About F.L.I.G.H.T.
Our Founding Team
Meet the creative minds behind our success.
Mitra Nair, M.S.
Co-Founder, President
Mitra Nair is a translational research scientist for Mesoblast Ltd, where she is developing and commercializing cellular therapies to treat complex inflammatory diseases. Her role at Mesoblast Ltd also requires a deep understanding of international supply chains that are foundational to ensuring the safe and timely arrival of precursor, non-perishable consumables, and biologics to desired destinations. She was inspired to play a role in remedying international health disparities through her contributions to Global Medical Brigades in Nicaragua, participating in care delivery through rural mobile clinics. Mitra was born in the Netherlands and has since spent 26 years in the state of Texas. She graduated from Texas A&M with a BS in Biology, from the University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Center with an MS in Biomedical Science and was the lead research engineer for the Regenerative Medicine Program in their Department of Pediatric Surgery.
Anjan Saha, M.D., Ph.D
Co-Founder; Chairman of the Board
Anjan Saha is an Apgar Scholar in the Department of Anesthesiology at Columbia University. He has over a decade of experience in working internationally to advance human health with science and implementation. Anjan graduated from the NIH-funded Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Michigan with the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research. He has been recognized as a Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research Resident Scholar and a Kybele International Outreach awardee. He has partnered and/or received funding from federal agencies, NGOs, universities, and professional societies to uncover mechanistic drivers of human disease and improve access to care for underserved populations. Through collaborations with investigators from Germany, China, Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone, his work in both basic science and global health has been published in well-recognized journals and presented in both national and international forums.
Charlie Emala
Co-Founder, Director of IT
Charlie Emala is an IT specialist in the Department of Anesthesiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and now resides in New Jersey. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York with a BS in Computer Systems and Electrical Engineering. Outside of his work at Columbia University, Charlie leads an IT management service through a small firm that provides concierge technical solutions to various professional entities, including but not limited to, not-for-profit health-oriented foundations, hospitals, law firms, and accounting firms. He is devoted to supporting innovative ideas that originate from solving real world problems by enhancing individual, institutional, and systems level IT capabilities.
Rebekah Boyd, M.D., R.N.
Co-Founder, Director of Projects & Development
Rebekah Boyd is an integrated cardiothoracic surgery resident at Duke University. Her interests lie in health justice and the care of underserved populations, specifically in the context of global health and access to cardiothoracic surgical care. Rebekah grew up in the refugee camp of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Her upbringing inspired her work with displaced populations across many countries, including running the Columbia Human Rights Initiative Asylum Clinic while in medical school. Her current work building capacity for pediatric cardiac surgery in Guyana, Honduras, and Ghana. She is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, the Akwari Society, and a recipient of the Robert G. Bertsch award for humanism in surgery. She is the director of research for the Global Thoracic Surgery Residents’ Association and serves on the Women in Thoracic Surgery research committee.
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