Staff

Kathryn G. Schubert, MPP, CAE

Kathryn (Katie) Schubert joined the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) as President and CEO in April 2020. Under Katie’s leadership SWHR developed a strategic plan focused on fulfilling the organization’s mission of promoting research on biological sex differences in disease and improving women’s health through science, policy, and education. She previously worked for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), where she served as the organization’s chief advocacy officer, growing SMFM’s role nationally and building its reputation in women’s health.

Katie is a trusted leader and consensus builder among women’s health stakeholders, particularly in the policy arena. She has served in multiple Board roles for nonprofit organizations in the Washington, DC-area, including as Chair of the Board of the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance and as advisor to the John E. Lewy Fund for Children’s Health. She is a past president of Women in Government Relations.

Prior to SMFM, Katie served as senior vice president at CRD Associates, where she advised clients — including nonprofit patient advocacy groups, medical professional organizations, and private companies — on government relations and public policy related to health and biomedical research issues, among others. She has also spent time working in key legislative roles on Capitol Hill. She received her BA from Mary Washington College and her Masters of Public Policy from George Washington University. Katie lives in Virginia with her husband, three children, and dog George.

Email

Phone: (202) 496-5004

Yonas G. Fsahaye, MBA

Mr. Fsahaye joined SWHR in 2008 and is responsible for the finance, accounting, assurance, treasury, legal, office administration and human resources at SWHR.

He offers over 18 years of experience in auditing, accounting, administration, and human resources functions.  Previously, he worked at British Council as Head of Finance and Administration.

Mr. Fsahaye has also worked as an accountant for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, an Auditor for the office of Auditor General, an Accountant for Brooks and Brooks Water Treatment Corporation where he focused on financial reporting, budget analysis and cash flow forecasting.

Email

Phone: (202) 496-5012

Julie Miller

Miller leads SWHR’s development department and serves as the principal relationship and fundraising representative. Responsible for providing leadership and direction of activities designed to expand, diversify, and grow SWHR’s revenue streams, including industry membership; science, policy and communication funding; grants; unrestricted funding and annual awards event sponsorship and individual support.

Previously, Miller served as the chief relationship officer for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), where she was responsible for providing strategic and operational oversight for SMFM’s membership and educational event initiatives including the expansion and retention of the member base and the development and implementation of corporate relationship opportunities and deliverables.

With a deep knowledge of women’s health issues and organizations, Miller has a proven track record in building relationships across multiple generations to connect, build, trust, and inspire stakeholders to view their investments in SWHR, economic or volunteerism, as expressions of their values.

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Emma Bixler

As Development Coordinator, Bixler assists in planning, coordinating, and implementing development projects and maintaining the donor database. Bixler works closely with the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships to further the mission of SWHR. Bixler’s passion for women’s health grew while interning at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Here she looked through the lens of policy and regulations that affect the care and services that women receive. Bixler received her BS in Public Health with a minor in Business Administration from American University.

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Irene Aninye, PhD

Aninye envisions and directs dynamic science programs that increase awareness of and investment in women’s health and sex differences research. She identifies and recruits diverse stakeholders to participate in SWHR’s interdisciplinary science networks and channels their expertise to advance the goals of SWHR’s mission-focused programs.

Prior to joining SWHR, Aninye worked for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Research Competitiveness Program, where she led strategy teams to evaluate the progress and outcomes of multidisciplinary STEM research and training programs for university consortia. She also designed peer-review systems for externally organized competitions and facilitated workshops to build research capacity and competitiveness in the U.S. and abroad.

Aninye completed her PhD in molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where her research focused on identifying and characterizing novel small molecule inhibitors of progesterone receptor action in breast cancer. As a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she expanded her work in endocrinology and metabolism, studying thyroid hormone action in development and reproduction.

In addition to research, Aninye has dedicated her career to engaging the scientific community through academic service, outreach, and teaching. At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), she developed CEU courses in biotechnology and innovation for clinicians and basic researchers through the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES@NIH). She was also a member of the biology faculty at Loyola University Maryland.

With a passion to diversify the face of STEM and increase the involvement of underrepresented groups in the sciences, she serves as a mentor and advisor to students and early-career scientists, and she has provided leadership on multiple educational program, career development, and award review committees at professional societies, universities, and community organizations.

A Washington, DC, native, Aninye attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) as a Meyerhoff Scholar and holds a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology.

Email

Phone: (202) 496-5006

Gabriella Watson, MS

As the Science Programs Coordinator at SWHR, Watson supports the planning and execution of the organization’s science programs that aim to identify research gaps and address unmet needs.

Watson has dedicated her academic career to understanding the barriers that women disproportionately face in accessing health care services. Prior to joining SWHR, Watson attended graduate school at the University of London’s School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she received her MS in Reproductive and Sexual Health Research. Previously, she received her BS in Global Health with a minor in Gender Studies from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in 2018. She is passionate about reducing inequalities and disparities in women’s health care.

Email
Phone: (202) 496-5067

Anju Priyadarshini

Lindsey Horan, MA

Horan provides oversight of SWHR’s government relations, communications, and advocacy functions. A member of SWHR’s senior team, she is responsible for helping to drive SWHR’s policy agenda, build relationships with key stakeholders and policymakers, and guide activities to improve women’s health through science, policy, and education.

Previously, Horan served as the assistant director of government affairs for the American Association for Dental Research (AADR), where she was responsible for developing and implementing AADR’s federal policy agenda, spanning federal budget and appropriations issues, international scientific collaboration, scientific workforce matters, and tobacco policy.

Prior to AADR, Horan served as a senior manager for advocacy at AcademyHealth, where she supported efforts to raise the visibility and promote the value of health services and systems research.

Horan received her master’s degree in global communication, with a concentration in public diplomacy, from The George Washington University. She received her ABJ in public relations and her BA in international affairs from the University of Georgia.

Email

Phone: (202) 496-5003

Monica Lefton

As the Communications Manager at SWHR, Monica Lefton (she/her) conducts media relations, social media, and internal and external communications efforts including email and website updates for the organization. She works closely with the chief advocacy officer and all team members across SWHR to ensure that the organization’s key messages and its publications and other collateral materials are shared in a timely, clear, effective, and creative manner. She also provides general project management support to the SWHR team.

Prior to joining SWHR, Lefton worked in corporate public relations at FleishmanHillard, serving health systems, medical device companies, and health thought leader clients with media relations and strategy support. She has cultivated a love of research and writing in her time working there.

Lefton graduated from Emory University with a BA in English concentrated in literature of marginalized groups and a minor in behavioral economics. She cares deeply about access to education, health equity, and climate sustainability, with a special interest on how these areas overlap and affect women and children.

Email
Phone: (202)464-6920

Rachel Troy

As a Communications and Design Intern, Rachel supports the rest of the staff in creating resource materials and advancing the SWHR’s mission of furthering women’s health care research. She is a current senior at the University of Michigan double majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies and Biology, Health, and Society. Her passions include women’s health equity, disability advocacy, and making those topics accessible to all through writing and design.