HHSCM Alumni Spotlight

It has been more than five years since I attended to the HHSCM Certificate Program in Atlanta and there is a clear difference between my mindset and approach before and after I took this program. Since the program, I have been working in different countries and programs of my organization (MSF) where I am now the Head of Mission based in Uganda.

At the time of the program was working with Afghanistan and Pakistan programs where I led our teams in the field for different supply chain optimization processes, like the definition of replenishment rules for the medicines used and an assessment of the quality of data. I sincerely thank UPS Foundation for supporting me with the scholarship for this program as it allowed me to cover the rest of the costs to fly from Kyrgyzstan (back then working there) to Atlanta.

One of the greatest takeaways from HHSCM for me was the theory of constraints and the systems dynamics session. With this knowledge I have been able to escalate to different sections of MSF with bigger and more complicated responsibilities. From a technical referent to a back-office advisor, then a supply chain officer for four missions of MSF and finally back to the field as a Head of Mission of the Support Unit in Kampala.

Five years from now I see myself either working as a consultant in Health Supply Chain systems strengthening and humanitarian logistics or halfway in a PhD. In any of both cases, I would be already graduated from MIT master’s in supply chain engineering and before that, a fellowship at HANKEN institute in Finland.