Leadership

Craig E. Rubens, MD, PhD
The Executive Director of GAPPS since its inception, Dr. Rubens is Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease at Seattle Children’s Hospital. He is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology. At Seattle Children’s Research Institute, he is a member of the Center for Childhood Infections and Prematurity Research and directs a research program on the molecular pathogenesis of bacterial perinatal infections. His laboratory has recently been developing a model to understand the mechanisms of infection-induced preterm labor and premature births; insights from this work have begun to identify new means of preventing or treating preterm labor and perinatal bacterial infections as well as improving reproductive outcomes.
Read an interview with the executive director »

Donna Russell, MHA
As GAPPS Program Director, Donna Russell manages the alliance’s international partnerships and initiatives. Before joining GAPPS in 2007, she worked for the Washington State Department of Health and the State Board of Health and as a consultant, conducting policy development and analysis on a broad range of issues including public health financing, health workforce shortages, tribal health, and health disparities. Beginning in 2000, she began to focus on neonatal Group B Streptococcus disease prevention—efforts that contributed to adoption of universal prenatal screening for Group B Strep.