Joanita is Associate to Chief Operating Officer (COO). In this role, she expands the COO’s time by supporting the management of corporate priorities and projects, and development of approaches for optimizing business processes.

Prior to being Associate to COO, Joanita was Program Associate for Saving Brains, a portfolio on early childhood development. Here, she supported portfolio management and led innovator engagement throughout contracting and project management phases. Before joining Grand Challenges Canada, Joanita was a project coordinator at the provincial HIV policy and research organization where she collaborated with stakeholders on HIV research and management among Black communities in Ontario. She also supported healthy communities initiatives in her role as research and evaluation assistant at the Ontario Health Communities Coalition.

Joanita holds a Master’s Degree in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Bachelors degree in Nursing from the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton and an advanced diploma in Business Administration – Project Management from George Brown College.