Dara Erck is a global health strategy specialist who believes in the strength of partnerships and innovative thinking for maximum impact. She has over 20 years of experience in the field with a focus on R&D and vaccines.

Dara was previously a Senior Advisor to Panorama, focusing on vaccines and implementation strategies. Prior to Panorama, Dara served as Vice President, External Affairs at Aeras, a product development partnership focused on developing a tuberculosis vaccine. While at Aeras, Dara was responsible for advocacy, communications and resource mobilization. During her tenure, she secured five new funders from both private and public sources.

Before joining Aeras, Dara was a consultant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Global Health R&D Advocacy. She worked with the foundation to advocate for increased spending for global health R&D as well as to promote innovative financing for product development.

Dara has served as an independent consultant to a variety of global health non-profit organizations with projects focused on program strategy and financial systems and tools. She became a consultant after serving as the Director of Finance and Planning for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). She also has industry experience as a former management consultant with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and as a Program Manager in Clinical Research at Genzyme.

In addition to working in global health, Dara is passionate about government reform and democratization. She has been an election supervisor with the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) since 1997 in Armenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Georgia, Macedonia, and Ukraine.

Currently based in Colorado, Dara holds a master’s in international finance and business from Columbia University in New York and a Bachelor of Arts in international economics and politics from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.