Stamford-headquartered Americares has hired Elena Ateva for the position of climate and disaster resilience director.
In her new role, Ateva will direct the nonprofit’s global programming that addresses the health impacts of climate change, including the Climate Resilience for Frontline Clinics Toolkit and the Climate Health Equity for Community Clinics Program—both collaborations with the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE). Americares’ climate resilience work is designed to offer health providers and clinic staff serving low-income and uninsured patients with resources to protect patients from hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, extreme heat and other weather events intensified by climate change.
Prior to joining Americares, Ateva served as deputy director of heat, health and gender at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, which focuses on individual and community climate resilience. Prior to that, Ateva worked for the White Ribbon Alliance for seven years, where she held a number of leadership roles including senior advocacy and communications manager, and maternal health advisor for the USAID Health Policy Plus project.
“With more than 15 years of proven experience executing mission-driven programming in the health and human rights space, Elena is an incredibly valuable addition to the organization,” said Americares Senior Vice President of Programs and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Julie Varughese. “She will be instrumental in advancing and expanding our climate and disaster resilience work globally.”
