Biography

With a background in health security and infectious disease control, Hannah Burris joined Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance as Chief of Staff in February 2020. She helps drive key oversight functions and organisational momentum to increase access to routine immunisation, as well as pandemic preparedness and prevention – accelerating development of and access to powerful new vaccines. Having joined Gavi one month before the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hannah was instrumental in launching and running COVAX as part of Gavi’s pandemic response.

Prior to joining Gavi, Hannah played a leading role in the US Government’s relationship with the World Health Organization, developing global health policies and building relationships with partner governments. She then served as Senior Advisor on Global Health Security at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and was part of a small White House-led team that launched the Global Health Security Agenda. Later, Hannah took on the mantle of Chief of Staff for the HHS Office of Global Affairs; and then she served at the US Department of State, overseeing US investment in the Global Fund while leading PEPFAR’s multilateral engagement portfolio.

More recently, Hannah served as Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Global Health Innovation for a venture-backed biotech start-up, building relationships with governments and academia to expand use of the company’s proprietary diagnostic technology to priority infectious diseases and biothreat surveillance; and working closely with the CEO and investors to take the company through a successful series D funding round.

Hannah holds a Master of Science in Control of Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; and is a graduate of the US Foreign Service Institute’s National Security Executive Leadership Seminar. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations; holds a Meritorious Honor Award from the US Department of State for her work in global health security; and has lived and worked in China and Kenya.