Our People
Gene Gangarosa
Founder
Eugene J. Gangarosa, MD, MS, FACP, was an Emeritus Professor in the Center for Global Safe Water, Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. He began his career in public health immediately after completing his residency in internal medicine. He joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1964 as Chief of the Epidemic Intelligence Service. Soon after, he became the CDC’s Chief of the Enteric Diseases Branch of the Bacterial Diseases Division.
In 1978, Dr. Gangarosa took an early retirement from the CDC to become Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Public Health at the American University of Beirut. In 1982, Dr. Gangarosa joined Emory as professor and director of the Master of Public Health program within the School of Medicine…
Rose Gangarosa
Founder
Rose Gangarosa grew up in Rochester, New York, just a few blocks away from Gene. They knew each other as very young children, but they fell in love after Gene came home from World War II service. Rose became an accomplished classical pianist and taught piano before they got married. She was deeply moved by the need for safe water and sanitation when the family moved to Pakistan for Gene’s work there. She strongly encouraged Gene throughout his career, even leaving her beloved Atlanta home to live in war-torn Lebanon during its civil war.
She raised a family and occasionally worked as a school administrator and a librarian. She has become a philanthropist in her own right, contributing to an endowed chair in safe water and sanitation at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and getting an honorary doctorate at the College of Charleston. Now over 100 years old, she remains active and engaged in public health through Emory and the Gangarosa International Health Foundation.
Meet The Team
Community Health Empowerment Initiative
Danielle Chekaraou, MPH
Public Health Consultant
Danielle Chekaraou is an internationally recognized Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Strategist with over 30 years of experience working across 65+ countries to promote health, equity, and well-being, especially for women, children, and marginalized communities.
With academic training in Child Development, Nutrition, and a Master of Public Health in International Public Health and Community Development, Danielle leads SHIFT Consulting, a boutique firm dedicated to ethical, people-centered program design. Her expertise spans maternal and child health, nutrition, immunization, WASH, gender-based violence, education, and more, with a focus on rigorous research, capacity building, and community-led solutions.
Danielle has trained thousands of practitioners, advised organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, and the World Bank, and co-authored global toolkits and national strategies. She is passionate about co-creation and cultural relevance in SBC and recently began serving on the Board of Trustees for the Gangarosa International Health Foundation.
Festus Haba
Field Manager
Festus Haba is a seasoned missionary and development leader with over 25 years of experience serving across Africa. A graduate of Mission Kalima in Guinea (2003), Festus has held leadership roles with the Children of Character (COC) organization, including Country Director, Regional Director, and ultimately Regional Team Leader overseeing operations in more than 24 countries and more than 30,000 staff and volunteers.
He has established or supported COC programs in Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Benin, Togo, Chad, Morocco, Cameroon, Rwanda, Burundi, the Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, etc. Festus holds certifications in Leadership and Management from the Canadian College for Leadership and Management (CCLM) and in Governance, Leadership, and Public Law from Gold Coast University in Ghana.
He is also President of the Festus Health Foundation Ghana (LBG), where he continues to promote health and character development in underserved communities.
Suzanne Sattelmeyer, CPM, PrMP, MA
Executive Director
Suzanne Sattelmeyer is an accomplished economist and data analytics expert with over 40 years of experience helping nonprofit organizations, Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, and colleges/universities across the US to work more productively and more effectively. She founded SMS Projects in 1998, which partners with executives and other leaders of nonprofits and corporations to strengthen their organizations through clear strategy, strong performance metrics, and efficient mission-driven operations.
She serves as the Executive Director of the Gangarosa International Health Foundation and is a member of its Board of Trustees. In this role, she works with the Executive Team to strengthen GIHF’s organizational foundation and to support its continued growth and capacity to advance public health initiatives globally. Her contributions include launching a scalable human-centered design and community engagement model, modernizing governance structures, clarifying executive roles and responsibilities, expanding fundraising efforts, and advancing the Foundation’s mission and strategic goals. Suzanne is passionate about building organizations that are thoughtful, resilient, and capable of making a lasting difference in people’s lives around the world.
Paul Gangarosa, MPH
President
After getting his Master’s in Public Health from Emory University, Paul spent 12 years working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a Computer Specialist and Data Analyst, creating data-driven web applications. After moving to Charleston, SC, Paul began teaching Public Health at the College of Charleston.
While teaching a class in Global Health, Paul became aware of the problem of indoor cooking faced by women in Africa. The use of open flames was contributing to Acute Respiratory Infections in women and their infant children, and burns. Leveraging his connections in the Public Health community and his membership with the Board of the Gangarosa International Health Foundation, Paul was able to begin the pilot program in Ghana to produce less expensive, locally sourced, safe cooking technologies
Ray Gangarosa, MD, MPH, MSEE
Treasurer
Ray Gangarosa is an epidemiologist, engineer, and physician who has explored the mathematical organization and operation of life and civilization for over 50 years. He worked in MRI research during the 1980s, helped develop the legal strategy for suing the tobacco industry for societal healthcare costs in the late 1980s to early 1990s, worked at the Georgia health department in maternal and child health during the mid-1990s, and, from 1996 to the present, explored the nature of societal common interests in comparison to the shared fate experienced by cells in an organism.
In the early 1990s, he also helped his father, Eugene Gangarosa, start GIHF and write his autobiography, “But Now They Are Angels.” Since retirement, Ray Gangarosa has continued to work pro bono and is ready to publish a series of scientific articles on civilizational dynamics, design, development, and transformation. Ray is also involved in the safe and clean cookstoves project through his brother Paul, which he considers to be a practical model for societal self-organization, evolution, and adaptation, and an exemplary project in public health practice.
