Oversees portfolio that supports the development of research programs and policies that aim to strengthen research/evidence generation and translation capacity - both in higher education institutions in USAID partner countries as well as within USAID

Duties include:Executing program and relationship management with academic and partners within the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD) and Global Center for Food Systems Innovation (GCFSI) Development Labs at Duke University and Michigan State University respectively;Building multi-stakeholder collaborative teams for short and long term projects designed to inform and engage the academic community and broader partners;Gathering and coordinating inter- and intra-agency efforts designed to link research and practice for development;Preparing and disseminating project documents throughout the management processes for feedback and critique;Identifying critical stakeholders and forge new or leverage existing partnerships (knowledge, resource, and/or funding);Communicating effectively through a variety of means to address critical challenges with a variety of stakeholders (USAID staff (both at USAID Washington and overseas), senior academic officials, other international development organizations, other U.S. federal agencies);Building relationships and responding to significant inquiries from the public sector, senior officials and other interested parties; and Providing administrative oversight and governance for complex projects

Advised on the role of higher education activities in USAID/Indonesia's Country Development and Cooperation Strategy and served on the Science,Technology, Innovation and Partnership (STIP) Development Objective Team, which advocates for the inclusion of science and technology into all new program concepts/designs and works on strengthening key elements within Indonesia's STIP ecosystem (specifically research capacity, use/demand of evidence to support decision-making, and use of innovative approaches to solving critical development challenges).

Worked in the Office of the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, to help integrate gender issues into the various developmental program portfolios at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Investigated the role of estrogen signaling in regulating multiple sclerosis and examined a possible role for estrogen in suppressing inflammation during influenza infections

Studied the relationship between antibody pathogenicity and the cellular responses during desmosomal disassembly in Pemphigus Vulgaris, an autoimmune epithelial blistering disease