Mary E. Schmitz has twenty years of global public health experience in surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, and program management, with a focus on HIV programs in East Africa. She is currently the Deputy Director, Global Health with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) in support of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) under the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). Working with MHRP’s International HIV Prevention and Treatment (IHPT) team, she provides leadership, management, and technical assistance across MHRP’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) programs in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Mary previously served as IHPT’s Technical Director for Program Quality (2021-2023) and continues to support IHPT’s quality improvement integration and serves on IHPT’s Internal Scientific Review Committee.
Before joining HJF in 2021, Mary worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Global HIV & TB in Kenya (2011-2020) and Tanzania (2010-2011). In that period, Mary provided strategic direction for CDC Kenya's surveillance and epidemiology portfolio, working in close collaboration with the Kenyan Ministry of Health. She led research project design, implementation, and dissemination. Prior to her work with CDC, Mary worked with international non-governmental organizations in several countries including Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Liberia, and South Sudan.
Mary earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Anthropology from Marquette University and her Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University.