Sema Sgaier, Ph.D.

Sema Sgaier, Ph.D. has a diverse background working in the healthcare industry. Sema is currently the CEO and co-founder of Surgo Health and a co-founder and CEO of Surgo Ventures, a non-profit organization that partners with governments and organizations to solve health and social problems using behavioral and data science. Sgaier is also a board member of the United States of Care. Prior to their current work, Sgaier worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as an Initiative Lead/Senior Program Officer and as a Program Officer, where they led the foundation's portfolio on voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention in Africa. Sema was also a co-founder and executive director of the Surgo Foundation. Sgaier holds an adjunct assistant professor position at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Sema completed their postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University and worked as a research fellow and program manager at the University of Toronto's Centre for Global Health Research. Sgaier was also an alumni board member at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sema Sgaier, Ph.D. obtained a B.Sc. degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Boğaziçi University in 1997. Sema then pursued an M.A. in Neuroscience from Brown University between 1997 and 1999. In 2005, they received a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Developmental Genetics from New York Medicine Jobs.