Emi Chutaro is from the Marshall Islands and has dedicated over 25 years to the Pacific region as an educator and health policy and systems development professional. She currently serves as the Executive Director for the Pacific Island Health Officers’ Association (PIHOA).

She has worked as the Behavior Change Communication Officer and Grants Coordinator for the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Public Health Division in New Caledonia and Federated States of Micronesia. She also served in multiple roles in the Marshall Islands as the Country Program Manager for UNDP’s Sustainable Livelihoods Development Program under the Office of the President – Economic Policy, Planning, and Statistics Office; Grants Manager for the Ministry of Education; and Instructor at the College of the Marshall Islands.

Ms. Chutaro has worked extensively with numerous Pacific regional and global partners supporting education and health systems strengthening initiatives across the Pacific, and currently serves on several regional advisory and partner coordination groups: the Pacific Monitoring Alliance for NCD Action Coordination Team; Climate Change and Environment Technical Expert Group for WHO for the Western Pacific Region; SPC’s Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network Coordinating Body; and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials’ Insular Area Policy Working Group. She also served on the State, Tribal, and Territorial Support Sub-Committee, a subcommittee to the Advisory Committee to the US CDC Office of the Director. She has over 22 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Ms. Chutaro, holds an MSc in Health Policy and Planning in Developing Countries from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a joint degree with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.