School of Social and Political Science

Background

I am a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh School of Social and Political Science with over ten years of experience on preventing and responding to violence against women, children, and people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) in Colombia, DRC, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Pakistan, and the United States. I am passionate about preventing violence and supporting survivors and in rethinking and rebuilding systems so that they function to promote rather than impede health and well-being. My areas of expertise include quantitative and qualitative research, programme development and adaptation, and strategy development, for international non-governmental organizations, universities, and government agencies. 

My programming and implementation experience to date includes co-developing Culture of Respect's Core Blueprint to address sexual violence on university campuses in the United States; International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Safe at Home family violence prevention intervention for conflict-affected families in Myanmar and DRC; and virtual adaptation of a training of trainers for IRC's Engaging Men in Accountable Practice intervention for United Nations and community-based organization staff in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America. 

My research experience includes several mixed-methods impact evaluations on programming to prevent gender-based violence and violence against children, evidence-driven conceptual frameworks and theories of change on family violence and reproductive coercion, landscaping and evidence reviews focused on the overlap of intimate partner violence (IPV) and violence against children (VAC), qualitative program adaptation research on gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH), and cognitive testing and measurement of VAC and family functioning. I presently work on the Interrupt_Violence study, which focuses on inter-generational transmission of violence, with a focus on family violence and parenting.

My strategy development experience includes collaborative development of International Planned Parenthood Federation's strategy to address sexual and gender-based violence, and support to development of LGBTQIA-inclusive policies for an international organization. I have a Master's in Public Health from Columbia University and PhD in Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.