About Axios Transforming
Access to Healthcare Since 1997

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 the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS, as well as the groundbreaking PETRA study, a multi-center clinical trial on PMTCT treatment in Africa. 

For the past 25 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. 

As a result of his groundbreaking work in the field of access to healthcare, Joseph was named one of the top 100 Healthcare Leaders 2023 by Forbes Middle East. He has also been featured in various publications, including the Wall Street Journal, BBC, International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, and Pharmaceutical Executive, among others.   

Joseph is the author of Amazon best-seller A World Undivided – A Quest For Better Healthcare Beyond Geopolitics, and his research has been published in more than 40 articles in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals. 

He received his medical degree from St. Joseph University (Beirut, Lebanon), and later completed his Infectious Disease 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. 

Cliona leads the strategic design and operational delivery of a global Support Services function – HR, Finance, IT, Compliance, Communications and Corporate Governance. She provides leadership and management to ensure that the business has effective people, operational controls, and administrative and reporting procedures in place.

Cliona joined Axios in 2009 and initially her focus was in the areas of Performance Management, Recruitment, Executive Coaching and Reward.

In 2014 her focus expanded to all Support Services including Finance, and the governance wellbeing of Axios. With a keen eye for detail, Cliona ensures Support Services are well placed for a sustainable and growing business.  She has led strategic capacity building and development for a range of clients and projects. As an accredited Executive Coach, Cliona has worked closely with Senior Executives internationally.

Prior to joining Axios, Cliona worked as a Senior Consultant with Watson Wyatt working on several consultancy assignments across a broad range of clients internationally. Prior to Watson Wyatt Cliona worked with Siemens Business Services.

Cliona obtained a BA (Hons) Psychology and English, H. Dip in Business and Financial Information Systems from University College Cork and holds an MSc in Human Resource Leadership from Sheffield Hallam University. Cliona is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development and has trained with the Irish Management Institute in Executive Coaching.

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.

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 the 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.