Dr. Leslie D. Mancuso, President and CEO of Jhpiego, serves at the nexus between health care, business and the nonprofit sector. A recognized international business leader, Dr. Mancuso has decades of experience developing public-private partnerships with organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck for Mothers, Roche, Organon and Johnson & Johnson—as well as the U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies. She engages with business leaders across global health, at the same time listening intently to countries’ wants and needs articulated by ministers of health and community leaders.
Dr. Mancuso oversees Jhpiego’s longstanding and extensive relationships with international agencies, governments and ministries of health, nursing, midwifery and medical schools, professional associations and nongovernmental organizations. She has a proven track record in bringing accountability to and navigating changes in the international nonprofit sector. Through her leadership, Jhpiego has grown exponentially not only in staff and budget, but also in areas of impact and countries reached. During her tenure, Jhpiego’s budget has increased from $5 million to as high as $420 million, and the number of awards has expanded from four to 156, while the staff increased twenty-fold, with the majority living and working in their home countries. Today, Dr. Mancuso oversees programs that touch the lives of one billion people across 41 countries and three continents.
A nurse and American Academy of Nursing Fellow, Dr. Mancuso has driven the organization’s work to expand access to lifesaving care for people in the world’s most challenging areas for health for more than 20 years, with an emphasis on strengthening human resources for health. Dr. Mancuso’s vision for Jhpiego is rooted in her belief that the organization must engage with and support governments and country partners to realize their vision of a strong health system with a well-prepared network of health care professionals to ensure healthy communities and families for years into the future.
For 20 years, Dr. Mancuso has championed innovation across Jhpiego’s technical areas. Most recently, this work has included advancing self-injectable contraceptives and HPV self-sampling to screen for cervical cancer, the use of mobile apps by community health workers to ensure their clients living with HIV receive the care they need, and team-based strategies and virtual mentorship to strengthen the surgical skills of health care professionals in facilities providing cesarean section and other lifesaving procedures.
She is committed to gender equality both within and outside the organization. Recently, Jhpiego was recognized as a high-performing global health organization in advancing gender equality for the fourth consecutive year. Jhpiego’s gender programming spans the technical areas in which the organization works, and includes the development of toolkits and training packages that cover topics such as global disparities in women’s leadership, gendered patterns of communication, and linkages between power, gender norms and sexual harassment.
Dr. Mancuso has been the recipient of many prestigious business and professional awards, including the Regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Smart CEO BRAVA Business Women Achievement Award, the Maryland International Business Leadership Award from the World Trade Center Institute, the Top 100 Women “Circle of Excellence” award and the Baltimore Daily Record Innovator of the Year Award. In 2016, she was inducted into the Maryland Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame. Under her leadership, Jhpiego has received numerous high-profile awards, including the 2014 United Nations Population Award, the 2014 CLASSY Award for Health, the Sigma Theta Tau International Archon Award and a 2017 Webby Award.
Dr. Mancuso serves on numerous boards, including the Board of Directors of the World Trade Center Institute, and as Chair of the Health & Life Sciences Committee for the US-ASEAN Business Council. A passionate advocate for the nursing profession, she also lends her expertise to the Advisory Council of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.
Dr. Mancuso received her undergraduate degree in nursing from Southern Connecticut University, a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, a doctoral degree in education/organizational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania and an Executive Leadership Certificate from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She holds a joint appointment at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing’s Department of Community-Public Health and is an Adjunct Professor at both the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and James Cook University in Cairns, Australia.