RTI welcomes new public health expert to meet new and developing challenges

Research Triangle Park, NC —Public health around the globe is evolving, and RTI International has welcomed a new expert to the team to help understand and inform policies and programs—Daniel Kress, Ph.D.

“Low income countries are steadily moving towards universal health coverage,” said Kress, who will serve as the senior director of public health. “Knowledge, expertise, evaluation, and capacity building are critical to make progress on these challenges. RTI possesses a deep bench in these areas that can be leveraged to help lower income countries, as well as developing middle and high income countries, make progress in ensuring their populations have access to quality, patient-centered health care.”

Before joining RTI, Kress worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as the deputy director for global primary health care and health financing. Kress has worked on health care financing and health economics issues in more than 25 low and middle income countries and speaks fluent French. Prior to the Gates Foundation, Dan was senior health economist at the World Bank where he managed health projects and oversaw health policy issues in Iran and Morocco. 

“We are excited to add Dan’s experience and knowledge to our team, which include health care financing, strategy analysis, health systems measurement, and health system evaluation,” said Georgia Karuntzos, Ph.D., vice president of business development at RTI. “These skills will be instrumental in our mission to improve the human condition by turning knowledge into practice, and advancing our global reach for health systems development.”

“I am excited to join RTI for several reasons,” Kress said. “When I was a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on my doctorate in Economics, I consulted for RTI and found the people, the mission, and the approach very compelling.”

Kress will be based out of the RTI office in Seattle, Washington.