Editor’s note: Jelena Madir is among the finalists for The American Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year award. The finalists will be celebrated and the winner named at The American Lawyer Industry Awards in New York on Dec. 2.

The COVID-19 pandemic was lurking just beyond the horizon when Jelena Madir made a career- and life-altering decision to join Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as general counsel in Geneva, Switzerland, and Washington, D.C.