Global Achievement Award

2024 Award Recipients

John Francis, BSPH ’06, Bus ’06
John Francis has spent the past 15 years supporting and leading multiple public health initiatives both domestically in the United States and internationally. During his almost 12 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mr. Francis led multiple branch projects on the development and use of public health programs and data analytics, prevention research, and advancing evidence-based practices.  In his role as Deputy Branch Chief, Country Strategy and Implementation Branch for the Division of Global Health Protection, he led conversations with local and global partners to improve health security globally. His work influenced support of the COVID-19 International Taskforce in 2020, the E-cigarette Lung Injury response in 2019, and the Ebola Vaccine Trial in 2015.  His broad work and influence with the CDC prepared him to take on the role of Project Manager, Malaria Vaccines Team for the World Health Organization (WHO) in the fall of 2020. Mr. Francis’s work on the Malaria Vaccine Team is a vital part of ensuring the vaccine is shared with priority communities in a timely manner to prevent hospitalizations and deaths. Mr. Francis regularly serves as a mentor to current MPH students, where he helps students understand how to make the most of their yearlong program according to their goals, ensure experiences are enhancing their education, and provided feedback and guidance on navigating the job hunt and career path.

Lillian Kidane, BSPH ’07
Lillian Kidane is a powerful public health force working across continents and with stakeholders in multiple industries to provide resources for individuals and communities to reach their full potential through educational opportunities, dignified work, and community healthcare initiatives. Ms. Kidane understands economic growth is an imperative part of healthy communities, and her recent work supporting both Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Innovation and Technology have placed Ethiopia on the path towards ensuring steady, inclusive, and equitable growth specifically through the development of the country’s first-ever digital transformation roadmap in support of the country’s target to reach low middle-income status by 2025. Ms. Kidane currently serves as Partner and Regional Director, Africa at Dalberg Advisors. Ms. Kidane knows the African continent is in many ways leading the global movement towards sustainable development and now is the time to pursue people-centric systemic change in climate resilience, healthcare accessibility and quality, and digital enablement. Lillian Kidane is a champion for global meaningful impact. She has previously served as senior advisor to the COVID Vaccine Delivery Partnership in Geneva, where she oversaw vaccine allocation and distribution across the globe during the pandemic. She opened and operated the first direct commercial office for General Electric (GE) in Ethiopia, overseeing GE investment across Africa including innovations for the local workforce. She has been featured in African Shapers and is regularly consulted for her expertise across multiple geographic regions and industries.

Ajit Mohan, SAIS ’05
Ajit Mohan is President at Snap, Inc. where he is a member of Snap’s global executive team and leads the Asia-Pacific region.  In a career spanning over 25 years, Ajit has played a leading role in building and steering media and technology companies around the world. He was the founding CEO at Hotstar where he conceptualized, launched and built India’s largest live sports and entertainment streaming platform that also became a leading destination for the South Asian diaspora. As the Vice President and Managing Director of India for Meta, he spearheaded the company’s charter in the country across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. His tenure is recognized as one that shifted the company’s posture in India from one that was seen as a foreign company in conflict with local stakeholders to one that was seen as a constructive local player investing in the digital ecosystem. He has served on the boards of Jio Platforms, India’s largest telecommunications and digital company, as well as Johns Hopkins India. Ajit has also worked in developmental areas linked to urban renewal, education and public health in the United States and India. As a Fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute, he co-authored India’s Urban Awakening, a 2010 report that outlined a policy and governance roadmap to guide India’s rapid urbanization. He is a current member of the board at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bangalore, one of India’s first private museums that recently was selected as a cultural hot spot on National Geographic’s Best of the World 2024. He is a graduate of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Boris Ruge, SAIS B ’98
Ambassador Boris Ruge is Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy (PASP). He leads the team responsible for political affairs within NATO’s  International Staff. This includes partnerships, global affairs, security policy, as well as arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation. Starting from September 2024, Ambassador Ruge, will serve as Acting Deputy  Secretary General until a successor of Mircea Geoană is appointed. He previously served as Vice Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, German Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Director Middle East/North Africa at the German Foreign Office in Berlin, and Deputy Chief of Mission of the German Embassy in Washington, DC. Having joined the Foreign Service in 1989, much of Ambassador Ruge's career has  been focused on security policy and stabilization. He worked at NATO Headquarters  in Brussels during the Kosovo air campaign. He later served as chief political adviser to two successive Commanders of NATO’s Kosovo Force as well as Head of the Political Department at the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the  Foreign Office in Berlin, he was deputy head of division for European Security and  Defense Policy. Following undergraduate studies at the University of Cologne, Ambassador Ruge received a master’s degree in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds a diploma in international relations from the Bologna Center of the Johns Hopkins University and was a participant in the 2005 course of the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. He is married and has three daughters and one son.