Leadership Team
Elizabeth Nowak
Ellie Nowak is a senior studying issues of health and nutrition as an African Studies major at Harvard. She has worked on several projects in sub-Saharan Africa, including the creation of a Youth Center for Peace in rural Sierra Leone, a community-based health clinic in rural Kenya, and a maternal health project in Sudan. Elizabeth is focusing her coursework on issues of public health in Africa, specifically the historical context of agriculture and its relevance to the integration of modern technologies on the continent.
Tina Y. Tan
Tina Yongtian Tan is a senior studying molecular and cellular biology at Harvard. Her interest in global health first developed when she spent a summer conducting field research in the AIDS-affected villages in Central China. While there, she noticed the immense dependence of health outcomes on nutrition, and began to gain interest in the potential of improving global health through addressing the global food crisis. Through VertiGrow, she hopes to take a key step in making a concrete difference in the health of families throughout the world.
Our Partners
- Medicine in Need, Cambridge, MA
- Carolina for Kibera, Kibera, Kenya
- Harvard Initiative for Global Health, Cambridge, MA
- The Laboratory at Harvard, Cambridge, MA
Our Advisers
Andrew Schiermeier, CEO of Medicine in Need, a nonprofit that applies emerging and advanced delivery and manufacturing technologies to drug and vaccine candidates for diseases of poverty.
Hugo Van Vuuren, Founder & Managing Partner of Lebônê Solutions, Inc, a social enterprise working in off-grid energy delivery and lighting technology in Africa.
Aviva Presser, Founder of the nonprofit Bears Without Borders, Founder and Program Partner of Lebônê Solutions, Inc, and consultant for thehungersite.com.
David Edwards, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Harvard. He has founded several companies, including Pulmatrix and Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), the Idea Translation Lab, and a non-profit, MEND.
Jennifer Toy, Co-Founder and Director of Kounkey Design Initiative, a not-for-profit design firm that collaborates with informal settlement communities to develop design solutions to alleviate environmental degradation.
Hugo Van Vuuren, Founder & Managing Partner of Lebônê Solutions, Inc, a social enterprise working in off-grid energy delivery and lighting technology in Africa.
Aviva Presser, Founder of the nonprofit Bears Without Borders, Founder and Program Partner of Lebônê Solutions, Inc, and consultant for thehungersite.com.
David Edwards, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Harvard. He has founded several companies, including Pulmatrix and Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), the Idea Translation Lab, and a non-profit, MEND.
Jennifer Toy, Co-Founder and Director of Kounkey Design Initiative, a not-for-profit design firm that collaborates with informal settlement communities to develop design solutions to alleviate environmental degradation.
Contact Us
Please email us at vertigrowteam@gmail.com with any questions. We'd also love to hear your feedback and suggestions for our project!