Nina Schwalbe

In 2021, Schwalbe established and served as the first director of COVID-19 Vaccine Access and Delivery Initiative at USAID, where she coordinated distribution of 1 billion vaccine doses to low- and lower-middle income countries and the development of the GlobVax, an all of government effort to accelerate US vaccine delivery assistance around the world. Schwalbe also co-chaired WHO-UNESCO Research Network Working Group on Educational Institutions and COVID-19.

Schwalbe worked as UNICEF’s principal advisor and acting chief of health, where she oversaw health programs in over 150 countries. She was responsible for delivering over 1 billion vaccines annually to children around the world. Working with experts, frontline providers, and communities worldwide, Schwalbe developed the UNICEF Strategy for Health 2016-2030, which lays out a detailed vision for ending preventable maternal, newborn and child death and promoting the health of all children and adolescents. Schwalbe was member of the interagency design team for the Global Financing Facility for Maternal, Child, Newborn and Adolescent Health (GFF) a partnership housed at the World Bank.

Schwalbe joined GAVI, the vaccine alliance, in 2007, serving as Deputy Executive Secretary and Managing Director for Policy and Performance. In her seven years at Gavi, Schwalbe developed policies and strategy on vaccine investment, market shaping, monitoring and evaluation, and performance management. She worked on the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine and GAVI's first gender policy. In 2011, Schwalbe successfully negotiated with pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders to expand the Gavi portfolio to include affordable Human papillomavirus vaccines. Schwalbe was Chair of the GAVI Evaluation Advisory Committee from 2019 to 2021.

In 2005, Schwalbe was made Director of Policy at the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. In this capacity, she developed collaborations and coalitions between governments of low and lower-middle income and OECD countries, UN bodies and members of the G8 to accelerate the regulatory approval and procurement and distribution of new therapeutics for tuberculosis.

Schwalbe was an undergraduate student in Russian and Soviet Studies at Harvard Radcliffe Colleges, where she was the recipient of the Aloian-Beal Leadership Award. Immediately after graduation, Schwalbe joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand. In 1993, Schwalbe received a Master’s in Public Health from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where she concentrated on maternal child health, as well as a certificate from Columbia’s Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union.

Nina Schwalbe (born 18 April 1966) is an American public health researcher who is the founder of Spark Street Advisors, a public health think tank based in New York City. Schwalbe specializes in vaccines. She has previously worked at Gavi, UNICEF and USAID.