Vayu Foundation Performing high-impact implementation, training, and research

Our Board Members

Thomas F. Burke, MD, FACEP

Thomas F. Burke, MD, FACEP, FRSM is Chief of the Division of Global Health Innovation at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Burke spent 7 ½ years in the US Army and over that time was deployed with the Light Infantry as well as the 2nd Ranger Battalion. Dr. Burke was a tactical physician for the FBI Hostage Rescue Team at both the hostage incidents in Waco Texas and Ruby Ridge Idaho. On September 11, 2012 Dr. Burke was in Benghazi, Libya when Ambassador Stevens lost his life.

Dr. Burke’s innovations’ research experience spans 27 years and includes three years as a research director at Madigan Army Medical Center, four years as founder and chief executive officer of a successful clinical trials company, and 17 years as director of a global health innovations’ fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Over his career Dr. Burke has pioneered several award-winning scientific advances and thereafter translated them into policy and practice.

Dr. Burke has extensive experience as a leader in the global health arena since 1994, with a focus on maternal, newborn, and infant survival since 2004. Dr. Burke has led a research program focused on postpartum hemorrhage for the past 14 years and is a senior member of the International Federation of OBGYN Committee on Childbirth and Postpartum Hemorrhage. Dr. Burke has authored of over 140 scientific manuscripts and two books. He is often invited to speak at high profile forums and leading universities around the globe. Dr. Burke is a senior faculty of the Harvard University Center for African Studies and an active member of the Harvard Medical School Admissions Committee. On June 3, 2019, in a joint UK and India government ceremony in the House of Lords, Dr. Burke was bestowed the title, “Lord of the Planet in Medical Sciences”. In August of 2019, the Indian government honored Dr. Burke with an “Award for Excellence in Maternal and Child Health in Rural India”. Dr. Burke has opened several film festivals and has been profiled for his work by BBC, NPR, FOX Television, ABC, CBS, the London Financial Times, the New Yorker, the Seattle Times, and the Boston Globe, among other news outlets. Dr. Burke is President of the the Vayu Foundation and is a founding board member of Vayu Global Health Innovations, a Public Benefit Company.

Kris Joshi, PhD

EVP and President, Network Solutions, at Change Healthcare

Kris is Executive Vice President and President, Network Solutions at Change Healthcare. Prior to joining Change Healthcare, Kris was global vice president for healthcare at Oracle Corporation′s Health Sciences Global Business Unit. He helped launch the health sciences business unit, and successfully led two acquisitions for Oracle in the life sciences space. Before joining Oracle, Kris served in senior strategy roles in IBM′s Global Sales and Distribution organization. Prior to that, Kris was with McKinsey and Co, where he served Fortune 500 clients on strategy issues.

Kris has had a long-standing personal commitment to help bridge the gap between the social and commercial worlds through entrepreneurship, innovation, and public-private partnerships. He has championed numerous initiatives aimed at leveraging technology to improve the quality, safety, and affordability of healthcare globally. Kris serves on the boards of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, and the eHealth Initiative, in Washington, DC, and the Vayu Global Health Foundation, in Boston. Kris holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Caltech, and a Ph.D. in Physics from MIT.

Jamie Higgins

Chief Adisor and Director, Deloitte

Jamie Higgins is an organizational development and training professional with twenty-five years of experience working in leading-edge companies known for their exceptional people practices. Higgins is currently a member of the senior leadership team at Deloitte, a prominent international consulting firm and is responsible for managing the most extreme and challenging personnel crises within the firm. She has extensive experience in change management, and helping individuals and teams to achieve their growth and development goals, and has a proven track record within several companies.

Higgins has been a guest lecturer/teacher/facilitator at several universities, including the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Yale University’s Graduate School of Management, the Boston College Graduate School of Management, the Rotman University School of Management at the University of Toronto, and others. She has designed and delivered highly innovative management development programs for several prominent companies, which continue to be utilized over the course of many years, and enable participants to become more effective leaders. Higgins is involved with several not-for-profits, and is a board member of a charter school for inner-city children.

Geoff Cudd

Managing Partner, Grant Spark


Geoff is a marketing and technology leader with over 25 years’ experience solving problems for executives across industries and sizes ranging from SMB to the Fortune 500. He bootstrapped his first company from inception into a multi-million dollar, business consulting and SaaS solutions firm. Prior to that, Geoff was with Ernst & Young LLC and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting Information Systems from Virginia Tech.

Sara Murdoch, MD, FAAP

Pediatrician

Sara Murdoch MD, FAAP is a member of the Vayu foundation. She is a practicing board certified pediatrician with over 30 years in general pediatrics . She provided clinical care in her office as well as St Peters Hospital for 30 years in Olympia, WA . Since retiring from that position, she has worked on specific assignments most recently with the Indian health service. She was co-medical director for 10 years at camp Leo, a camp for children with diabetes in Washington state. She has also served on the board for Juvenile Diabetes Research foundation in Washington state.