Board
Dr Tuuli Lahti, Ph.D., Adjunct professor
Principal Lecturer, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Master School, Health and Well-being
Tuuli Lahti has worked in the field of public health since 2004. She is an expert in health promotion, policy, and services and has gained experience from both domestic and international settings. She has worked in public and non-governmental organizations focusing on research, higher education, and advocacy.
Aino Försti-Smith, Head of Communications

Dr Charlotte Hammer, University of Cambridge
Professor Salla Atkins
Salla Atkins is professor of Public Health (especially Global Health) at Tampere University, also affiliated to Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. Her interests and experience is mainly in inequity, poverty, and health. She has over 70 publications mainly in international peer reviewed journals. Her current projects focus on health systems, tuberculosis and social protection and maternal health in countries such as Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, India and Finland.
Kaisa Lähdepuro
Kaisa Lähdepuro is a member of the Senior Advisory Board of Women in Global Health Finland. She works as a senior specialist at the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Through WGH Finland, she hopes to contribute to strengthening networks, knowledge exchange and capacity building for gender-transformative approaches in global health and health security. Kaisa holds M.A and M.Sc degrees with a focus on international relations, gender studies, economics and business.
Student Board
The members of the Women in Global Health Finland Student Board work actively with the chapter in representing the interests and needs of students across Finland in order to support them on their journey
Aurora Hirvonen
Aurora Hirvonen is a student at Laurea University of Applied Sciences where she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Global Health and Crisis Management. She has a previous academic background in Biomedical Sciences at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Recently, she was part of the Regional Reference Centre in the WHO Project for the World Eradication of Poliomyelitis at the University of Milan. For her future, she seeks a career that intertwines global well-being in humanitarian crisis and disaster management. She is excited to bring her share to Women in Global Health Finland, as part of the Student Board, to grow female global health leadership.
Chloe Stephenson
Chloe is a second-year master’s student in Public and Global Health at Tampere University. She moved to Finland from Canada with her cat, Baudelaire, in the summer of 2021. Her background is in philosophy and biology, and her previous master’s thesis explored the epistemic implications of consensus and dissent in science and their relevance to decision-making and policymaking. Her thesis drew heavily on feminist epistemology and philosophy of science, bringing out the importance of promoting public trust in science and science literacy. She is currently finishing up a traineeship at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), where she has been involved in drafting a document about implementation science and promoting the uptake of scientific outputs into policy and practice. She is keen to continue to explore these themes of promoting public trust in science, science literacy, and the uptake of scientific outputs into policy and practice in a public and global health context!
Elina Kervinen
Before initiating her studies in Global Health, Elina worked as a registered nurse in various hospital settings both in Finland and abroad. For the last eight years, Elina has been working in the intensive care unit for children aged between 0-16. Elina is currently studying in the Public and Global Health Master’s degree programme at the University of Tampere, and she aims to graduate during spring 2023. Her current studies have given her possibilities to take part in various research projects related to for example gender equality and social protection. As a member of WGH Finland -student board, Elina seeks to promote women’s equal participation in society and gender equality.
Adoration Chigere
Adoration Chigere is a data management and analytics expert with a postgraduate background in public health and several years of experience in implementing public health interventions, to bridge the healthcare access divide in local communities. She is passionate about maternal and child health, community development, health system strengthening, and infectious disease prevention such as HIV/AIDs. She is an effective and dedicated leader focused on promoting health and well-being through health education, prevention services, educational outreaches, and data-driven policies. She holds a master’s degree in Public Health and Wellbeing from Northumbria University Newcastle, England, and a master’s degree in Epidemiology and Biomedical Data Science from the University of Oulu, Finland.