Mahnaz Harrison

Mahnaz Harrison is a graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She is the Co-founder, President, and CEO of Last Mile 4D, a Washington, DC-based innovative social enterprise that develops community-designed health, education and economic empowerment solutions. Last Mile 4D uses distributed renewable energy and ICT/mobile technology to connect people to the information, services and resources they need to improve the well-being of their families and communities. For Ms. Harrison, Last Mile 4D emerged from many years of experience in the healthcare field as well as a yearlong of work in the remotest areas of the Republic of Georgia on a Fulbright Scholarship. The field work in Georgia involved a community design approach to develop a solution, which involved engaging stakeholders as a critical part of the process in assessing the country's capacity to develop cancer control policies based on the World Health Organization's model. Her efforts highlighted the need to develop community-centric, "high tech/high touch" solutions, which connect people to each other and increases access to knowledge and information. Prior to Last Mile 4D, Ms. Harrison advised nonprofit and for-profit organizations on a variety of topics. Ms. Harrison is a seasoned health executive with a broad range of work in health management, health system strengthening, health policy development, women's health, project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. She has devised innovative healthcare programs, identifying and collaborating with relevant stakeholders to successfully move these projects from the pilot phase into full implementation. She co-edited Georgia's Non-Communicable Disease Policy. She has also worked with the Georgian National Museum, an umbrella organization managing 12 museums and three research institutes. This work was critical to the transition from Soviet era operation to modern management. In addition, Ms. Harrison has consulted with the World Bank. She also serves on several community national and international boards.She also serves on several community, national and international boards; she is the Vice President of the Abraham Geiger college board in Germany.