Samantha Durdock is the associate program director for Results for Development’s Market Shaping practice where she provides strategic guidance and project management for the maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) portfolio. She has contributed to and led the team’s multi-year and multi-country market assessments to understand both the barriers and strategies required to improve access to MNCH products. Moreover, Samantha has led implementation of R4D’s innovative work to strengthen safe blood systems — for improved treatment of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). This initiative combines R4D’s health system strengthening approaches with market-based solutions.
As a thought leader in the field, Samantha currently serves as Chair of the Maternal Health Supplies (MHS) Caucus, a subgroup of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC), which provides a forum for collaboration amongst the maternal health community to address key bottlenecks undermining commodity security.
Prior to her work at R4D, Samantha spent several years working with social businesses in East Africa and the MENA region, all aimed at addressing “access challenges” – access to education, to finance, to healthcare. She holds a master’s in public policy focused on international development and bachelor’s in government and politics from the University of Maryland.
