BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dilys Walker, MD, Co-Founder PRONTO International, Director of the Maternal Newborn and Child Global Research Group UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences, Professor Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Health Sciences, UCSF | Dr. Walker is a recognized global expert in maternal newborn quality of care.  Most recently she was appointed by Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) on Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition.  She also serves as a member of the WHO maternal health perinatal guideline committee.  She is a frequent advisor to programs, organizations, ministries, and agencies on MNCH challenges.  Dr. Walker will provide strategic insight and direction to the effort and specialized technical and implementation guidance.

Susanna Cohen is a Co-founder of PRONTO International and specializes in curricular design, training material development and facilitator training. Susanna is a full-scope midwife, Associate Professor, OB/GYN, at the University of Utah. She received her Bachelors of Science from UC Davis, her Masters of Science from UCSF, and her Doctorate in Nursing Practice from the University of Utah. Using Human-centered participatory design she has lead the PRONTO team in the creation of the  PartoPants^TM– a low-cost birth simulator, the PRONTO curriculum, the PRONTOPack^TM, and The Adventures of Super Divya. A skilled facilitator she is a global thought leader in the area interprofessional training, low-tech, high-fidelity simulation. Susanna states that “Birthing PRONTO has been a labor of love and learning.”

Cindy Anderson joined the board in 2022. She retired from a 30-year career as an accountant in the nonprofit sector in 2021. Cindy is glad to be able to put her financial skills to work as a volunteer board member with PRONTO. When not looking at spreadsheets, Cindy enjoys rowing, walking and playing with her toddler granddaughter. She lives in Seattle.

Marc Auerbach is a Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at Yale. His overarching career goal is to ensure that all children, no matter where they live, go to school or travel, receive the highest quality emergency medical care. He is the Director of Pediatric Simulation at the Yale Center for Medical Simulation and was the founding co-chair of INSPIRE, the world’s largest simulation-based research network. 

Marc has national roles with the HRSA funded Emergency Medical Services for Children Innovation and Improvement Center and the Pediatric Pandemic Network.  His projects involve working closely with prehospital and hospital emergency care coordinators leading pediatric efforts in community EDs and community EMS agencies. Marc serves as the PI of the ImPACTS study, a national effort to describe, measure and improve the quality of care provided to critically ill and injured pediatric patients in emergency departments using simulation (funded by RBaby foundation). He served as the CT EMSC State Partnership Grant Medical Director for seven years and as an investigator on four different EMSC targeted issues grants and the leader on the EIIC Prehospital Emergency Care Collaborative.