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Meg welcomes Shahrzad Yavari, Cold and Supply Chain Consultant at Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance. Calvin Marty, a producer on the show, joins Meg to tell Shahrzad's story in a new format.
Show Notes
Meg welcomes Shahrzad Yavari, COVAX Cold & Supply Chain Consultant at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Gavi is an organization working to improve vaccination efforts globally.
Shahrzad is a public health strategist and avid women’s rights advocate who has dedicated much of her efforts to creating opportunities for women globally. Her background in psychology helped to shape her interest in community-driven solutions for various challenges in the healthcare and education sectors, among others.
Her most recent achievements include her work with Gavi, where COVAX has been a lifeline in vaccination efforts for many countries, responsible for delivering more than 1 billion vaccines worldwide. She also established and scaled an innovative vaccine cold chain program installed in over 17,000 health facilities across 23 countries.
In this episode, Meg and Shahrzad discuss the complex network working to solve disparities in equitable vaccination efforts; the Cold Chain and Shahrzad’s relevant expertise; her upbringing and how that affected her career path; her advice for those entering the field; and more.
Producer Calvin Marty joins Meg to tell Shahrzad’s story in a new format.
Further Reading:
Episode Credits:
The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare is a production of The Krinsky Company.
Hosted by Meg Escobosa.
Edited, engineered, and mixed by Calvin Marty.
All music composed and performed by Calvin Marty.
©2022 The Krinsky Company
Creators & Guests
Host
Meg Escobosa
Meg Escobosa has 15 years of innovation consulting experience, focusing on the unique challenges of healthcare since 2012. For The Krinsky Company, Meg leads client engagements overseeing advisory board design, creation and management. She also leads industry research, expert recruitment and trend analysis to support corporate innovation initiatives centered on the future of healthcare. Her background in innovation and strategy consulting began at IdeaScope Associates where she was involved all aspects of strategic innovation initiatives including understanding the voice of the customer, industry research and aligning the executive team to invest in promising strategic growth opportunities. Meg received her BA in Latin American Studies from Trinity College in Hartford and her MBA in sustainable management from the pioneering Master’s degree program, Presidio Graduate School. She is also on the board of a non-profit foundation focused on researching and developing technology to support a sustainable society. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two teenage daughters.
Producer
Calvin Marty
A man of many hats, Calvin Marty is a Podcast Producer, Editor, Engineer, Voice Actor, Actor, Composer, Singer/Songwriter, Musician, and Tennis Enthusiast. Calvin produces, engineers, edits, mixes, and scores The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare. Calvin is also the creator of the 2020 podcast, irRegular People, among others. Find his music under the names Calvin Marty, Billy Dubbs, Nature Show, and The Sunken Ship. Over his long career as an actor, Calvin's has voiced many Radio and TV commercials for a wide-range of companies and products and has appeared in small on-camera roles on shows such as Chicago Fire and Empire.
What is The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare?
The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare is a podcast featuring exceptional women making an impact in healthcare today. We celebrate our guests’ accomplishments, setbacks, and the lessons they've learned throughout their careers. We dig into the many healthcare issues we face today and how these innovative leaders are working to solve them. Join host Meg Escobosa in conversation with some of the many brilliant, courageous women on the front lines of the future of health.
Sharzhad Yavari: [00:00:00] Being able to deliver over 1 billion vaccines and having the capacity to deliver and store and distribute is just mind-blowing to me. And it’s just amazing how with strong partnerships we’re able to move mountains.
My favorite quote from Paul Farmer, my inspiration: he has a famous quote saying, “With rare exceptions, all of your most important achievements on this planet will come from working with others, or in a word, ‘partnership.’”
Meg: I’m Meg Escobosa. Today on The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare, Covax consultant Shahrzad Yavari joins us as we talk about the cold chain and worldwide vaccine distribution.[00:01:00]
Calvin: And I’m Calvin Marty, a producer on the podcast. And I’ll be joining Meg on today’s episode.
(short music break)
Because of COVID 19, many of us are more familiar with vaccine production and distribution than we ever imagined we would be. People outside of healthcare have begun to use terms like “endemic,” “incubation period,” and perhaps even “cold chain.” Or maybe just “supply chain.”
