Director, Digital Innovations
Matthew Saaks has over 20 years of experience in international public health, MEL and digital systems. He is currently Pathfinder’s Director, Digital Innovations where he works to advance and innovate digital health in projects, business development, and enterprise-wide.
Prior to joining Pathfinder, Matthew developed, designed, managed, and implemented project and enterprise-wide digital technology solutions. Projects included aggregate reporting, systems integration, mobile data collection, and client referral. He has experience working in iNGOs, UN organizations, consulting firms, and a technology firm.
Matthew’s passion for digital health evolved from his desire to innovate from his public health MEL foundation. Early in Matthew’s career he lived in Kenya, Turkey, Somalia, and Ethiopia. He has also worked in Bangladesh, Suriname, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe. During that time, he focused on public health MEL, always with a mindset of looking for options to innovate and make data gathering and consumption processes more effective and more efficient.
Matthew holds a master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and a BS in Economics.