Male Contraceptive Initiative's staff, board, and advisors represent a holistic group of stakeholders in the male contraception field.
Male Contraceptive Initiative is composed of a dedicated staff with varied backgrounds and expertise. The diversity of our experiences and perspectives helps ensure a holistic understanding of the challenges inherent to male contraceptive research and development as well as the ability to identify opportunities for achieving our vision of “Reproductive Autonomy for All”.
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Heather Vahdat, MPH
Heather is the Executive Director of Male Contraceptive Initiative. With over a decade of experience in contraceptive development, she brings a nuanced viewpoint on how contraception has shaped global public health outcomes and how a male contraceptive could do the same. At MCI she develops innovative programs to impact male contraceptive research, development, and advocacy. Read "A Conversation with MCI's Heather Vahdat" |
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Logan Nickels, PhD
Logan is the Research Director at Male Contraceptive Initiative. With backgrounds in research science, broadcast radio, and education, he brings a broad-reaching strategy to MCI’s granting operations and research investments. His priority is keeping MCI’s funding portfolio diverse and moving towards market. Read "A Conversation with MCI's Logan Nickels" |
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Kevin Shane
Kevin is Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Marketing & Communications Director, leading the organization’s advocacy and outreach efforts. His background in marketing, communications, and human-centered design translates to an empathic approach to storytelling, and a keen ability to make information personable and approachable. Read "A Conversation with MCI's Kevin Shane" |
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Kathryn Carpenter, MPH
Kathryn is a past MCI Fellow and current Advocacy Strategist. She is a graduate of UNC’s Health Behavior MPH program, and is a former educator. She is interested primarily in health communication and message framing, motivation and social norms, human-centered design, health literacy, advocacy, and self-empowerment. Kathryn is the founder of the Youth Advisory Board. Read "A Conversation with MCI's Kathryn Carpenter" |
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Jaylan Weaver
Jaylan currently serves as Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Program Coordinator and is a recent graduate of the Public Health Education Department of North Carolina Central University (NCCU). Before he became the most recent addition to the MCI team, he served as an intern at MCI where he focused on the mental and social impacts of unintended pregnancy on men. He hopes to positively impact the reproductive health of future generations. Read "A Conversation with MCI's Jaylan Weaver" |
Board of Directors |
Advisory Committee |
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Michael Rusnak, PhD
Board Chair Executive Director, Medical University of South Carolina Foundation for Research Development Karen Blyth, MS
Board Member Retired, IntraHealth Carolyn Jenkins
Board Member Retired, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Triangle Pharmaceuticals Gregory Kopf, PhD
Board Member Director of Research and Development, FHI 360 Susan Sharpless, MBA
Board Member Principal and Consultant, SWS Associates Connie Moreadith
Board Member Public Health Consultant Ted Benson
Board Member Biotech and Management Consultant |
John Amory, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine and Section Head of General Internal Medicine, University of Washington Lisa Campo-Englestein, PhD
Professor of Bioethics, University of Texas Medical Branch Steve Kretschmer
Principal, Executive Director, DesireLine Lisa Rarick, MD
Consultant Kevin Whaley
Founder, Mapp Biopharmaceutical |
Interested in joining the Male Contraceptive team? Please reach out to us today to start a conversation! For information about grant and fellowship opportunities, please visit our Funding page.