Rebuilding from the Inside: Damien Kirchhoffer on Strategic Health Consulting.

When you ask Damien Kirchhoffer why he chose consulting, he’ll likely smile and tell you it wasn’t so much a decision as it was a return to purpose, to passion, and to the kind of work that fuels him. His journey into consultancy is less about climbing a ladder and more about tracing a winding path through ethics, data, and even a folk music band.

Damien spent more than a decade leading and managing Non-Governmental Organizations, including being a Country Director for Innovations for Poverty Action,  and somewhere along the line, he lost touch with what he loved—digging deep into real-world problems, bringing clarity to complexity, and guiding teams toward practical solutions.

He missed immersing himself in global health issues and exploring solutions with precision. Consulting, he realized, could bring him back to that. “I was mentally overstretched from managing people and fundraising, and I needed balance. I wanted more time with my family, space to think and read, to volunteer, to play music again. This shift gave me that.”

At Eureka Idea Co., Damien found a platform where he could go deep again. “From month to month, I get to immerse myself in a wide range of issues from analyzing diabetes diagnostics to healthcare financing to eye surgeries without the noise of organizational operations pulling me in all directions”. The variety is thrilling for Damien.

Damien has managed projects in public health financing, health policy, and management, with the goal of enhancing the funding, management, and effectiveness of health systems. He has collaborated with prominent organizations such as the Children Investment Fund Foundation, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, among others.

However, a particular project gives him pride, allowing him to wear his detective cape. The project centered on a surprisingly small object—a blood glucose test strip—that plays a vital role in the daily lives of millions living with diabetes.  But in countries like Nigeria and Indonesia, they’re often expensive due to import costs. “Our task was to explore the feasibility of manufacturing them locally,” he explains. “It sounds straightforward—until we realize there’s almost no volume data to estimate the annual demand and support decision-making.”

Damien and the team became what he calls “data detectives,” diving into public procurement records, interviewing key stakeholders, and filtering through layers of patchy information to build a viable market picture.

“We were like researchers with flashlights in the dark. But we built a picture—a strong one—and hopefully it will influence policy-makers and private companies to lower the cost of these test strips, reduce reliance on imports, and create local jobs.”

Looking back on his work, one project stands out in Damien’s memory as especially meaningful—the cataract surgery expansion project in Rwanda, developed in partnership with the local Ministry of Health and the Fred Hollows Foundation. Among all the projects he has led and supported, this is the one he’s most proud of. It was moving away from the norm for Damien and his team. Unlike most projects that relied heavily on secondary data, “this one required us to go into hospitals, design surveys, and collect on-the-ground data.”

The core achievement is an actionable strategy to decentralize cataract surgery beyond Kigali. The team mapped existing services, estimated costs, and presented a compelling, actionable plan that takes health care to where people live and need it.  “Some of the sites we suggested now have operational eye surgical units,” he says with a quiet sense of pride. “To know our work influenced policy and practice—that’s what makes this job meaningful.”

Outside the spreadsheet and strategy sessions, Damien finds harmony in literature and music. “I love discovering a new country through its literature,” he says, reflecting on his time in Uganda and now, Spain. “Reading novels is like unlocking emotional access to a place,” as that is his way of exploring life.

Then there’s music—his old flame. 

Damien and his band toured French bars and street corners with their music. Life eventually paused that rhythm, but now, they are cooking something new.

According to Damien, “Music teaches you listening, harmony, timing—skills that matter in consulting too. Plus, it’s just joyful.”

Damien’s story has deliberate pivots, values-led choices, and deep curiosity. From building impactful strategies in global health to discovering cultures through novels, he reminds us that a great consultant is also a great human, grounded, reflective, and ever-evolving.

At Eureka Idea Co, we are proud to call Damien one of our own.