Dr. Sema K. Sgaier is the Executive Director of Surgo Foundation. Previously, she had worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in several roles, including leading the foundation’s global Male Circumcision Initiative in Africa and managing the Avahan HIV prevention program from the foundation’s India office. A trained neuroscientist, Dr. Sgaier applies her scientific approach to global health problems and is interested in cross-fertilizing approaches and lessons between disciplines to solve these problems. Dr. Sgaier was a scholar at Harvard Medical School and a Fellow with the Centre for Global Health Research. She received a PhD in Genetics from New York University, an M.A in Neuroscience from Brown University, and a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Bogazici University.