Staff Profile: Jean-Marie Ngbichi

Jean-Marie Ngbichi started his career as a medical doctor, but he embraces his new role as resident advisor for MEASURE Evaluation’s Mali project.  He especially relishes the grand scale and impact of the projects he works on.

“Working in public health is very exciting,” he said.  “You can do something for people in great numbers.  When working as a clinician, you just deal with a single patient, which is nice.  But I prefer public health, where we’re always designing projects and policies for numerous people.”

In addition to being a medical doctor, Ngbichi earned a Master of Science at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium in 1995.   Immediately before joining MEASURE Evaluation in the fall of 2009, Ngbichi was country director of a project specializing in safe injections.  Before that, he worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on HIV projects in his home country of Cote d’Ivoire.  He also worked for the World Health Organization.

As resident advisor in Mali, Ngbichi focuses most of his time on the national malaria program.  So far, he is particularly proud of helping to develop the first sentinel site surveillance system report:  Ngbichi and his colleagues in Mali have developed surveillance in five districts and used the information gathered to create a more comprehensive malaria report.   

“It’s been a good experience,” he says of his time at MEASURE Evaluation.  “We have had a few difficulties, but that’s the reason we are here – to provide support.”

It’s not all work for Ngbichi, though.  One of his most surprising pastimes, perhaps, is following American country music.  Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts and Dolly Parton make the short list of his favorite artists.  “When I was young in Cote d’Ivoire, I heard Don Williams,” Ngbichi said, explaining his first encounter with the genre.  “And then when I started working with the CDC and other American agencies, I learned more about this music.”

Ngbichi also enjoys playing soccer and spending time with his wife and three children in Bamako, Mali.