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 founding member of PRONTO International and specializes in curricular design, training material development and facilitator training. Susanna is a full-scope midwife, Assistant Professor and Director of the Nurse Midwifery and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Program 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. She collaborated with the PRONTO team in the creation of the  PartoPantsTM- a low-cost birth simulator and the PRONTOPackTM. She is a leader the development of interprofessional training at the University of Utah, and low-tech, high-fidelity simulation globally. Susanna states that “Birthing PRONTO has been a labor of love and learning.”

Jenifer Osorno Fahey, CNM, MSN, MSPH is a founding board member of PRONTO International.  She earned a B.A. in Humanities from the University of Texas at Austin. Jenifer also earned a M.S. in Public Health at Harvard University and a M.S. in Nursing (Midwifery) from Yale University and is currently a PhD student in Maternal and Child Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.  She is currently Assistant Professor member at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore) where in addition to faculty duties, she practices as a full-scope nurse midwife and also works as Director for the Center Director for the Maryland Advanced Perinatal Support Services and the Center for Outreach Medicine, Provider Awareness and Competency Training (COMPACT) – a center for simulation and other immersive training. Her research interests include breastfeeding, electronic fetal heart rate monitoring, simulation, shoulder dystocia and patient safety. Jenifer was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico.

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.