VaxTrac

About Us

Heath Gross

Founder and Chairman of the Board

Mark Thomas

Mark prefers the more refined pursuits in life such as snowboarding and tailgating. He is also trying to teach his dog the Michigan fight song.

Shawn Sarwar

When he's not pretending to train for triathlons, Shawn enjoys competitive trivia, soccer and amateur paleontology.

Rachael Hunt

Director of Corporate Strategy and Media Relations

Partners

Mission India Foundation

[ www.mifusa.org ]

Mission India Foundation is our first program partner. They've been kind enough to let us join in their MMR campaign in Narnaul, India.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

[ www.gatesfoundation.org ]

The Gates Foundation through a generous grant are our main financial backer. In November 2010, they awarded VaxTrac a $100,000 Grand Challenges Exploration Award. This award has a term of one year at which point we are eligible to apply for a follow on award of up to one million dollars.

Press

2010-11-10 - The Huffington Post - Cell Phone Science

2010-11-09 - The Gates Notes - Cell Phone Science

History

The idea for VaxTrac first germinated in 2006 while the organization’s founder, Heath Gross, completed a six month assessment of the vaccine industry in emerging markets. The research was in support of a major vaccine manufacture’s global vaccine strategy, but for Heath, it exposed a serious deficiency in the current global immunization strategy.

Heath (right), and World Concern’s Thomas, in Southern Sudan.

After several months of research Heath developed an immunization tracking technology that would, in theory, drastically reduce vaccine waste and improve immunization reporting, tracking and planning.

In 2008 Heath was joined by Mark Thomas, a long time friend, who shared his vision and passion for improving the immunization process in developing countries. Mark immediately began to leverage his engineering background to explore ways to improve on Heath’s original design. Additionally, as a management consultant, Mark also brought fresh insight to the organizations business model.

Mark (right) and Daniel, Liethnam’s World Vision Medical Director.

By early 2009 VaxTrac had applied for 501c3 non-profit status and had been joined by a of number of volunteers and supporters.

In April of 2009 VaxTrac partnered with Nadus, a Sudan focused aid organization that works with Sudanese NGOs to provide clean water, education and medical aid. In June VaxTrac and Nadus visited Southern Sudan; for VaxTrac the trip was designed to observe the immunization process and to begin laying the groundwork for VaxTrac’s first in-country pilot program. After observing the immunization program in rural Southern Sudan and meeting with a number of top government and NGO leaders, VaxTrac returned to the United States more confident than ever that the VaxTrac system was indeed capable of reducing waste, improving immunization tracking and saving lives.

By late 2009, it was clear that if VaxTrac was going to grow, it needed strong centralized leadership. In November, Mark left his job as a management consultant to become the first Executive Director. One of his first acts was to recruit long time friend Shawn Sarwar away from his position as an R&D and marketing consultant for a major surgical navigation company. Shawn’s varied experience in biomedical engineering and medical device development led to his appointment as Research Director.

After spending 2010 fundraising, developing software and refining service offerings, VaxTrac launched its first pilot program in October in Narnaul, India in partnership with Mission India Foundation.