25 Years Transforming
Access to Healthcare

Joseph Saba, MD, is an infectious disease physician working on the frontline of access to healthcare since the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Throughout his career, Joseph has led numerous discussions with pharmaceutical companies, governments and other key players across the healthcare community to drive access to innovative medications in low-to-middle income countries (LMICs). He is known internationally for establishing the first antiretroviral drug access program through the UNAIDS Drug Access Initiative, making it possible for critical medicines to reach patients in need during the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and pioneering a new generation of treatment access solutions for LMICs.

In 1993, Joseph joined the World Health Organization (WHO) as the WHO Focal Point for the National Plan for HIV Vaccine Development. From 1994-1995, he worked with the WHO Global Program on AIDS in Rwanda and later supported HIV vaccine research efforts in Geneva. Following his time at WHO, he worked at the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS in the Department of Policy, Strategy and Research, where he led a global research effort focused on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS, as well as the groundbreaking PETRA study, a multi-centre clinical trial on PMTCT treatment in Africa.

For the last twenty-three years, Joseph has served as Chief Executive Officer of Axios International, a healthcare access company he co-founded, which has developed programs to improve patient access to healthcare in more than 100 countries.

He completed his medical degree at St. Joseph University (Beirut, Lebanon), and his Infectious Diseases specialty, along with a certificate of Medical Statistics, at the University Paris VI (France). Joseph also holds a Master of Communications and Medical Management (MSc) from the Superior Business School (Paris, France). He is fluent in Arabic, French and English.

Joseph has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Newsweek and Pharmaceutical Executive, among others, and has published widely in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Located in Dublin, Ireland, Cliona currently oversees the strategic delivery of business services – HR, Finance, IT and Compliance. With more than 15 years of specialized experience within international organizations, she offers invaluable insights on governance, organizational effectiveness, executive coaching, reward, recruitment, and employee relations. Since joining Axios International in 2009, Cliona has led strategic capacity building, and the operational performance and development of business services to support Axios’ expansion in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

Prior to Axios International, she was a Senior Consultant at Towers Watson (formerly Watson Wyatt) where she worked on consultancy assignments with a focus on performance management and reward strategy. Prior to Watson Wyatt, Cliona worked with Siemens Business Services as an HR Manager overseeing all areas of the HR function.

She holds both a Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) in Psychology and English, and a Higher Diploma (H.Dip) in Business and Financial Information Systems from University CollegeCork (Ireland). She also holds a Masters degree (MSc) in Human Resource Leadership from Sheffield Hallam University (UK) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Executive Coaching.

 Cliona is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development.

Based in Dubai, UAE, Anas oversees business development, client relationships and project management for all Axios’ healthcare access programs in the MENA region.Anas has a well-rounded portfolio of healthcare experience, including clinical, program design and implementation, monitoring, and compliance. Over the past 10 years, he has delivered access programs with most of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies and overseen multi-million-dollar budgets across the MENA region. These programs have covered ophthalmology, oncology, hematology, diabetes, pulmonary, immunology, rheumatology, dermatology and immunotherapy, and improved access to treatment, diagnosis, and adherence for thousands of patients. He is a Certified Lead Auditor and has worked with national health authorities, private and public companies, charities, and patient associations across MENA to implement global best practices.

Prior to Axios International, Anas worked in the medical field as a practitioner and an academic. He was Senior Health Officer at the Academy Abu Dhabi, Manager of the Male Geriatric ICU Unit in the UAE Ibrahim bin Obied Hospital, Nursing Lecturer at the Vinayaka Missions University Campus, and Clinical Instructor at the International Academy for Health Sciences (Saudi Arabia) and at Al-Balqa Applied University (Jordan).

Anas holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Vinayaka Missions University (India) and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Jordan. He is a Lead Auditor certified by IRCA and a Certified Compliance Officer by ICAS.

Born in the UAE, Anas is fluent in English and Arabic.

