Leadership Team
David Cohen
Executive Director
David has spent his career focusing on community organizing, empowerment and education. He brings extensive experience in building organizations, communications and mobilization of grassroots supporters. David has long held a passion for social justice causes and has spent most of the past decade running political campaigns. In 2008 he managed multiple states for the Obama campaign, and has worked on races at the gubernatorial, Senate and House levels. His involvement with Village Health Works reaches back to 2008 when he first met Deo and helped the then fledgling organization develop its initial strategic plan. He is a graduate of Brown University where he studied public policy and education.
Deogratias Niyizonkiza
Founder & Director
Deo is a leading advocate for the most impoverished people in the world. His compassion, expertise and life experience have made him a key voice in global health and development. Deo founded Village Health Works in 2006 as a collaboration with the Kigutu community and partners and supporters around the world. Find his full biography here.
Dziwe Ntaba, M.D.
Co-Founder & Health Programs Director
Dziwe and Deo first met at the School of Public Health at Harvard University. He played an integral role in the development of Village Health Works as the co-founder, helped open the clinic in Kigutu and served as VHW’s first Medical Director for three years. He has a long-standing interest in issues of health and poverty in Africa, having grown up in a medical family in Malawi. Dziwe moved to Minnesota at a young age and graduated from Macalester College. He earned his M.D. from Oregon Health and Science University and his M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dziwe is a Clinical Instructor in Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, and is appointed as an Associate Physician in the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He lives in New York City and travels frequently to Burundi.
Melino Ndayizigiye, M.D.
Medical Director
Melino grew up in southern Burundi without any access to modern medicine, which was the driving force behind his initial pursuit and ongoing interest in global health care. He brings to his work an intimate knowledge of health care delivery in remote and resource-poor settings. He understands the effects of poverty on health, especially in Kigutu where he fulfilled his civic service requirement by teaching at the Kigutu primary school. Melino joined Village Health Works after working as the director of the Matana health district. He studied medicine at the National University of Burundi, where he was particularly interested in maternal health care. He is certified in Emergency Obstetric Surgery by the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization at Prince Louis Hospital in Bujumbura.
Lisha McCormick
Development Director
Lisha’s career has been committed to the service of disenfranchised populations and to reducing the impact of social inequalities. Prior to joining Village Health Works, Lisha served as the Director of Special Events & Corporate Relations at Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City from 2006-2011 and as the Director of Programs & Development for Greenwich Village Youth Council & The Neutral Zone, a network of safe spaces for GBLTQ identifying runaway and homeless youth in New York City. Lisha holds a B.A. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from University of Colorado-Boulder and an M.P.H. from Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
Gerard Nayuburundi
Programs Director
Gerard grew up less than five miles from the Kigutu clinic. He joined VHW two years ago as director of agriculture and has proven himself a leader among staff and in the community. In his new role as Programs Director, he manages all non-clinical programs including VHW’s growing work in agriculture, education, economic development, community development and gender-based violence. Gerard’s compassion for people, his knowledge of the challenges in the Kigutu region and his deep commitment to our community-driven model make him an extraordinary leader for our non-clinical programs.
Gerard Ntiranyuhura
Burundi Operations Director
Gerrard came to Village Health Works on a Global Health Corp fellowship and has recently stepped up into this new leadership role. As Burundi Operations Manager, Gerrard is responsible for clinical and staff facilities, in-country human resources, maintenance and security.
Marilyn Montoya
US Operations Manager
Marilyn was born and raised in New York City. She previously worked as office administrator at GOAL USA, an international humanitarian organization. Raised by parents from El Salvador, Marilyn has always had a great interest in organizations working to eradicate extreme poverty in developing countries. Marilyn is a journalism graduate from Fordham University and has worked in the non-profit field for over six years.
