Staff Category: Board of Governors

SHANA YANSEN brings 20 years of professional experience in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the US in strategic communication, international development and public health. Currently working for the Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI), Ms. Yansen is responsible for designing and implementing HGHI’s global health security and pandemic preparedness programs, including the recently launched Global Monitoring of Disease Outbreak Preparedness project. Prior to HGHI, Shana worked for 8 years at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs managing public health programs across South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan). Along with Basil Safi, Ms. Yansen co-directed the center’s Avian and Pandemic Influenza Program. While at CCP, Ms. Yansen worked closely with current members of the Center for Communication Programs Pakistan and contributed to early health communication projects including a youth development program, the TV serial Kaisey Kahoon, a newlywed counseling program, mass and local media campaigns, and the maternal and child health project, PAIMAN. Ms. Yansen obtained her Masters in Health Science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a Certificate in Health Communication. She earned a BA with Honors from Stanford University in the Social Sciences and served in the US Peace Corps in Honduras as a maternal and child health specialist. Eight years ago, Ms. Yansen founded a company offering high quality, eco-conscious products with a goal to empower women in developing countries through income-generating opportunities.

MOHAMMAD SHAHJAHAN is the founder Director and CEO of Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP). He has more than 26 years experience in strategic communication program planning, designing, development, implementation and coordination. He has extensive experience in communication strategy formulation, development of training curriculum, support materials and implementation of training programs with measurable objectives for multi-disciplinary target audiences to transfer BCC skills to the professional staff of NGOs, government departments and private sector agencies utilizing various group motivation methodologies/ concepts including Visualization in Participatory Programs (VIPP), Future Search Conference (FSC) and Life Skills. He has been pioneering BCCP to be a self-sustaining and one-stop communication service organization since it took over from the Bangladesh country office of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) in 1996. He is a Member of the National Population Council headed by the Prime Minister, and an active member of the National IEC Technical Committee of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) and continuing to contribute to the national IEC/BCC activities in order to effectively respond to the identified needs of the national Family Planning and Reproductive Health programs.

SHOAIB MANSOOR is among the most influential and famous figures in the Pakistan showbiz. He has written, produced and directed hit TV shows such as Ankahi, Fifty Fifty, Alpha Bravo Charlie, Sunehre Din and Gulls & Guys, all aired on PTV (The National Television Channel of Pakistan). Mansoor directed the Supreme Ishq series of songs. Shoaib Mansoor has also been a successful songwriter and music composer. He introduced the 80’s Pakistani pop sensation Vital Signsto the mainstream. In 2007, Shoaib Mansoor debuted as a film director with his critically acclaimed film, titled Khuda Ke Liyereleased on 20 July 2007 all over Pakistan. In 2009, he began directing a big budget film Bol, released on 24 June 2011 breaking all previously held box office records. This film was produced in collaboration with PAIMAN project in which Center for Communication Programs was part of the consortium of the developmental organisations. In recognition of his outstanding services, Mansoor has been decorated with presidential award of Pride of Performance and Sitara-e-Imtiaz by Government of Pakistan. He has also been awarded PTV Life Time Achievement Award by President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf on the 43rd anniversary of Pakistan Television in November 2007. Recently he received the Silver Pyramid Award from the Cairo International Film Festival for Khuda Ke Liye.

BASIL SAFI has nearly 15 years of international and domestic experience designing and implementing public health and integrated communication programs. He combines technical skills with those gained in the field of health communication to specialize in the areas of demand generation, consumer-driven improvement of healthcare services, household behavior change and improving the efficiency of public health systems. His areas of communication expertise include strategic communication design, mass media and community mobilization planning, crisis/risk communication, advocacy, harmonization of diverse working groups, ICT implementation, developing public-private alliances and local Behavior Change Communication capacity building. Mr. Safi is currently leading ‘Engaged Cornel’ initiative of the Cornel University as the Executive Director and tasked with with promoting innovation in community-engaged and real-world learning, and making those practices the hallmark of the Cornell undergraduate experience. Before joining Cornel, he was responsible for managing all of CCP’s Asia programs, in addition to serving as the Director of the Global Program on Avian and Pandemic Influenza. Mr. Safi is a registered Professional Engineer, serves as an Associate in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is a Environmental Public Health Leadership Fellow at the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health. He has experience working in Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Egypt, Jordan, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Panama, Tajikistan, South Sudan, and the United States.

BENJAMIN LOZARE (PhD), is the Associate Director and Chief of the Training and Performance Improvement Division at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs. Dr. Lozare has more than 25 years of experience in research, teaching, and practice in international and development communication. He has served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the Health Sciences Campus of the University of the Philippines, as the first Director-General of the Philippine Information Agency, and as Deputy Secretary-General of the Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Center Foundation. He has consulted with UN agencies such as the World Health Organization, the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, and the UNFPA. Dr. Lozare obtained his PhD in Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin. He was an Eisenhower Fellow and recipient of the first Newsweek International Communication Grant. Dr. Lozare speaks English and Tagalog.