Barbara Bush remembers exactly when she knew she wanted to do what she does today.
During her junior year at Yale, she traveled to Africa with her father, then President, as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a U.S. government initiative convened to address AIDS/HIV around the world. The group visited five countries where drugs to combat the disease were scarce—or totally unavailable. Bush recalls hundreds of people lined up in the street hoping to receive medication.
"The lack of justice--I couldn't wrap my mind around that. You could be born at the wrong place at the wrong time and that could dictate if you were going to live. That made me angry."
She returned to Yale and dropped her architecture major, meeting with anyone who would talk to her about global health issues and reimagining her young life. In 2008 she and her sister Jenna met Andrew Bentley, Charlie Hale, Dave Ryan, and Jonny Dorsey at the aids2031 Young Leaders Summit, hosted by UNAIDS and Google. Together, the six founded Global Health Corps (GHC) with the belief that health is a human right, and “young people want to use their skills sets to do good.” The organization launched the following year.
Now, with Global Health Corps having just celebrated its fifth anniversary and launched a new initiative to combat micronutrient deficiency in Newark, Bush spoke with Forbes about the particular joys of complex problem solving, watching the organization she co-founded at 26 grow up ("Our first audit was so exciting for us because it meant we were established enough to need an audit!"), and what spinning class taught her about organizational culture.
The best solution to a problem may come from an unexpected source.
Of the many dimensions of global health systems about which Bush is deeply enthusiastic, "bringing nontraditional skills" to issues of health-related problem solving is one about which she's particularly passionate. One of GHC's major undertakings has been to demonstrate how professionals of many stripes can bring their skills to bear in the service of health systems.
"When we partner with organizations, they identify the skills sets they need," she said, adding that most organizations need people to work on issues of scale and systems building, rather than perform medical treatments. "That allowed us to open the field to very different backgrounds, and people who were interested in health but thought you had to have a medical degree."
As an example Bush referenced ten GHC fellows with backgrounds in architecture, charged with working to slow the spread of tuberculosis in Rwanda. The assignment may have seemed illogical, but the results were tangible: The team designed a system for changing the way air flows through health centers, limiting other patients' exposure to TB.
"They're building buildings," said Bush, "that can keep people healthy."
Now the team that developed this system is working with the ministry of health and GHC's partners in Rwanda to create plans for the construction of future health centers that will incorporate preventative airflow systems.
"We don't even know what's possible in this space," said Bush, "until we have different ways of thinking and different backgrounds at the table."
Whenever possible, ask for help.
When Bush and her co-founders launched GHC five years ago, they brought passion but little relevant experience to the table. Key to their success was identifying their underlying objectives--creating strong partnerships, growing strategically, and building a network of partners, fellows, and alums--and seeking out individuals with experience not necessarily in global health, but in those specific areas.
"I still lean on so many other people now who have built great organizations in for-profit and non-profit. We have a lot of similarities to other organizations regardless of what they're working on. We're trying to get an impactful global health program off the ground, but at the same time we're trying to build the infrastructure that can support that work."
Some of the advice came from unexpected places. GHC board member Bill Roedy, the former chairman and CEO of
"Looking back," said Bush, "it's really surprising how many people will back you up when you're doing something to impact the world. I wish I'd been less bashful in asking people to partner with us, because I've seen now how much it's paid off."
Bush frequently references the opportunities and challenges of building systems and infrastructure in vastly different environments. In this area GHC has called on the wisdom of other non-profits and global health-focused organizations, as well as major corporate entities.
Many of GHC's fellows in Africa, for example, work on drug delivery and supply chain issues. Fellows assigned to this work collaborate throughout the year with employees from
"If we can tap into the knowledge private sector companies have and use that knowledge to speed up the systems we're building, there's no reason not to do it."
Equally important, says Bush , is ensuring the various members of GHC around the globe remain in regular touch with each other, and that the central organization is continually aware of what fellows are experiencing in the field.
"We're pretty strict on having a weekly all-team call with everyone at Global Health Corps. That's something that's protected, always, on my calendar."
Additionally, she makes time each night before bed to read the blogs of current GHC fellows, each of whom writes regularly about their placements.
"It's a good way to stay on top of their everyday," she said, adding that GHC's to-do list needs to "reflect what [our fellows] need support in most."
There's no event for which you can truly prepare, so focus on becoming a pro at problem-solving and change management.
While Bush admits that she wishes she'd had a bit more life experience to lean on--she was in her mid-twenties when she co-founded GHC--she still feels that little could have truly prepared her for the regular challenges presented by global health crises and running a growing organization. She cites this year's Ebola outbreak as an example of how you can only prepare just so much for the next major hurdle.
"You can’t know what you can’t know. This year we’ve seen a huge blow to global health in Ebola. To us and to our fellows that type of thing is what is the biggest challenge--you can prepare as much as possible, and then something comes out of left field and you have to scramble."
Bush says this is why she's maintained laser focus on bringing professionals of all kinds to GHC to work on systems building, and to create a diverse and multiplying talent pool for the global community beyond her organization.
"We're seeing a pipeline of great talent," said Bush. "We're really excited to invest in professional growth, leadership growth, so that in five years our alums are in positions of greater influence. I have wild curiosity to see what they’ll do moving forward. They blow our minds on a daily basis."
