Our Team
Founding Board of Directors
Betsy Pfeffer MD
Co-Chair
Betsy Pfeffer MD is a founding member of the GHI board and a retired Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Columbia University. She graduated with a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MD from New York University School of Medicine. She retired in 2021 from Columbia University where she worked for over twenty five years seeing patients and teaching medical students and residents. She began traveling to Uganda in 2007 and has worked together with Dr. Sabrina Bakeera-Kiaka to scale up adolescent heath care in Uganda. Projects to date include creating the first public comprehensive care adolescent clinic in Uganda, leading adolescent health conferences in Uganda, and establishing the Society of Adolescent Health Uganda, a professional organization with resources for providers, parents, and adolescents. Since 2014, Dr. Pfeffer has been an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics International Community Access to Child Health team reviewing grant submissions from low-middle income countries.
J. Thomas Roland Jr. MD
Co-Chair
J. Thomas Roland Jr., MD is an academic Otologist/Neurotologist, Lateral Skull Base surgeon at NYU Langone Health in the NYU Grossman School of medicine. He is a Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Neurosurgery and was the Department Chairman from 2009-2023. Dr Roland received his MD at Temple University School of Medicine and finished residency in Otolaryngology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and fellowship in Neurotology also at NYU. Dr. Roland’s interests are in hearing loss detection and restoration, diseases of the ears and cranial nerves, cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants and skull base surgery. He has been working in Uganda with the Department of Otolaryngology at Makerere University educating and training faculty and trainees for 18 years. The overarching goal is building capacity for hearing health by providing knowledge, technical skills and supplies. The ambition is to have the team provide the best Otologic and hearing health care available.
Lynn is a founding member of the GHI board. Lynn is the General Counsel, Secretary and member of the Management Committee of Acumen Fund, Inc., a public charity dedicated to building solutions to poverty and a world based on dignity. Prior to joining Acumen, Lynn was a partner at the law firm McDermott Will & Emery in the corporate/transactional practice and supported the pro bono program of the New York office. Lynn obtained a BA as an English major from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from Columbia Law School.
Lynn Roland
Vice-Chair
Allison Roland
Secretary
Allison Roland is a founding member of the GHI board. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. Allison earned an M.A. in Clinical Psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, an M.A. in Psychology at the New School for Social Research, and a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Allison is currently a psychology extern at the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Center at NYU Langone, where she works with military veterans and their families, and has held externship positions at Gracie Square Hospital and the Albert Ellis Institute. She also currently provides outpatient therapy at the Max and Celia Parnes Family Psychological and Psychoeducational Services Clinic. Allison traveled to Uganda in 2006 and 2007 to volunteer at Mulago Hospital and returned in 2013 to consult in the development of Uganda’s first Civil Society Immunization Platform, which aimed to increase equity in access to routine immunization.
Jillian Roland
Treasurer
Jillian Roland is a Principal at The Bridgespan Group, providing strategy and management consulting to nonprofits, NGOs, donors, and investors to accelerate the impact of their work and philanthropy. Prior to Bridgespan Jillian held a career in the K-12 education field as a teacher, school district administrator and consultant. She is passionate about increasing access to education and healthcare so that every child can thrive. Jillian had the privilege of visiting the adolescent health clinic at Mulago Hospital in 2008 and hearing from the youth benefitting from adolescent-specific care. She holds a BA from Yale University, a Masters in Teaching from American University and an MBA with Distinction from Columbia Business School.
Board Advisors
Dr. Sabrina Bakeera-Kitaka
Uganda Field Officer
Adolescent Health
Dr. Sabrina Bakeera-Kitaka is the GHI Uganda Field Officer for Adolescent Health and the international advisor for adolescent health. She is a Specialist Paediatrician and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Uganda and currently the director of the Adolescent Health training program at Makerere University College of Health Sciences. Dr. Bakeera-Kitaka obtained her MBChB degree in 1995 and her Masters of Paediatrics and Child Health in July 2002, both from Makerere University. From 2003 to 2011, Dr. Bakeera-Kitaka was a Gilead Fellow and Research Scholar at the Infectious Diseases Institute, where she pursued a Fellowship in Paediatric Infectious Diseases and conducted research on HIV-infected adolescents. In 2020, she earned her PhD from the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Antwerp in Belgium.
Dr. Christopher Ndoleriire
Uganda Field Officer
Otolaryngology
Christopher Ndoleriire, MBCHB, MMED ENT, is the GHI Uganda Field Officer for Hearing Health. He is an Otologist trained at Makerere University, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences. He has been trained in Otology the New York University. He is currently the Head of Department and Senior Lecturer at the ENT Department at Makerere University. He is the President of the Otolaryngology Society of Uganda. He has previously worked as a Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer within the ENT Department of Makerere University. He is teaching students of MMedENT, MBCHB, BScN, and BSc Speech Therapy. In addition to teaching, he performs surgical operations for cases with complicated ear diseases at Mulago National Referral Hospital.
Stephen Roland is an entrepreneur and investor. Currently, Stephen is the Co-Founder and COO of Dev-Docs, an internet technology startup. Prior to founding Dev-Docs, Stephen spent time at Stripe, in Venture Capital, and building other technology startups. He is passionate about increasing opportunity and access to healthcare. He holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.