Dr. Santiago Cornejo has over 20 years of work experience in health financing and equitable access to health commodities. He started his career in academia at the Center for Global Health at George Washington University and later worked for six years at The World Bank on many projects related to health and immunization financing at the global and country levels. He joined the Gavi Alliance in 2008, where he held different responsibilities, including developing and managing Gavi’s eligibility, co-financing, and transition policies and Gavi’s middle-income strategy. In his last two years at Gavi, Santiago was a member of the team that developed the COVAX Facility, leading the design of countries’ eligibility, benefits, and contributions. Dr. Cornejo was Director of Country Engagement in the Office of the COVAX Facility, overseeing the team responsible for managing the relationships with countries, particularly Middle and High-Income countries.

In 2022, Dr. Cornejo was appointed as Chief of the Revolving Fund for Access to Vaccines at the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and is currently the Executive Manager for PAHO’s Regional Revolving Funds, which includes the Revolving Fund for Access to Vaccines and the Strategic Fund of Essential Medicines and Strategic Health Supplies. PAHO’s Regional Revolving Funds enhance equitable access to health technologies, including vaccines, diagnostics, and medicines to 42 Member States in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Mr. Cornejo has a master’s degree in international development studies from George Washington University.