Meg: Most of us are somewhat aware of the great and collaborative effort it took to create the [00:01:30] COVID 19 vaccines at record speed.
But what about the transport and delivery of the vaccine? What about its equitable distribution? And what about other vaccines for diseases other than COVID 19?
Calvin: Unfortunately, global vaccination continues to decline. According to UNICEF, in 2021, 2.5 million more children missed out on life-saving vaccines than in 2020. 6 million more than in 2019. And In 2021, the world health organization set a target for 70% global vaccination [00:02:00] coverage by mid 2022. Well, here we are. And as of June only 58 of WHO's 194 member states had reached that target–with only 37% of healthcare workers in low-income countries having received a course of primary vaccination.
Meg: It's hard. One part of this complex issue is making sure that when vaccines are delivered, they're still viable. Sometimes vaccines have been exposed to improper temperatures before they're administered without anyone's knowledge. If [00:02:30] the cold chain is not properly maintained, vaccine potency may be lost, resulting in a useless vaccine supply.
Calvin: On today's show, Meg speaks with Sharhzad Yavari, an expert in cold chain implementation and management. Sharhzad is a public health strategist and women's health advocate passionate about creating equitable access to health and work opportunities for women.
Meg: She is currently a Covax and cold supply chain consultant at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. In her previous position at NexLeaf analytics, Shahrzad scaled an innovative [00:03:00] vaccine cold chain program installed in over 17,000 health facilities across 23 countries.
Calvin: So what is the cold chain, exactly? And how does a vaccine, which must be kept, say between two degrees Celsius and eight degrees Celsius get from a national facility to a scorching remote location that doesn't have grid electricity?
Meg: We'll let the expert explain, but first let's meet the expert, Sharzhad Yavari, and find out how she came to have [00:03:30] such a “niche expertise” as she calls it, and how her difficult experience as a teen immigrant informs her work to this day.
Sharzhad Yavari: I was born in Tehran Iran. I moved to the US when I was 14. Moving to a new culture environment, [00:04:00] city, country continent. It's just, it was really difficult. Teenagers are very reslient. And I didn't realize how resilient I was and I didn't realize how hard it was when I moved. ‘Cause I think you kind of tend to try to fit in and to find your friends and kind of just move on. You know, this is a new life I have to adapt and you adapt.
But it was actually my mid twenties and even late twenties that I realized how hard it was on me. It was really [00:04:30] hard. I think the biggest maybe shock for me was the dynamic of friendships. Um, you know, in Iran versus the US where, you know, I just felt like in the US, at least in the high school that I went to, you know, there, there tend to be so many different groups right, of friends and, and you kind of have to be like, okay, where do I fit in? And okay, this group and this group, this is where I'm gonna have my lunch. This is where I'm gonna do this. Yeah. Right, right.
And in Iran, you know, it was very different. Everybody just knew each other. [00:05:00] The schools were also much smaller.
So you kind of get that, you know, communal feel, everybody knows each other. Everybody's friends. You have just like a bigger circle of support. And I think that was the biggest shock for me. Because I had to kind of adapt to this new, you know, to a new way. And again, I was really lucky to find great friends and have a good support and a really amazing teacher who kind of helped me to get through, especially the initial years where you, you [00:05:30] have to take a test in a different, in a different language and you have to, you know, it's just so hard. It's like, “I know what I have to write, but I just don't know how to communicate it correctly.”
And you know, to this day, I actually have nightmares still of like, I have a test and like…so I'm still processing, you know, it's, it's amazing how we, you know, we kind of tend to process a lot of the hardship we go through in our early adulthood, you know, throughout our lives. But it, but it's also, you know, has been [00:06:00] really empowering to see, you know, uh, the strength that I was able to receive, you know, as, as, as a young adult.
And I think that was the power of career coaching for me, because I, I think my career coach made me realize that “it was hard for you as a teenager but it’s actually what got you to here, because you, you were curious, you were open, you were able to relate and you know, it got you to where you are today.” [00:06:30] Yeah. So it was…I'm, I'm grateful.
Meg: Despite the difficulties, the experience of immigration made Shahrzad a global citizen, at a young age. Overcoming difficult experiences profoundly impacts who we are and the paths we take. For Shahrzad, it may have been the reason she was drawn to the study and practice of Global Health.
Sharzhad Yavari: Throughout my life, I've actually went through so many phases where I thought, you know, I started wanting, thinking that I wanna be an engineer, that I wanted to be a physician, that I wanted to be an architect. Then, you know, I got into psychology cuz I just [00:07:00] loved, you know, people I loved, you know, To use psychology on a daily basis, you know, for, for my life, with interaction with people. When I was exposed to public health, I think I realized that, you know, I found something that is sort of a combination of all of my values and what I really care about and the impact that I wanna make.
And I think that was the biggest lesson that I learned. That the impact that you wanna make could change. And it's okay if it changes, you know, from years from different phases of your [00:07:30] life, because you're constantly learning and evolving and your interest is really changing based on who you are becoming.
My interest in global health interestingly actually started in undergrad when I was a psychology major. And I was always really passionate about healthcare and just how interdisciplinary community health can be. And psychology was obviously one part of it. But when my mentor introduced me to a public health book [00:08:00] by Paul Farmer who was and continues to be an inspiration to many public health practitioners and [00:08:30] physicians.
And his book was all about thinking about global health with an equitable lens and thinking through, you know, the patient, the user who's using the technology in health and thinking through the human behind the program that you're implementing. And his approach to health and access to care was really what inspired me to, to even look into double majoring in public health as an undergrad student.
[00:09:00] So fast forward then to my graduate studies at UCLA, I got my master's in public health and community health focused on global health. And I loved my experience as an MPH student. It really opened my eyes on how you think about designing programs, how you think about evaluating programs. But also what you learn from the context of, you know, where you're actually implementing your community programs in.
So I was fortunate to do an internship in India for three [00:09:30] months where I worked with a nonprofit called Urban Health Resource Center. And they work with slum communities in Indore and Delhi, working closely with women and children on improving health and also financial independence.
I truly saw the impact of global health programs and, and what you can do if you work closely. People that are close to receiving these programs. So I came back to UCLA and said, okay, I think I, I majored in the right, you know, in the right training, this is, this is it for me.
Meg: When did you go to the UHRC? When were you working there?
Sharzhad Yavari: So this was actually my graduate studies back in [00:10:30] 2013. The internship exposes students to what it really means to practice public health, because it cannot be theoretical. You can read a lot of books, read a lot of research studies on what it takes to practice public health, but it's nothing compared to when you go to the field and actually see the challenges and create programs that are culturally competent and really built for, [00:11:00] for that community.
Sharzhad Yavari: So I walked into the internship with two goals. One is, you know, honestly, it was a requirement, right. But second, with an intention that I wanna see what it takes to implement programs. And [00:11:30] I walked into the internship thinking that I, you know, I know all of the theories, you know, I've taken so many classes, I'm ready, you know, I'm ready to implement all these.
And I got there and my mentor was like, Nope, this is not gonna work. This is not work.
Meg: You came in with some plans, you had some ideas of what to do.
Sharzhad Yavari: I came with some plans. Exactly. I had, I had like draft of the brochures that I. For, you know, um, it was on maternal health and, you know, uh, nutrition and obviously, you know, coming from the US, you know, the recommendations [00:12:00] on nutrition are so different than what is available accessible and what is even acceptable in the society. So it was just amazing to see that disconnect that we have when, you know, you enter into a community.
And I think the biggest lesson that I learned was that you should always test your assumptions and be open to saying, wow, I was really wrong. And it is so heartwarming to be surrounded by people that actually correct you and say, Hey, [00:12:30] actually, this is not the way that things are done. And this is, let me show you, you know, let me expose you to the world of reality here.
And this was exactly what my mentor did, where, you know, we, we just observed, we would go almost every day to a lot of slum communities that wanted to participate as part of these maternal health programs.
What my mentor actually really pushed me to do was, you know, she, she said, “Sharzhad, I just want you to sit and observe. I want you…” And, you know, she would, obviously, kindly translate for me the questions that women are asking, the challenges that they have and how we could [00:13:30] change from this week to another week, how every community might have different challenges. Observe and see how the community dresses, what their education level is.
And then we come back and modify every single educational brochure and handout, and we make it fit into that community's profile because otherwise they won't connect. They won't see this message. And I think it is [00:14:00] such a valuable lesson, you know, wherever you practice public health, the material has to come from the questions that people are asking, it has to fit into their priorities. What is important to them today? And it has to be about, you know, what looks familiar, what looks safe, what looks acceptable to them, for them to really listen and take it to heart.
Meg: Bring us to today. You [00:14:30] have a very specialized area of expertise in cold and supply chains for vaccines globally. How did you get into that?
Sharzhad Yavari: So I graduated UCLA at 2013 and I really loved research and I saw the impact of research as a student. I continued to work as a researcher at UCLA's immigrant and global health center, but then soon I realized I really missed the work on the ground. And I really wanna get back there and get my hands dirty.
I was really interested in women's health and [00:15:00] maternal health. I was really eager to work with a small nonprofit where I can really learn sort of the grassroot approach to community health and global health.
So in 2013, when I graduated, for my first interview, the first sort of professional public health job and not research position was me actually walking into a garage. Um, and you know, I thought I was lost. I was like, [00:15:30] wait, am I in like an episode of Silicon valley, (laughs) and you know, I, I walked into a garage and there were four really amazing, energetic, super intelligent people just that were ready to like take on the world with like the most, you know, the, the biggest challenges in, in global health. And it was a nonprofit called NexLeaf Analytics. And their mission is to provide data to countries [00:16:00] so countries can help some of the most challenging, you know, problems in healthcare or in sort of social impact in general.
So when I walked in, you know, that the nonprofit had just gotten the first big funding and they were ready, you know, to hire their first program coordinator. Which you know, was me. And they, you know, they had a small technology–I would call it actually a prototype back then–that would monitor the cold chain.
Meg: When we come back, [00:16:30] Shahrzad tells us about the cold chain, what it is, how it works, the challenges associated with it and how she became an expert.
[music.]
Sharzhad Yavari: Vaccines [00:17:00] are vulnerable. They need to be stored at a certain condition and temperature so they keep their potency. So when a child receives that vaccine, the vaccine is actually effective. And the cold chain can…It could mean that complex network. So that means transporting the vaccine vial safety from the national warehouse, or, you know, the top layer of the, the storage to every health facility in a country.
Calvin: Any temperature [00:17:30] excursion impacts the viability of a vaccine, for instance, Depending on the length of the journey. Vaccines packed with dry ice may need to be repacked–refreshed, if you will–to keep the vaccines at optimal temp. Anytime you open a package, you're allowing for an excursion. This could damage the vaccine or at the very least shorten its lifespan. According to some experts, more than two repackings and a vaccine can't recover.
Sharzhad Yavari: So you can imagine navigating that journey involves a lot of different stages.
The [00:18:00] transport vehicles can be anywhere from a bicycle to a drone, to a truck and given the country context and how remote the communities can be it could also mean specialized cooling equipment. So as we know, with COVID 19 vaccines, and even with Ebola vaccines, there were specialized cooling units that were needed that had to be anywhere between negative 60 to negative 80 degree, um, Celsius.
It is not easy.
Meg: Many of the remote and rural locations around the world don't have grid electricity. So the [00:18:30] specialized cooling units Shahrzad is referring to have to be solar-powered, and these must be produced, transported and installed.
Sharzhad Yavari: And you need trained personnel and you need, you know, the people are really at the center of this cold chain, because at every stage there are nurses and health workers that need to make sure that the culture chain is not broken and maintenance is also a big part of it.
So the vaccine supply chain is a very complex supply chain and cold chain is just one part of it. So cold chain also has to be running along with [00:19:00] some of the other logistics of the vaccine supply chain.
