to joining PATA in 2022, Casco worked as an advisor for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), ICAP at Columbia University, and as a Project Manager at Zambia Community Health Initiative (ZCHI).
Casco has over 10 years of experience in advocacy, community health, SRH and implementing community initiatives that improve access to quality health services and human rights. He promotes gender and social inclusion in underprivileged communities by building their capacity to make informed decisions/choices.
He has skills in project management, quality improvement, proposal writing, capacity building, and system strengthening for non-governmental organisations and private entities. Some of his other skills include strategic planning and partnership, community engagement, media engagement, and team building.
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