As of June 2025, PJ Hooper has been appointed as the Director of the International Initiative. She is responsible for the overall success of ITI’s trachoma elimination efforts with program partners Pfizer and the Task Force for Global Health to achieve the global elimination of trachoma. She continues to provide strategic leadership and technical direction for ITI, serving as the main liaison to all collaborating partners, including Pfizer Inc., ministries of health, the World Health Organization, non-governmental organizations, and other key stakeholders. She is responsible for overall management, technical development, implementation, personnel, and financial oversight of the program.

PJ also serves as Immediate Past Chair of the International Coalition of Trachoma Control (ICTC; 2025-2027). Prior to that, she served as Chair (2023-2025) and Vice Chair (2021-2023). ICTC is a collaborative platform for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia, donors, and industry working together towards the global elimination of trachoma as a public health problem by 2030.   

PJ first joined ITI in 2009 to manage an operational research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and oversee external relations for the program, then as Deputy Director. Previously, she worked for other programs at The Task Force for Global Health, including the Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center, where she focused on trachoma research and partnership development; the Mectizan® Donation Program; the Lymphatic Filariasis Support Center; and the Global Alliance to Eliminate LF.

PJ holds a Master of Arts in Political Science specializing in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Science degree in International Affairs and French from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has a graduate certificate in Core Public Health Concepts from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.