So going back to then what NexLeaf was doing: So any break in the cold chain, especially when we go to the temperature, any temperature excursion that can happen can put the vaccine at the risk of spoilage. So let's say, you know, for heat, if it's more than 10 hours, a vaccine can lose some or all of its potency. And to a lot of people's surprise, vaccines are very sensitive to freezing. So if they are exposed to one hour of freezing, [00:19:30] they're already, you know, at a high risk for losing their potency.
So having the right temperature is really important.
Calvin: So then how do we know if a temperature excursion happens? Does the person riding the delivery bike record when they repack the vaccines with dry ice? What happens if the solar-powered refrigerator malfunctions or is off for four hours and then comes back on again before anyone notices?
Sharzhad Yavari: And what NexLeaf had seen back then as a small nonprofit was this disconnect between what people are recording [00:20:00] potentially on papers and what they're able to record on a daily basis, and what really happens maybe overnight or when nurses are out of the health facilities and excursions happen. And no one really knows about them. Because if you're not there, if there's no data, if there's no continuous monitoring, you have no idea what's happening in the fridge when you're not looking.
That could lead to a lot of outbreaks where even communities, where they had received their vaccines and they had full coverage, they could still see outbreaks of, of some of these illnesses. [00:20:30]
Meg: Absolutely, you think you've vaccinated a community, but in fact, those vaccines lost their potency.
Sharzhad Yavari: Exactly. So one gap and need that NexLeaf saw early on was making the health worker's job easier, which is “how can we provide [continual] data and monitoring of the cold chain, so then you know what happened in your cool chain and you can best take action.”
So you get an alarm when a temperature excursion happens or you get an alarm when the power goes out and then you're able to take action [00:21:00] right away. And if you know, for any reason, you know, you were out of the clinic and you came back and that has already happened, then you know what to do, you know, you kind of have to make that decision of using the vaccines or not if they are no longer potent.
So when I joined, we had a prototype I think implemented in one country. We had eight prototypes that were implemented in clinics. And my first assignment where I [00:21:30] was based in east Africa for, for a couple months in Mozambique and Tanzania, my task was really just to observe, to work closely with health workers, nurses, do a lot of focus groups…
…just, you know, ask them if I can kindly just sit at the clinic and just observe what happens on a daily basis around the cold chain management, you know, when they have to record it, when patients come in to have to get their vaccines, when a technician has to come in because of fridge breaks down in the middle of the day, sitting down with [00:22:00] technicians who had their own pain points around managing cold chain, around lack of training maybe, or they needed, you know, a spare part faster so they could act on it.
So I really listened and I observed, and I saw the potential role of data and technology and how data can bring all these people together. So then if a problem happens, the nurse knows, then the manager knows, then the technician knows and you're bringing a lot of efficiency and you're bringing [00:22:30] connectedness, right? Among all these health workers that really care about getting potent vaccines to children.
So then fast forward to seven years of my sort of journey at Nexleaf, you know, we were able to get that product from prototype to a scalable solution that we had in more than 17,000 facilities in more than 20 countries around the world. I was able to work with amazing team at NexLeaf and amazing stakeholders at the country level global level and to get this [00:23:00] technology at national scale in many countries like Tanzania, Mozambique, India.
And we learned so much from scaling technology at the national level because when you are introducing a technology that is scaled to thousands of facilities, then you're thinking about processes and people and training and financial sustainability.
So there was a lot of learning in that experience that I had.
Meg: Yes, it sounds like there was a lot to take in from that experience. Can you share some other things from that time? What are some moments that really stick with you?
Sharzhad Yavari: Some of my most memorable moments actually, you know, just traveling and learning and [00:23:30] making really great relationships and partnerships with, with the government stakeholders, with nurses. And it exposed me to just so many learnings, even beyond immunization.
I really learned just about, you know, the health systems about how health systems could operate so differently in different countries. And it really challenged what I knew of public health in each region that I would go in Africa or Asia, but also in each country.
I would try to take learnings, you know, from one country to [00:24:00] another. And I think that was really appreciated even by the ministries of health, because they would say, you know, “we do wanna learn from other countries and what worked and what didn't.” But even, you know, by bringing best practices you will still find yourself looking at, you know, questions and challenges where just one size doesn't fit all.
