Dr. Paulin Basinga leads the foundation’s work in Africa.

Previously, as the foundation’s director of health for Africa, Paulin led a team that developed and implemented country plans to advance the foundation’s health priorities in Africa. Earlier, he was the foundation’s country director in Nigeria, where he re-established critical partnerships and advanced the foundation’s health, nutrition, agriculture, gender, and financial inclusion priorities and aligned them with the Nigerian government’s Human Capital Development Agenda.

Paulin joined the foundation in 2012 as a senior program officer on the HIV team. He worked on the HIV Efficiency and Effectiveness Initiative, leading the development and implementation of strategies to make the foundation’s HIV investments more efficient and effective. In 2013, he joined the Integrated Delivery team as a senior program officer, developing and managing a portfolio of investments in community and child health. He subsequently became deputy director of the Country Primary Health Initiative team. In 2015, he was seconded to the Rwandan Ministry of Health, as a senior advisor to the Rwanda Biomedical Centre and provided decision support for critical reforms of the health sector.

Before joining the foundation, Paulin served as deputy director in charge of research at the National University of Rwanda’s School of Public Health. In that role, he designed, implemented, and evaluated public health interventions for HIV, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health. He also led research into ways to strengthen Rwanda’s health systems.

Paulin earned his medical degree at the National University of Rwanda and has a master’s degree and Ph.D. in international development from Tulane University.