Ellen Agler

I grew up in a military family, so lived in six different places before age 18 (from Montana to Germany to Washington DC) and changed schools every two years. My earliest passions were animals, writing, deep friendships, and being outdoors as much as possible. I started my career as a journalist and then found my way to global health, which has been my passion and the space I feel so privileged to serve in over the past 25 years. I currently lead the END Fund, which works to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases, primarily in Africa (diseases which even though they affect over a billion people get little attention and not enough funding — though are totally preventable and treatable!). 2019 was a big year for the END Fund, as we were honored to be chosen as part of the TED Audacious community and received significant support to scale up access to deworming programs across Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe. I have loved watching the Audacious community grow and am happy to talk to anyone about the END Fund’s Audacious journey and provide support and advice if you are thinking of applying. If you are interested in reading more about NTDs, I wrote a short, non-technical book of stories about the incredible people working to end NTDs — from community health workers to philanthropists to scientists and government leaders in disease-endemic countries. It’s called Under the Big Tree: Extraordinary Stories from the Movement to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, with foreword by Bill Gates). It’s available in hardback, ebook, and audiobook in the usual places. If you do read it, I’d love to know what you think!

Transforming global health, collaborative philanthropy for large-scale change, neurodiversity, mindfulness, unschooling, animals of all kinds (especially horses!), and the endless and fascinating opportunities to raise consciousness and evolve as a species to be kinder, more collaborative, and create a more inclusive and equitable world

Neglected tropical diseases that affect over 1.5 billion people -- and which have been around thousands of years -- can be controlled and eliminated in the coming decade

Scrabble, dressage, belly dancing (ok — that’s a stretch! But for a beginner I’m not bad!) and hiking high altitude mountains (most recently Mt. Kenya!)