Biography

Dr Johannes Ahrendts is Gavi’s Director of Strategy, Funding & Performance. He brings to this role more than 15 years of leadership experience in global health, with a focus on strategy, policy and organisational effectiveness.

Johannes leads the design of Gavi’s five-year strategies and key programmatic initiatives to accelerate strategy implementation and achieve results. He is also in charge of the process for access to funding for Gavi-eligible countries; and Gavi’s corporate performance management. Together with the CEO, Johannes leads on Gavi’s operational excellence agenda.

Prior to joining Gavi in 2015, Johannes held various senior positions in global health and management consulting. He was a project leader at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), working with leaders in global public health and health care worldwide on strategy and organisational transformations. He spent significant time working and living in lower-income countries, among others as a senior specialist for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Ethiopia, embedded in the Ministry of Health, and during his medical training.

A medical doctor by background, Johannes started his professional life as a clinical neurologist and neuroscience researcher at Charité University Hospital in Berlin and has authored numerous publications in this field. Johannes holds an MD/PhD degree from the University of Freiburg in Germany; and received his medical education in Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia.