Director, Health Services Research; Global Health, Population and Nutrition; FHI 360, NC, USA
Theresa Hoke is the Acting Director of Global Health and Population Research at FHI 360. She manages multi-disciplinary teams in conducting implementation research to improve the systems supporting primary health care services in resource-poor settings. She has 25 years of experience conducting applied research to strengthen public health interventions. Currently, Dr. Hoke is also serving as principal investigator on a cluster randomized controlled trial testing a multisectoral nutrition intervention in Bangladesh. Earlier she led a team of investigators examining the feasibility, cost, and value of a community-based integrated development initiative in Kenya. Her implementation research in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya provided evidence to program managers about effective linkages between HIV and family planning services. Another investigation in Madagascar supported the design of a nationally implemented intervention for provision of injectable contraceptives by community health workers.
Before joining FHI 360, Dr. Hoke was part of the team launching USAID’s initial Quality Assurance Project, led by University Research Corporation. She collaborated with field colleagues in conducting operations research studies to test quality improvement interventions to strengthen child health services. Hoke’s commitment to closing implementation gaps traces back to her two years working in a health center in rural Niger as a volunteer nutrition educator for Peace Corps.
Dr. Hoke earned her Masters of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health and her doctorate in Health Policy and Administration, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She first embraced the discipline of implementation research through participation in the 2012 Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health, sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
