Neil Buddy Shah

Trained as a physician and development economist, Dr. Neil Buddy Shah is an award-winning social entrepreneur, CEO, and global health funder who is passionate about making global health efforts as impactful as possible.

Dr. Shah is currently the Managing Director of GiveWell, a research and funding organization that directs hundreds of millions of dollars per year to programs in global health and development. GiveWell seeks to identify and fund the most cost-effective ways to save lives, and has recently emerged as one of the world’s largest private funders in global health.

Dr. Shah was previously co-founder, CEO and now Board Chair of IDinsight, a global development data analytics and advisory firm with offices across Africa, Asia, and the US. At IDinsight, he helped pioneer the practical application of cutting-edge data and impact measurement tools such as randomized controlled trials, machine learning and results-based financing mechanisms to improve the impact of life-saving and antipoverty programs across Africa and Asia. Buddy worked previously at the World Bank and MIT’s Jameel Poverty Action Lab.

Buddy holds an AB in economics from Harvard, an MD with special distinction in global health policy from Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and an MPA in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School.

Dr. Shah serves on the Boards of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Private Foundations Board Constituency); the Institute to End Mass Incarceration at Harvard Law School; Educate Girls; Giving Green; and IDinsight. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has served as guest faculty at Harvard Kennedy School and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and is a former Echoing Green Fellow and Forbes’ 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur.