NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Patricia Mechael, Ph.D., is co-founder and policy lead at HealthEnabled, a global non-profit focused on improving health outcomes and strengthening health systems in low- and middle-income countries through digital health transformation. She leads the Global Digital Health Monitor, a web-based platform to measure and monitor digital health maturity at the country level. She is also a Senior Associate Professor in the Department of International Health in the Center for Global Digital Health Innovation at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

With nearly 30 years working in more than 45 countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East and North Africa, South America, and the South Pacific Islands, she is celebrated for her roles as thought leader, writer, researcher, professor and executive director of the mHealth Alliance and executive vice president of the Personal Connected Health Alliance. She serves as a member of the WHO Roster of Digital Health Experts and the Guidelines Development Groups for Digital Health and Selfcare Interventions for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. She is a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow, Johns Hopkins University Knowledge for the World Distinguished Alumnus Awardee (2011), and British Council UK Education Social Impact Award (2016) recipient. She is on the editorial board of the Oxford Open Digital Health Journal and Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Patricia is co-editor of mHealth in Practice: Mobile technology for health promotion in the developing world and award-winning author of the middle-grade fiction novel, The Antidotes: Pollution Solution, which she wrote in collaboration with her 10-year-old son. Awards include: Dragonfly Awards- First Place, Green Book/ Environmental; Second Place, Global and Social Issues; Honorary Mention, Middle-Grade Fiction & STEM; Bookfest Award, First Place, Juvenile Fiction/Social Issues & Juvenile Fiction/ Science and Nature; Literary Titan Five Star Gold Award; and Reading with Your Kids Certified Great Read.

She has a PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Masters in Health Science from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

To learn more about her research, writing and/or consulting services or to request a speaking engagement, visit www.PatriciaMechael.com.