Isabel Litwin-Davies
Selected institutional experience
Governance, portfolio oversight, programme architecture, and funded research environments.
Experience prior to Sustenra.
The examples below reflect roles and outputs delivered prior to Sustenra, with links to public publications or organisational announcements where available.
These engagements reflect direct responsibility within the systems Sustenra now assesses independently, not observation from the outside.
Selected published outputs and organisational announcements that demonstrate the experience informing Sustenra's advisory work.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research, UK (NIHR)
RIGHT programme theory of change
- Developed programme architecture and impact framework for a national ODA funded portfolio.
- Led stakeholder consultation across funders, academics, and delivery partners.
- Integrated research capacity strengthening and equitable partnerships within award design.
- Structured narrative and visual theory of change supporting implementation and evaluation.
- Built direct experience of how national research funders design accountability and impact frameworks, the same structural decisions Sustenra assesses when funders need to know whether a programme architecture will hold.
European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health (ECTMIH)
Global Health Initiatives and Health System Strengthening in Zanzibar
- Examined where externally funded health programmes aligned with, or cut across, the domestic systems they operated within.
- Analysed how vertical funding structures fragment institutional accountability and undermine performance over time.
- Assessed the sustainability risks created when funded programmes operate outside national accountability mechanisms, the same fragility Sustenra's clients engage to address.
- Contributed to international plenary discussions on the governance of complex funded programmes.
Britannia Life Sciences
Consumer clinical trial development
- Supported launch of a consumer trial testing a CBD formulation for hair growth.
- Led protocol development, data integrity oversight, safety review, and implementation supervision.
- Aligned evidence generation with commercial strategy in an evolving regulatory context.
- Grounds Sustenra's understanding of commercial delivery timelines, regulatory accountability, and what investors deploying capital into structured programmes expect, directly relevant when assessing whether delivery partners have the contractual discipline to perform against complex mandates.
Karolinska Institutet, Health Systems Policy Research Group (HSP)
Multi-country health systems research coordination
- Coordinated administrative and research operations across EU Horizon 2020, WHO EVIPNet, WHO Alliance for Health Policy Systems Research, and Global Malaria Programme projects, with partners including Makerere University, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and the Malaria Consortium.
- Drafted, reviewed, and submitted research reports, publications, and EU and WHO project reports on behalf of the group's members.
- Maintained EU financial reports and budget records across multiple concurrent international projects.
- Served as institutional representative in dealings with international partners, government officials, and stakeholders across the group's project portfolio.
- Built direct operational knowledge of how large multi-partner research programmes are governed and administered, and where accountability structures break down under the pressure of concurrent international commitments.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
National cancer programme advisory: Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Conducted a national stakeholder review in Georgia to develop recommendations for the country's Breast, Cervical, and Colorectal cancer programmes; produced a report integrated into the national health plan.
- Led a national research mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina to identify gaps and inefficiencies in the country's cancer programmes, including interviews with government officials, health care providers, and civil society.
- Final reports from both missions were approved by the respective governments and incorporated into national health policy.
- Built direct experience of conducting independent country-level assessments for a major multilateral, translating findings into recommendations that had to hold up under government scrutiny, the same standard Sustenra applies to every engagement.
Additional multilateral, government, and confidential advisory assignments are available upon request.