Dr. Nazneen Akhter is a medical graduate and an expert in Public Health Policy, Planning, Research, and Health System strengthening (HSS). She is the Founder & Managing Director of VAALO avant-garde Ltd, a social development enterprise that aims to promote humane development, innovation, and social change-making. 

Dr. Nazneen has completed her PhD in Bioethics, Sustainability & Global Public Health from the USA, an MSc. in Health Policy Planning & Financing from LSE, a Diploma from LSHTM, University of London, an MPH from NIPSOM, Dhaka University, and an MBBS from Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College, Chittagong University. She has also completed various Leadership Fellowships from institutions such as Goodenough College UK, Uppsala University, Sweden, and Asian Health Institute, Japan. 

With over 34 years of experience in the NGO sector, Dr. Nazneen has worked in leading positions for organizations such as Terre des Hommes Netherlands, Bangladesh Women’s Health Coalition, HIV/AIDS & STD Alliance Bangladesh, Friendship Intl, and Oxford Policy Management (OPM Bangladesh). She has also worked in the government system as a Technical Coordinator (Sr. Technical Advisory role) in IEDCR (Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research) and as a Technical Advisor at GHDIEMPHNET (Jordan) and IEDCR Bangladesh. Dr. Nazneen began her academic career in 2011 as a Senior Faculty member at North South University, Dhaka. Apart from her leadership responsibilities, she is an Associate Professor (Adjunct) at the Department of Public Health at both North South University (NSU) and Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP). 

Dr. Nazneen has recently worked as a National consultant at the World Bank Group (WBG), WHO, Oxford Policy Management (OPM), UNAIDS, Pathfinder International, SNV Netherlands, Good Neighbor Bangladesh (GNB), Maries topes Bangladesh, BLAST, CARE Bangladesh, BDRCS, and IRC. Her key areas of expertise include health policy, planning & health system strengthening, innovation & research in public health, and social development with special attention to ethics, gender, marginalization, and social inequality. 

Dr. Nazneen's passion and future interest in work focus on public health & health system research, policy & HRDM (Human Resource Management & Development), and public health workforce (PHW) development in the education & social development field. She emphasizes the propagation of ethics and values in alignment with health policy, SRHR, poverty, social disparity, gender, human rights, and bioethics, embracing the arena of public health leadership development and management.

Nazneen's long-drawn aspiration towards social empowerment and value attention to social change-making inspired her to lay the foundation of VAALO avant-garde social improvement platform. It is a platform of value attention development learning options that promote positive social values in progressive ideas, ethically led innovations, and goodness visioning in social development efforts.