Jessica Pavel

 

Jess joined the United Nations Foundation in 2023 and serves as Director of Global Health Advocacy overseeing the malaria portfolio. In this capacity, she manages and implements the government relations strategy for the United to Beat Malaria campaign, a global grassroots campaign of the Foundation dedicated to ending malaria and protecting the world’s most vulnerable from this deadly parasitic disease by increasing support for bilateral and multilateral malaria programs. She also co-chairs the Malaria Roundtable, a roundtable for sharing issues, demonstrating needs, and advocating on trends in malaria’s worldwide disease imprint, working with U.S. government agencies, Congress, and actors across private industry and civil society.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Jess served for four years as Senior Health Policy Advisor for Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT). Her portfolio included domestic and global health, pandemic preparedness and response, infectious disease, health data modernization initiatives, and climate change. She also served as Senator Romney’s policy advisor on his 2018 Senate campaign. She has previously worked in public policy consulting, including for international development, and in labor and human rights for the apparel industry.

Jess received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in political science and international relations with a focus on international development. She earned her Master’s degree in Public Health through the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, focusing on global health and security, infectious disease, and the overlay of climate change.