Board of Directors

 Ana Ayala, JD LLM, serves a Chief of International and Legal Affairs for the AMR Strategic Coalition (ASC). She is a global health lawyer and policy expert with over 15 years of experience leading cross-sectoral initiatives to strengthen health systems and advance systems-level impact in the United States and worldwide.  She is also Founder and Principal of Global Health Law Strategies, a consultancy dedicated to building stronger legal and policy foundations so that health systems are more effective, equitable, and prepared to meet present and future health challenges. Her expertise spans antimicrobial resistance (AMR), global health security, legal preparedness, tobacco control, non-communicable diseases, and human rights-based approaches to public health, with emerging interest in AI implications for public health and climate-related health threats. 

Ana brings a wealth of experience collaborating with governments, international organizations, civil society, academia, and private sector partners to strengthen health systems worldwide. She has led and managed partnerships and initiatives with global and regional organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), Africa CDC, the European Commission, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Formerly as Senior Advisor and Team Lead for Global Health Security and Readiness in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, she led international partnerships and spearheaded initiatives on behalf of the U.S. Government to enhance pandemic readiness. This includes the conceptualization and establishment of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Legal Preparedness Action Package, the first global initiative focused on legal preparedness for health emergencies. She served as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Lead Negotiator in the negotiations to amend the International Health Regulations (IHR), coordinating the development of U.S. positions on 300+ proposals, and contributed as expert to the negotiations of the Pandemic Agreement.

She also serves as Senior Scholar of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center and Adjunct Professor of Public Health at the University of San Francisco, School of Nursing and Health Professions, where she teaches Health Policy and Ethics.

Ana is bilingual in English and Spanish and holds a Master of Laws in Global Health Law from Georgetown University; a law degree from American University; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and International Studies, with a concentration in international human rights, from The University of Chicago.