Scott McPherson is currently a Senior Program Manager for USAID's Act To End NTDs | East Program, providing technical and programmatic supervision to NTD control and elimination efforts in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria. He also performs a global leadership role as Chair of the International Coalition for Trachoma Control, a coalition of partners dedicated towards eliminating trachoma by 2020. His additional duties include supervision of the development of annual work plans and budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, implementation of disease specific assessments and operational research, drug management, strategic planning, and disease mapping.
Before taking the role as Senior Program Manager, Mr. McPherson spent three years as Chief of Party for RTI International’s NTD programs in Ethiopia. Mr. McPherson supported the USAID-funded ENVISION and Morbidity Management and Disability Prevention (MMDP) projects as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Fund (BMGF) project focusing on NTD data management. In this role, Mr. McPherson managed a $12 million annual budget with activities that included managing direct implementation of the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) for onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, and soil-transmitted helminths, as well as implementing morbidity management interventions as they relate to trachoma and lymphatic filariasis, including trachomatous trichiasis (TT) surgeries, lymphedema management and hydrocele surgery.
Mr. McPherson has 12 years' experience working in Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mozambique and the West Bank in the areas of neglected tropical diseases, human resources for health, health system strengthening, health program management, epidemiological analysis, supply chain management, monitoring and evaluation, and community mobilization. Before joining RTI, Mr. McPherson was a program officer and program development manager for IntraHealth in Chapel Hill, NC, and prior to that he served as a technical adviser to The Carter Center in South Sudan, where he specialized in trachoma and Guinea worm. Mr. McPherson is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, having served two years in Kenya as an HIV education volunteer.
