I am currently the senior advocate for women and girls at Refugees International. In this role, I focus on the unique challenges forcibly displaced women and girls face and she proposes policy solutions to address those challenges. I have conducted research in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Albania, Romania, Moldova, Pakistan, and Egypt and have written reports about the situation of displaced women and girls in those countries.

Prior to Refugees International, I was the director of protection programs at the global refugee agency HIAS, where I provided technical expertise for protection-related programming around the world. With HIAS, I developed programs to protect refugees in Kenya, Ecuador, Uganda, Turkey, and Greece. I also worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for 10 years in Lebanon, Uganda, Egypt, and Kenya, in addition to various other NGOs that provide services to refugees.

I have developed curriculum and led trainings focused on refugee protection for government officials, NGO staff, and UN agencies. The U.S. State Department also commissioned me to conduct an independent evaluation of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), the agency responsible for selecting, vetting, and resettling refugees within the United States.

I have a Master’s degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, a Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, a certificate in Forced Migration from Oxford University, a certificate in International Migration Law from the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, and a certificate in Humanitarian Studies from Harvard University. My work has been published in Foreign Policy, The Forced Migration Review, The Hill, USA Today, The National Interest, and Newsweek.