And I think it's so important to be open to that. But it's okay if something doesn't work in the context of the community, we have to be willing to change. We cannot fit everybody into the solution we've [00:24:30] built. You have to always leave a little bit room for customization for your products to really feel like it's built for them.
Meg: By the time Covid emerged, Shahrzad had extremely valuable experience and skills to contribute. And of course, a desire to help in a big way. This is when she made the leap to Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance.
Sharzhad Yavari: When the pandemic happened, I was really [00:25:00] passionate about, you know, taking this, my niche expertise into this global response that we all needed.
And when a lot of global initiatives happened, you know, back at the beginning of the pandemic, I think as a global community, we just didn't know. What it's gonna look like. You know, we knew that there was so much unknown around vaccine development around even the cold chain, the temperature requirements of it, around how we could reach the last mile communities that will be so [00:25:30] hard to reach given how quickly, you know, the pandemic was progressing.
So I think this was the reason why the experts and governments and global health organization, and everybody came together. And Covax, you know, is this initiative brings everybody together. Covax itself is the vaccine pillar of the ACT accelerator.
Calvin: The Access to COVID 19 Tools Accelerator or ACT Accelerator was launched in April of 2020. It's a global public private and [00:26:00] philanthropic collaboration, including Gavi, the vaccine Alliance, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, CEPI, the WHO, The World Bank, UNICEF and more,
Sharzhad Yavari: The aim was basically to accelerate the development production and also the equitable rollout of COVID 19 tests and treatments and vaccines, everything within responding to COVID 19. With Covax basically the initiative is all about bringing experts together and, uh, governments and partners, and yes, donors [00:26:30] together as well to ensure that procurement and delivery of vaccines are, are done more equitably.
And to date COVAX facility has been really successful in delivering more than 1 billion vaccines around the world of 144 participating countries.
Meg: Since we recorded this conversation, that number has increased to 1.6 billion vaccines delivered to 146 participating countries.
Sharzhad Yavari: And Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, for whom I'm a consultant for a supply chain and cold chain, CEPI and WHO: they all co-lead Covax and Gavi coordinates the [00:27:00] Covax facility. All of this collaboration and responding to such a big need and this, this pandemic takes a lot of partnership and there are so many other partners globally, regionally in a country level that are all supporting Covax to make sure that things are moving forward and, and everybody's getting the vaccines regardless of where they are, regardless of their wealth and that these vaccines are available, but again also they're potent and, uh, they're effective.
Meg: What does it take to go [00:29:00] from the production to distribution in a specific remote location? Walk us through at a high level, you know, the different steps that you need to coordinate to make it happen.
Sharzhad Yavari: So with COVID 19 vaccines, obviously there has been, you know, the process that it takes for the vaccine development and then thinking about the demand that countries have and then coordinating the vaccine shipments so the vaccines get to the country at the right time with the right coordinations in place. And then [00:29:30] once vaccines arrive in a country, then you basically have the logistics of then storing them, getting them on time to the immunization sites.
And that could look very differently right. In, in different countries the immunization programs are set up differently. There's usually sort of a national, provincial, county, district. And then you have the health facilities. However, for COVID 19, I think given the speed and how quickly, you know, you wanna immunize and how [00:30:00] quickly you wanna use vaccines, especially the ones that required very sensitive storage requirements, you may set up your immunization outreach differently.
So once vaccines get into the country, then the ministry of health basically coordinates how these vaccines will be stored, how you actually bring the community to the vaccination efforts and then the role of cold chain obviously plays a role in distribution and storage of the vaccines.
And I think a big part of providing cold chain to [00:30:30] countries has been the long process that cols chain itself takes.
So what happened within coves was that countries could do an assessment of their cold chain gaps, and then they could request for additional cold chain support. And that could be walking cold rooms, which means, you know, these are these huge cold rooms at the national level that can store millions and millions of vaccine doses, or it could be vaccine fridges or freezers, or it could be vaccine carriers and cool boxes that are used, you know, to carry the vaccines in small boxes.
Meg: On the back of a bicycle.[00:31:00]
Shahrzad: Exactly. Yeah. Or just, you know yeah. Carried around in a boat or, yeah, exactly. So, so every country had different needs, right? Some people didn't need walk-in cold rooms, they just needed a lot of vaccine cold boxes.
