Deborah von Zinkernagel, RN, MS, SM
Vice President for Policy and Senior Clinical Expert
Deborah von Zinkernagel, RN, MS, SM is Vice President for Policy and Senior Clinical Expert with the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation. Her work has focused on program development for expansion of HIV/AIDS treatment capabilities and systems of care in Rwanda and South Africa, and supporting local models of care bridging rural and urban populations in China. Prior to joining Pangaea, Ms. von Zinkernagel was the deputy director of the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1997-2001.
Ms. Von Zinkernagel was a Health Policy Analyst for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources as a member of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s staff 1990-1995, with legislative responsibilities for HIV/AIDS, maternal/child health, and safety net health programs. Ms. von Zinkernagel was a Kellogg Fellow from 1987 to 1989 in the Joint Program for Research Training in Clinical Effectiveness at the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She completed an earlier 3-year fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA.
Ms. von Zinkernagel was born and raised in Egypt. She received her nursing degree from the Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing (BSN with Honors, 1975), and holds Master’s degrees in Community Health from Boston College (1987) and in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health (1989).