Innovative Analytical Methods to Advance Global Health Solutions

Who We Are

Braintree Global Health’s mission is to generate innovative research and evaluation methodologies to create high performing policies and programs. It is a partnership between Dr. Jenny Ruducha and Professor Peter Berman, a married couple with an exceptionally strong academic background and over 30 years experience working in developing countries across many parts of the globe, including living in India for 8 years. Our base in Cambridge, one of the most vibrant academic and knowledge production hubs worldwide, enhances our ability to engage global and national networks of talented professionals to support our work.

Our Leadership Team

JennyDr. Jenny Ruducha (MPH, DrPH), Lead Partner, is an evaluation and applied research expert with over 25 years of experience in designing programs and evaluation methodologies with a focus on maternal, newborn, child and reproductive health and nutrition. Dr. Ruducha is also a Senior Research Scientist at Boston University School of Public Health, Center for Global Health and Development working on scaling-up Women’s Microfinance Groups in India as a platform for health interventions. She has worked in the US and globally with governments, international organizations, academic institutions as well as community based organizations to incorporate more rigorous scientific methods into challenging “real life” program implementation environments. Her most recent work expands into Social and Organizational Network Analysis, a quantitative and visual methodology for improving the understanding of communication networks and organizational relationships to enhance performance in programs and partnerships to foster collaboration and cross-sectoral coordination. Dr. Ruducha holds an MPH and DrPH from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Society and Health Program at Harvard School of Public Health and the Health Institute at Tufts Medical Center.

 

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Prof. Peter Berman (MSc, PhD), Partner, is a world recognized authority on health system reform and health care financing with more than thirty years of experience in research, policy analysis, and training and education in global health. Dr. Berman is Professor of the Practice of Global Health Systems and Economics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and faculty director of HSPH’s Doctor of Public Health degree. Currently, Prof. Berman leads several innovative projects on developing primary care systems, strengthening service delivery, and improving health care financing mechanisms for better outcomes, with a focus on work in Ethiopia, India, and Malaysia. He is co-author of Getting Health Reform Right: A Guide to Improving Performance and Equity (Roberts, et al, Oxford University Press, 2003), co-editor of the Guide to the Production of National Health Accounts (World Bank, World Health Organization, and USAID, 2003), and co-editor of Berman and Khan, Paying for India’s Health Care (Sage, 1993). Dr. Berman is a graduate of Oberlin College and Cornell University.

 

What We Do

We utilize our complementary skills, extensive experience, and global networks of experts and researchers to apply state of the art analytic tools to tackle significant global health challenges that lead to more effective solutions.

Research & Evaluation

We design and implement mixed methods research and program evaluation approaches to inform program strategies, improve interventions and assess the effects of programs and policies on outcomes. We employ a wide range of qualitative and quantitative skills and analytic tools across the research continuum that include: developing proposals, specifying research and evaluation questions, selecting appropriate methods, designing surveys and implementation strategies, collecting and analyzing data, training researchers and data collectors, writing reports and articles and disseminating our work in different forums.

Health System Reform & Health Care Financing

We implement country-wide health systems assessment processes, gap analysis and utilize national data sources to develop a profile of major health systems constraints and opportunities for reform within established political, social and economic boundaries. Options for reform are further assessed including projections for effects on health infrastructure and human resources and financing that lead to access and service utilization. We also design and implement National Health Accounts and resource tracking studies and develop projection models for governments to improve planning for the shift from donor funding to self-financing in the future.

Social & Organizational Network Analysis

We develop and carry out sociometric and egocentric social network studies to assess health information dissemination channels and health systems linkages across different geographic levels of providers, community members and target populations, such as recently delivered women. We also design “network” interventions to identify and leverage the impact of networks to improve health care utilization and health outcomes. We also utilize organizational network methods to understand how organizations coordinate and collaborate on development of policy, joint capacity building efforts and program implementation, referrals and scale-up. SNA and ONA are powerful tools that can elucidate pathways towards more effective program or intervention design, constitute interventions in and of themselves and be used in evaluating what components of the program worked and contributed to changes in outcomes.

Training & Capacity Building

We develop a range of training courses to build capacity on research and evaluation, health systems performance improvement, health care financing, and network analysis for governments, health care organizations, UN bodies and non-governmental organizations.

Recent Work

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