Introducing the New Planetary Health Alliance Executive Director

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Rachel Marcus as the new Executive Director of the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA).

Rachel joins us after serving more than a decade at USAID’s Bureau for Global Health, where she oversaw a wide-ranging portfolio of health system and population health investments across 65 countries. During her tenure, she received awards for advancing systems-level interventions and innovative approaches to achieve and sustain improved health outcomes worldwide. Most recently, she managed multiple global health programs up to $350M in value, developed new multilateral partnerships to better coordinate systems investments, led knowledge management and learning initiatives to translate evidence into improved practice, developed global guidance for cross-sectoral, integrated programs, and co-authored USAID’s Global Health Research Strategy 2030.

A Johns Hopkins alumna, Rachel earned her Doctor of Public Health in Health Equity and Social Justice at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she partnered with local health departments to strengthen their equity-centered work. She also holds an MSc in Health, Community, and Development from the London School of Economics, and dual degrees in Psychology and Political Science from Yale University.

As Executive Director of both the Planetary Health Alliance and the Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health (JHIPH), Rachel will be a leading voice for Planetary Health, helping to shape the vision and strategy of our movement. She will guide two dynamic teams working to grow the Planetary Health community at Johns Hopkins and across the globe. Learn more about Rachel here.

We also extend our deepest gratitude to Marie Studer, who transitions from Executive Director to Senior Advisor after five years of transformative leadership. Marie expanded our network to 500+ organizations and thousands of individuals, launched one of the world’s first cross-university Institutes for Planetary Health, and helped lay the foundation for our programs and community.

Please join us in welcoming Rachel to her new role as we enter an exciting phase of growth and movement building to secure a healthier, more livable future for humanity and the rest of life on Earth.