Allyson
Bear
Allyson Bear oversees Abt’s global health and international development business. She has over 20 years of experience in international health and development working for development implementers, bilateral agencies, and academic research institutions. She has lived 11 years in Africa and South and Southeast Asia and has a wealth of technical expertise in maternal and child health, health systems, nutrition, vaccines, economic growth, and food security.
Bear leads more than 1,600 staff working in 45 countries on global health, climate and clean energy, governance, food security, and economic development programs. She oversees long-term strategy in global development. Her portfolio includes global programs in private-sector health; infectious disease prevention, management, and control; health systems strengthening; health service delivery; climate, environment, and energy; and inclusive economic growth, agriculture, and market systems.
Bear previously was Abt’s regional vice president for West Africa, Middle East, and North Africa responsible for technical and management oversight for our programs in the region. She was responsible for a $400 million portfolio of health, environment, agriculture, and economic growth work across West Africa, francophone Central Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East. She oversaw a staff of 20 in the home office that supports 300 country-based personnel.
Bear came to Abt from Corus International, where she served as vice president of international programs and managed a portfolio of health, nutrition, and livelihoods programs in 26 countries. She had direct oversight of 500 employees on seven global teams. She helped to merge IMA World Health, where she was vice president of health programs, with Lutheran World Relief to create Corus International.
Before that, Bear was at the U.S. Agency for International Development for 10 years in various capacities, including co-leading the development of new strategies for child and maternal health. She served as health officer in Mali; deputy population, health, and nutrition office director in Bangladesh; and evaluator for the global Feed the Future program. Earlier in her career, she was on the faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She began her career working in food security and market systems with ACDI/VOCA, including postings in in West Africa, the Middle East, and south-east Asia.
Expertise:
- Maternal and child health
- Reproductive health
- Health systems
- Nutrition
- Vaccines
- Food security
Key Projects:
- Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Project
- The Hib Initiative
- GAVI’s PneumoADIP
- USAID’s Integrated Health Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program
- USAID’s MaMoni Health Systems Strengthening Project in Bangladesh
- USAID Sustainable Cocoa Enterprise Solutions for Smallholders (SUCCESS) Alliance GDA, Indonesia
- USDA Indonesian Cold Chain Alliance Project
Publications:
- Levine OS, Hajjeh R, Wecker J, Cherian T, O'Brien KL, Knoll MD, Privor-Dumm L, Kvist H,Nanni A, Bear AP, Santosham M. A policy framework for accelerating adoption of new vaccines. Human Vaccines 2010;6(12):1021-4.
- Shearer JC, Stack ML, Richmond MR, Bear AP, Hajjeh RA, Bishai DM. Accelerating policy decisions to adopt haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine: a global, multivariable analysis. PLoS Medicine 2010;7(3).
- Hajjeh RA, Privor-Dumm L, Edmond K, O'Loughlin R, Shetty S, Griffiths UK, Bear AP, Cohen AL, Chandran A, Schuchat A. Supporting new vaccine introduction decisions: lessons learned from the Hib Initiative experience. Vaccine 2010;28(43):7123-9.
- Ojo LR, O'Loughlin RE, Cohen AL, Loo JD, Edmond KM, Shetty SS, Bear AP, Privor-Dumm L, Griffiths UK, Hajjeh R. Global use of haemophilus influenza type b conjugate vaccine. Vaccine. 2010 Oct 8;28(43):7117-22.
