1. Ellen Coates is a public health professional with twenty years of experience working with private
implementing organizations, donor agencies and academic institutions in the US, Asia, Africa
and the Middle East. She is recognized for her technical expertise, keen analytical and problem-
solving skills, and excellent oral and written communications. In senior project management
roles, and as a consultant to public health program managers and policy-makers she supports the
design, implementation and evaluation of effective, evidence-based maternal and child health
activities in the developing world. She also has a proven track record in proposal writing and
resource management, with successful proposals funded by USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, and a range of public and private donors in the US and the European Union.
Areas of Expertise
• Proposal writing
• Development of Detailed Implementation Plans
• Project evaluation
• Newborn, infant and child health
• Maternal health
• Immunization and control of infectious diseases
Professional Experience
As Director of the CORE Group Polio Project, a multi-partner, multi-country (Angola, Ethiopia,
India and Nepal) polio eradication project, Ellen expanded the project’s funding base, securing a
second round of USAID funding, and two grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
She also strengthened management systems, supported professional capacity-building
opportunities for project staff, and added rigor to project data management and reporting. While
serving as team leader for research, monitoring and evaluation for a USAID-funded maternal and
child health project in the West Bank and Gaza, she guided the implementation of a seminal
study on immunization coverage and service delivery that provided the first set of valid data on
immunization coverage in children under five, and prompted changes in the MOH training
curricula on immunization service delivery. She also supervised implementation of training
programs on collection and use of data for decision-making for public and private sector public
health and welfare professionals, and a capacity-building small grants program for local NGOs.
She continues to consult for local NGOs there.
She has consulted for the WHO South East Asia Regional Office, USAID’s Office of Health,
Infectious Disease and Nutrition, and numerous non-government organizations. Ellen has held
technical and project management positions in India, Nigeria, West Bank and Gaza and has
completed project evaluation and proposal writing consultancies in the Czech Republic,
Hungary, India, Papua New Guinea, Poland and the West Bank as well as in the United States.
My vision is a peaceful world in which all children have access to appropriate, effective health
services that support their physical and mental development, educational attainment and their
maturing into healthy, contributing adult members of civil society.