Located in Dubai (UAE), Roshel oversees the market access strategy consulting practice and client relationship management, addressing client needs across multiple therapeutic areas in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Europe, in addition to overseeing business development and project management for all Axios’ healthcare access programs in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Leading consulting and operations teams in 20 offices across the globe, Roshel has designed, advised and delivered large scale access solutions addressing diverse markets’ needs. Specialized in pharmaceutical and medical capacity building, technical process design, regulatory affairs and best practice standards, Roshel has developed business improvement solutions for governments, international private and public companies and start-ups across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She is also a certified ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor.

Prior to joining Axios International, she was General Manager at First Gulf Pharmaceutical Centre, where she led the overall business and worked closely with European and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) partners to develop a post-acute and rehabilitation hospital. Roshel has also worked with several private equity firms on operational process improvements and healthcare portfolio optimization. While at Marilab S.r.L. in Italy, she was responsible for the design and setup of its Occupational Health department, significantly contributing to the company’s total EBITDA margin.

Roshel holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Medical Biotechnology from the University of L’Aquila (Italy) and a Global MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School (UK). Roshel is fluent in English, Italian and Sinhalese, and has a working knowledge of French and Spanish.

Raphael Itah is the Director of Digital at Axios International, where he leads technical and functional teams who take Axios and all its partners through digital transformation. ​

Throughout his career, Raphael has assembled and led multicultural teams who strive in a creative and dynamic context and across the digital value chain. He has successfully undertaken large scale transformation projects with all the major pharmaceutical companies.​

Prior to joining Axios, Raphael was a management and digital consultant with Accenture Interactive where he led the content and quality teams on Pharma client transformation projects.​

Raphael holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) Management & Political Science from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business (New York University, USA), and a Computer Science degree from the Université de Montpellier (France).

Based in Dublin, Ireland, Rita Leen serves as Finance Director at Axios International. In this role, Rita is responsible for  overseeing all financial functions across the company, including across Axios 30+ country offices, leading continuous improvements in financial and operational processes.

Rita has more than 15 years of accounting experience, working in a range of industries and settings. Prior to Axios, she served as General Manager at a leading tourism company in La Paz, Bolivia  and as Financial Controller at Papua New Guinea’s number one communications provider. In this role, she managed a finance department of approximately 60 people in an organization with turnover in excess of US$500m. In addition, Rita has served as financial controller at several Ireland and Australian-based companies in the retail, online marketing, engineering and banking industries.

Rita is a member of the Irish Taxation Institute (ITI) and Association of Chartered Accountants (ACA). She holds a bachelor degree in accounting and finance from Dublin City University.

Sowedi Muyingo is Executive Director of Medical Access Uganda Limited (MAUL). In 1998, Sowedi spearheaded the creation and establishment of MAUL under the UNAIDS Drug Access Initiative1 and has since led the transition of the organization from a fully-funded project to a self-sustaining, innovative one-stop-shop for healthcare supply chain management.

With more than 20 years of experience in global health management across both the public and private sectors, he is responsible for leading the organization’s strategic vision in partnership with the Board of Directors and currently oversees all operational departments, including procurement, warehousing, distribution, sales and marketing, project management, consulting and technical assistance.

Prior to MAUL, Sowedi served as Vice President at Axios International, a global healthcare consulting firm, where he led the design and implementation of several access programs for HIV/AIDS and cancer across Africa and other developing countries. In this role, he setup PEPFAR-funded Supply Chain Management system in Zambia, Tanzania and Nigeria and coordinated the implementation of the NIH-funded cost effectiveness study, PANCEA, in Uganda and South Africa. Sowedi also previously worked as a Logistics and Financial management Specialist with the USAID-DISH II project, coordinating district-level strategic planning, budgeting, financial/grant management, training and monitoring for 12 USAID-DISH supported districts, and as a Drug Registration and Assessment Pharmacist at the Uganda National Drug Regulatory Authority.

Sowedi began his career in the private sector as a Pharmacist Director and Medical Representative with Mepha LTF and Novartis, where he managed procurement, marketing and distribution of a range of pharmaceuticals from distributors across the globe.

He holds a Bachelor in Pharmacy and a Master of Business Administration from Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda), as well as a Master of Public Health from John Hopkins University (United States). Sowedi has also completed courses in International Project Management from INSEAD (France) and Health Systems Research and Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health, and is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). Originally from Uganda, he is fluent in English, Luganda and conversant in Swahili.