About Us
The R4R Story
Founded in the crucible of COVID-19
The Reform for Resilience Commission was founded in 2020 by George Freeman, a life sciences expert and member of the U.K. Parliament, as the world was just beginning to understand the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the Commission grew out of the pandemic’s impact on daily lives, it had broader goals from the start: Our mission is to support the development of a greener, healthier, and more economically resilient world in the face of the rising dangers of climate change and future pandemics.
The obstacles created by a shifting climate and growing disease risks are monumental, and no one person or entity can confront them alone. That is why the Commission brings together political and business leadership from fields including health, environment, economics, and finance, and emphasizes the need for international cooperation and multisectoral coalitions.
The Global Secretariat
Patricia Geli
Secretary of the Governing Board and Advisory Council;
Executive Director, Global Secretariat and the Americas Hub
Patricia Geli, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Reform for Resilience’s Americas Hub, located in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She also leads the global Secretariat, which oversees all the regional hubs. In addition, Patricia is the point person for Harvard Chan’s participation in the Partnership for Central America, a coalition formed in response to Vice President Kamala Harris’ May 2021 call to action to address the root causes of migration from Central America. Prior to joining Harvard, Patricia worked at the World Bank for a decade, most recently as a Senior Economist and Task Team Leader. In this capacity, she led the development and implementation support of the Africa CDC Project with a total envelope of USD250mn. She served on the World Bank’s COVID-19 task force, and also served on an extended mission in Sierra Leone at the height of the Ebola crisis. Patricia brings tremendous experience of working in situations of Fragility, Conflict and Violence including Central African Republic and South Sudan; and she won numerous awards for excellence during her tenure. Previously, she worked in The Public Health Agency of Sweden and Resources for the Future. Patricia’s academic background spans economics, public health and sustainability. She holds a PhD in mathematical statistics from Stockholm University. She is currently a Research Scientist at Harvard Chan School of Public Health’s Department of Global Health and Population, and Research Affiliate with MIT’s Media Lab where she teaches AI and Web3 for Impact: A venture studio to address global health an climate challenges.