Javier is the Director of Global Health Policy and a Senior Policy Fellow at the Center for Global Development. Previously, he was the Technical Director of the USAID-funded Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program at Management Sciences for Health (MSH), helping over 20 governments in Africa and Asia build their health system to ensure sustainable access to and appropriate use of safe, effective, quality-assured, and affordable medicines and pharmaceutical services. Between 2013 and 2018, he played different roles within the Colombian government, first as Deputy Director of the health technology assessment agency, then as Director of Medicines and Health Technologies at the Ministry of Health and finally, as Director General of the Colombian Food and Drug Surveillance Institute, one of the eight National Regulatory Authorities of regional reference in the Americas.

Javier has worked as a physician, researcher, analyst and policy maker in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and his native Colombia. He is interested in how global health challenges such as Covid and antimicrobial resistance, can offer a window of opportunity to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of global institutions and build more sustainable and equitable health systems.

In addition to his medical degree, Javier has an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an MBA (Executive) from the Australian Graduate School of Management.