English

Yukimasa Matsuzawa, MD, PhD, is a GMF Indo-Pacific resident fellow focused on the intersection of health security and foreign policy. He also serves as a 2025–2026 Sasakawa Peace Foundation Fellow under the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program.

Matsuzawa previously served in key roles in Japan and international health security infrastructure. He was deputy director of the Global Outbreak Intelligence, Capacity Building, and Deployment Coordination Center at the Japan Institute for Health Security, where he led collaborations with partners across the United States, Europe, and Indo-Pacific. He also worked as a medical officer in the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, when he had a one-year secondment to the US Department of Health and Human Services as a medical liaison.

Matsuzawa holds a PhD from the University of Tokyo and has expertise in pandemic influenza and biosecurity. He conducts research at Japan’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies on strategies against AI-driven biological threats. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on virology and health security.

Dr. Daniel Kliman is GMF’s senior vice president for global power shifts. He oversees a new GMF pillar on adapting the transatlantic partnership to a shifting global landscape and serves as a member of the GMF executive team.

Dr. Kliman’s prior experience spans the US government, US military, think tanks, and the private sector. In his civilian career, he led teams at the US Department of State and the Center for a New American Security. He also worked for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and at a venture-backed, defense and aerospace startup. Early in his career, he spent three years at GMF, where he spearheaded Asia-related programming and conducted pioneering research on global swing states.

Since 2015, Dr. Kliman has served as an officer in the US Navy Reserve, deploying to US Navy Central Command in 2020, and activating in 2025 to advance the Defense Innovation Unit’s global partnerships.

Through publications, US congressional testimony, and civilian government service under the current and previous three US presidential administrations, Dr. Kliman has helped to sharpen Washington’s focus on strategic competition with China. His work has shaped how the United States has adapted its alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and beyond, and informed American efforts to develop new policy tools to compete with China across all domains.

Dr. Kliman is the author of numerous think tank reports and op-eds and has published two books, “Fateful Transitions: How Democracies Manage Rising Powers, From the Eve of World War I to China’s Ascendance” and “Japan’s Security Strategy in the Post-9/11 World: Embracing a New Realpolitik”. He holds a PhD in politics from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford University. 

Melissa Hooper is a senior fellow with GMF's Strategic Democracy Initiatives. She leads the team’s Rule of Law Action Network, which works to devise policy responses and solutions to issues affecting justice-sector institutions and actors. She is an attorney and policy expert with over 20 years’ experience in accountability law, high-impact litigation, and human rights advocacy. She was previously a senior adviser at USAID, led policy advocacy at Human Rights First, and served as the director for Russia at the American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative office in Moscow. She also was a founding member of GMF's Transatlantic Democracy Working Group, which focuses on responses to democratic backsliding in Europe and the United States.

Hooper has successfully litigated complex domestic and international cases, worked with Congress and the California state legislature to author and pass legislation, and managed coalitions and initiatives across government, academia, and civil society. She has testified repeatedly before Congress on issues of accountability for rights violations and corruption, democratic resilience, and national security. She has led international teams to secure justice in human rights cases and has contributed to policy development at the highest levels, including co-chairing the US-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission’s Human Rights Working Group. She has worked alongside lawyers and watchdogs in numerous countries to develop legal and policy responses to anti-democratic government action, and she initiated the first USAID program on democratic backsliding.

Justyna Kozak is GMF's Brussels-based business partner, people strategy. She assists with implementing human resources strategies, organizational design, and talent acquisition and development.

Kozak previously held senior human resources positions with multinational organizations in Europe, the United Kingdom, and Asia, including the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan, Allianz Trade, and BGC Partners. 

Valerii Kravets is a Bucharest-based program coordinator for GMF Black Sea Trust. He focuses on Ukraine-related programming and supports initiatives aimed at strengthening electoral integrity across the Eastern Partnership countries. He also works to strengthen local governance, advance European integration processes, and foster international cooperation. He has contributed to projects funded by USAID, the EU (ProElect, Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership - ERICS), and the Porticus Foundation.

Prior to joining GMF, Kravets gained over a decade of senior-level experience in the private sector, most recently as deputy director for development at ATB Corporation, one of Ukraine’s largest companies. In this role, he was responsible for national development strategy; public-private partnership projects; cooperation with ministries, state-owned enterprises, and local governments; supporting M&A transactions; and driving digital transformation initiatives.

Kravets holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and enterprise management from Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, a bachelor’s degree in law from Dnipro Humanitarian University, and a master’s degree in administrative management from Dnipro Polytechnic. He also studied at the University of Economics and Management in Prague.

He is a native speaker of Ukrainian and Russian and is fluent in English and Romanian.

Miruna Gheorghe is a Bucharest-based program coordinator for GMF’s Black Sea Trust (BST). She supports EU-funded initiatives, including the Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership- ERICS project, which strengthens the resilience of civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries. She oversees EU visibility and communications for the BST office and coordinates convenings.

Gheorghe previously worked with NaTakallam (which hires refugees and conflict-affected people as online tutors, teachers, and translators), the UN Youth Delegation of Romania, and other international organizations, focusing on human rights, youth engagement, and cross-cultural cooperation. She holds a master’s degree in security and defense, with a focus on human rights. She speaks English, French, and German, in addition to her native Romanian.

Sameer Lalwani is a Washington, DC-based non-resident senior fellow in GMF’s Indo-Pacific program. He is also senior adviser with the Special Competitive Studies Project, a nonresident senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and a research affiliate with the MIT Security Studies Program. His research interests include deterrence, conventional military competition, technology alliances, and Indo-Pacific security. He is also a contributing editor to War on the Rocks.

Lalwani was previously a senior expert at the US Institute of Peace, where he led work sponsored by the US Department of Defense on the India-China battlespace (military strategy that integrates multiple armed forces into a theater of operation) and on US-India defense technology cooperation, including on INDUS-X. He was also director of the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center, an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, a term member with the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Stanton Nuclear Security postdoctoral fellow at the RAND Corporation. 

Lalwani’s work has been published in leading academic journals and analytical outlets. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley and a PhD from MIT.

Alexandra Pugh is a Washington, DC-based program coordinator with GMF Technology. She previously worked with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and at the Center for European Policy Analysis, where she focused on Russia-China cooperation and competition. She also held a fellowship at the Bush Institute to research NATO policy toward Ukraine.

Pugh graduated summa cum laude from Southern Methodist University with bachelor’s degrees in political science and music.

Susanne Rosenbaum is GMF’s senior manager of Strategic Convening. She brings expertise in high-level event management, diplomatic protocol, and international relations, with extensive experience in the nonprofit sector. Her work has centered on designing and delivering high-impact gatherings that strengthen institutional visibility and foster meaningful stakeholder engagement.

Prior to joining GMF, Rosenbaum managed special events at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and served as social secretary to the German ambassador in Washington, DC. She began her career in the European Parliament, contributing to legislative and policy work. Rosenbaum has a bachelor’s degree in European studies from Maastricht University and a master’s degree in international and European politics from the University of Edinburgh. She is a certified meeting professional (CMP) and is fluent in English and German.

Iva Zoric is GMF’s vice president of communications and editorial. She is responsible for shaping and executing the organization’s communications and editorial strategy, and overseeing its external and brand positioning. She serves as an adviser to the president and executive team, and manages GMF’s digital platforms, media campaigns, and stakeholder engagement efforts.

Zoric previously served as vice president of global communications and media relations at the Council on Foreign Relations for over 12 years. She also spent nearly 15 years as a senior news producer at PBS, BBC World News, and ABC News, earning Peabody and duPont-Columbia awards.

Zoric holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Tufts University.