So basically what happened was that we would receive these applications, these requests, we would process the request, we would work closely with WHO and UNICEF on processing the application, the procurement order.
Then the procurement order is, once it's placed then the manufacturers that UNICEF works with and they're able to [00:31:30] place the order, deliver the shipments to the country's port or, uh, you know, a nearby port. Then you have the logistics of getting the cold chain equipment cleared, available for distribution. Then the cold chain equipment has to be, you know, there has to be coordination in the country for installation, and then if there's training needed, there's training done…
And then…there we go. We have the cold chain equipment installed.
But, you know…
Meg: How many zoom calls are you on every day?
(Both laugh.)
Sharzhad Yavari: A lot. [00:32:00] Yeah, a lot. Yeah. Um, and, and, you know, it was, it was a lot harder than any other immunization campaigns, because there was just a lot of global challenges too around supply chain, you know, for shipping and availability of containers.
And there was just a lot of other competing priorities that, you know, partners had to keep learning. They had to keep thinking creatively to be like, “Okay, this plan didn't work. What's the next plan? You know, how can we [00:32:30] get this on time to countries?”
Meg: Can you tell us about some of those fires you had to put out? What is just such a bizarre situation that you wouldn't have thought you would encounter as a public health worker in this work?
Sharzhad Yavari: You know, I think one thing for me was towards actually end of the year, last year, I [00:33:00] didn't realize that, you know, end of the year, you know, off with all the holidays and the demand on shipments and just global supply chain, you know, I didn't see that coming.
And, you know, that was, that was a big hit. And you know, obviously our colleagues at UNICEF were expert at this, you know, they saw that coming. but I think we just, you know, but for me, I was like, well, I just never thought about that.
Meg: You weren't a shopper. You're just not an online shopper.
(laughter)
Sharzhad Yavari: Yeah. I guess I'm, you know?
Yeah.
So it's [00:33:30] just, it was amazing to see how, you know, all these small acts that we all do really affects this, you know, has this global impact.
Calvin: One might think the most valuable thing to learn from all this would be about data, or about logistics or certainly about awareness of cultural differences and catering a program to the specific needs, capabilities and priorities of each person in each location. And while all of that is essential, for Shahrzad, something else comes to mind.
Sharzhad Yavari: I [00:34:00] think the most valuable takeaway for me is just a power of partnerships. Being able to deliver over 1 billion vaccines and having the capacity to deliver and store and distribute, is just mind blowing to me. And it's just amazing how with strong partnerships, we are able to, to move mountains.
My favorite quote from Paul Farmer, who again, continues to be my inspiration–he has a famous quote saying, “With [00:34:30] rare exceptions, all of your most important achievements on this planet will come from working with others, or in a word: partnership.”
You would be sitting in these zoom calls, if there's so many fires. And it's just amazing how you can come out of it. We're like, “Okay, we have a plan and like, we're gonna do this and we're gonna make the impossible possible.”
The second is being open to learning and collaborating and being open to changing our ways when something is not working. COVID really [00:35:00] taught us to pivot or to move away from things that are not working and try new things, try new ways. Being open to new solutions. Respecting our time and energy and ensuring that we are thinking outside of the box to bring the true impact that is needed and not be set in our ways.
I think one of the biggest failures for me was the speed of progress that I always had in mind. And, you know, kind of jeopardizing…just thinking, [00:36:00] “Okay, we want this, we want this impact to happen. We have to go at this scale. We have to go at this speed.”
And I think I realized that with a lot of partnerships and collaboration, you have to set what's success and you have to set, you know, the speed and the way that you want to do things.
Meg: Shahrzad's childhood experience of immigrating to the US as a teenager is something she's really embraced as an adult. As we wrapped up our conversation, [00:38:30] Shahrzad wanted to share her advice with anyone who might go through a similar experience.
Sharzhad Yavari: I think, you know, as my upbringing, but also maybe a little bit of my culture as well…and also, you know, the fact that I, you know, my, my parents had to, to immigrate the whole journey as an immigrant is that we, we tend–at least my family and I, you know, I felt like we, we were a little bit risk averse.
