Vithiya Sathivelu is Head of Strategy and Partnerships at UNU Global Health, with over a decade of experience across international institutions. She drives institutional strategy, partnerships, and evidence-informed programme delivery at the intersection of health equity, gender, and global health policy. Her role includes expanding the institute's visibility, sharpening dissemination of its research, and building alliances across governments, NGOs, and the UN system.
She has anchored three director-level leadership transitions at UNU-IIGH, sustaining key partnerships and operational continuity through each. A social worker by training, she spent her early career managing humanitarian programmes with the International Rescue Committee, Women's Centre for Change, and Global Peace Foundation, working at the intersection of equity, gender, and health systems. She joined UNU Global Health in 2018, where she continues to lead key projects across the programme and administration team. Outside the office, she reports to a slightly less formal leadership duo: her two dogs, Yoda and Baloo.