Leader in diabetes prevention and care to oversee PATH's growth in new global health area

December 18, 2012 by PATH

Helen McGuire is PATH's new director of noncommunicable diseases

Contact:
Amy MacIver, 206.302.4522, amaciver@path.org.

Seattle, December 18, 2012—PATH today announced the appointment of Helen McGuire to the newly created position of director, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Ms. McGuire served as acting director of policy and programs at the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in Brussels, Belgium. Her 15-year career in NCDs includes senior posts at IDF and experience driving major projects in public health, clinical care, education, and system redesign.

Ms. McGuire will lead a growing portfolio of PATH projects focused on diabetes and cardiovascular disease and build close linkages with its long-standing work in women’s cancers. She will join PATH’s Washington, DC, office in February 2013.

“I am delighted to welcome Helen McGuire to PATH,” said Jacqueline Sherris, vice president of global programs at PATH. “As PATH remains committed to addressing the biggest challenges in global health, we recognize that noncommunicable diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, must be on the agenda. I know that Helen’s expertise and experience in this area will be an asset to the organization.”

During her five years at IDF, Ms. McGuire led strategy implementation for diabetes education and health systems in collaboration with national member associations and global leaders in diabetes. Other major achievements include negotiating and establishing an innovative diabetes education program in more than 100 countries, developing and implementing a selection process and strategy for IDF Centres of Education across the globe, and building the successful D-Net—the online diabetes network for health care professionals. She was the senior member of the research team for the recently completed 3C Study providing comprehensive understanding of the coverage, cost, and care of type 1 diabetes in China. This groundbreaking research is being used to shape Chinese government policy on type 1 diabetes.

“I am delighted to be joining PATH at this crucial time when world leaders are seeking solutions to the crisis of noncommunicable disease,” said Ms. McGuire. “PATH is an innovative, forward-thinking organization with a well-honed, practical approach that is responsive to the needs of people. I feel privileged to be invited to lead its work in NCDs.”

In recognition of the huge and growing global burden of NCDs, PATH is leveraging 20 years of leadership in cervical cancer and its expertise in behavior change, health systems strengthening, and health technologies to tackle NCD-related challenges. Current PATH diabetes projects are focused on developing and evaluating diabetes screening and care approaches and making them available for people in low-resource settings. PATH is also working to address the links between diabetes and tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and maternal and child health and nutrition; develop and evaluate new tools for breast cancer screening and care; and expand its work to address cardiovascular disease.