We were worried, right? You, you leave everything behind, you start a new [00:37:00] life and, and it's so hard to take risks and it's so hard to fail when you wanna keep succeeding and you wanna keep proving yourself in a new environment.
So for me, throughout my high school, undergrad grad school, and even in my early career, you know, as, especially as a manager, it was really hard for me to accept failure. And none of us will grow in comfort.
Sharzhad Yavari: I think for, for anyone who is, you know, moving or planning to live long term in a new environment, new country, I think it's really important to just believe in yourself and be accepting of your differences, because those are your strengths.
And also being open to communicating how hard it could be. To parents of kids who are [00:39:00] immigrants: Process those feelings with your children, because those feelings are really powerful and they could actually really serve them long term.
It could be their strength. It could be what they actually will give back to the world.
And to the young generation that is immigrating, I [00:39:30] would say: You have so much to share and everybody around you would love to learn from you. And put that intention to also teach others about your background, your experience. Because, you know, as a global community…I think again, if COVID has taught us anything it’s that it's such a small world, right?
We're all so connected. And our experiences are really important and we have to really believe in where we are, what has brought us to this point and how [00:40:00] can we, you know, go to the future together.
Yeah. And, you know, just surround yourself with good friends who elevate you, who believe in you, who grow with you. I think strong friendships are really important, you know, as a teenager, as an adult, it doesn't matter because you know, we do really choose our friends. And I think it's so important to ensure that your friends are kind of growing with you in that. Both for personal and career growth, it could make such an impact. [00:40:30]
Meg: That’s such wise words, Shahrzad, about friendships and the type of people we should surround ourselves with. I aspire to that. Thinking about your career, what are you most proud of?
Sharzhad Yavari: My experience at NexLeaf was sort of what I call my 20’s legacy. When I was leaving, our solution was protecting the cold chain for one in 10 babies born on earth, which is a pretty big number when you think about it. That always is heartwarming for me, you know, to create a solution that will continue to protect generations of [00:41:00] children and adults.
But I think on a personal note, the experience at NexLeaf just exposed me to so many different people around the world. I made so many deep connections with different people that I'm still in touch with around the world. The personal connections that you make are always the most heartwarming accomplishments.
Meg: What an incredible journey you've been on and look at what you've done with your global experience and global mindset. That [00:41:30] is such a powerful story. And I appreciate you coming to our show and sharing your experience.
Sharzhad Yavari: Thank you so much. I had no idea I would be doing what I'm doing today 20 years ago. I would never dream of it. To get into something so specific and, you know, and I honestly never thought I would use cold chain in such a global response. And it was just amazing.
I would say to the next generation: Just be open to change and trust yourself and trust [00:42:00] your instinct and, you know, learn and also enjoy, enjoy the time.
I think there's this feeling, especially around social media that we are all running out of time, you know? There's no time, you have to do this now, you have to act on it now. But I think it's such a false sense of rush that we’re all feeling.
I would just tell everyone who’s listening: Be committed to a course of action that you have chosen for today, for the next week, for the next month or whatever timeline it is. And then just enjoy it and learn and just move forward.
Calvin: The Game-Changing Women of Healthcare is a production of the Krinsky Company.
Meg: Today's episode was produced by Calvin Marty, Chelsea Ho, Wendy Nielsen, Medina Sabic, and me, Meg Escobosa. The show was engineered, edited, mixed, [00:43:00] and scored by Calvin Marty.
Calvin: That’s me. This voice. And hey, if you enjoy the show, please consider leaving a rating and review wherever you get your podcast. It really does make a difference.
Meg: And we'd love it if you shared the show with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions, comments, or guest suggestions, email me at Meg@TheKrinskyCo.com.
Calvin: Email her a lot, actually, just fill her inbox. Ruin her day. (both laugh) And you can always visit us on the web at The KrinskyCo.com.
Meg: Thanks for joining us today. And thank you, Calvin. It was so fun to share the mic with you, today.
Calvin: Aw, thanks, Meg! So nice to share the mic with you.
Meg: See you next time.