Contracts and Operations Manager

Director of Finance and Operations

Franccesca Cesti-Browne has over 10 years of experience in finance, operations and contract management. She also has over 8 years of experience in program management, grant writing and business development. Franccesca holds a master’s in Public Administration from Florida International University.  As the Director of Finance and Operations, she leads the team that supports the Institute’s operating functions: HR, Contracts, IT, Field Operations, Administration and Finance. Franccesca manages the Institute’s annual budget, provides leadership and strategic management to all administrative, financial and operational functions.

Program Officer

Sandra Chipanta has over six years of experience in the management and implementation of international development interventions in Africa (Benin, Niger, and Togo) and in Asia (Bangladesh and Nepal). She has worked in the areas of maternal, newborn, and child health, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS. At IRH, Sandra manages the Fertility Awareness for Community Transformation (FACT) Project in Nepal and reviews French translations. Prior to joining IRH, she supported capacity building activities for social franchises in Francophone West Africa and Madagascar. Sandra obtained her BA from Mount Holyoke College and MPH from George Washington University. Originally from Togo, she is fluent in both French and Ewe.

Program Associate

Cait supports FACT, Passages, Learning Collaborative, and Masculinities, Faith and Peace projects. Prior to joining IRH, she interned at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where she supported international development projects on women’s empowerment and gender equality. Cait has a BSPH in Health Promotion and Education from Kent State University and a MA in International Administration from the University of Denver.

Research Officer

Liya Haile manages research and programmatic activities for mobile solutions at IRH, including the Dot Efficacy Study and monitoring and evaluation of the CycleBeads app in several African countries. Prior to joining IRH, Liya‘s research interest was in reproductive biology, specifically IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies. She transitioned to focusing on social and behavioral research after teaching sexual and reproductive health education to middle school students in Baltimore. Liya holds a MHS Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Communications Officer

Sammie is a communications generalist who works across all projects at IRH, supporting teams in creating and disseminating a wide range of materials including program tools, presentations, and webinars. She generates content for the Institute’s digital channels and manages internal communications efforts. Prior to joining IRH, Sammie worked as Digital Media Specialist for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Peace Studies and Journalism from the University of Missouri and a Masters in Professional Studies from Georgetown University’s Public Relations and Corporate Communications program.

Director, Principal Investigator of the FACT Project, and Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Georgetown University Medical Center

Dr. Jennings, an anthropologist whose academic interests focus on health behavior and culture change, has 30 years experience in the international family planning and reproductive health field. She is a recognized leader in fertility awareness as well as in research, capacity building, and scaling up health interventions. She is responsible for overall direction of the Institute and serves on numerous boards and task forces on international health issues.

Senior Research Officer

Dr. Anjalee Kohli has over a decade of international health and development experience focusing on research and practice for prevention of gender based violence, violence against children, HIV/AIDS and promoting improved mental health and resilience. Anjalee works as a Senior Research Officer, providing strategic leadership, research expertise and technical vision under the Passages Project. Anjalee received her PhD from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and holds an MPH. Anjalee previously worked with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

Director of Research; Research Instructor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Georgetown University Medical Center

Dr. Lundgren has over 25 years of comprehensive, hands-on experience developing and testing reproductive health and behavior change programs, with particular interest in expanding family planning choice, youth and engaging men in reproductive health. Rebecka’s current research interests include systematic approaches to scale-up,  social barriers to family planning use and prevention of gender-based violence. As an applied anthropologist, she has expertise applying qualitative and ethnographic methods to her work, and has developed innovative mixed method approaches to evaluate fertility awareness and gender transformation programs for very young adolescents. She received an MPH from UCLA’s School of Public Health in the Department of Population and Family Health in 1987, and her doctorate in applied anthropology from the University of Maryland.

Program Officer

Courtney brings has over six years of experience in international development, coordinating and managing initiatives related to gender equality and mainstreaming, women’s rights, and women’s empowerment. At the Institute, Courtney works on the Passages project, focusing her time on project management, management of the Transforming Masculinities/Masculinite, Famille et Foi intervention, and on establishing regional Communities of to strengthen regional work on normative change
for AYSRH. Courtney also manages the Institute’s​ ​ongoing​ ​work on bringing CycleTel to market. She received an MSc from the University of Edinburgh, and a BA from McGill University. Originally from Montreal, Canada, she speaks fluent French.

Finance Officer

Nasratullah Noori has over 10 years of professional experience in Finance and Accounting with profit and nonprofit organizations ⁠— such as United nations, G&D Currency Technology, an international bank and multinational companies ⁠⁠— and extensive knowledge in managing accounts payable & receivable, cash management, budgeting, financial reporting and bank reconciliation.

Nasratullah Noori holds a bachelor degree and a two-year diploma in business administration. He is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in Accounting. At IRH, he works as a finance officer supporting financial functions for the IRH team. Originally from Afghanistan, he fluent in Hindi, Dari, Pashto, and English.

Senior Research Officer and Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Georgetown University Medical Center

Dr. Shattuck has 20 years of development experience, focusing on rigorous public health research, implementation science approaches, and behavior change interventions that increase access to health services, education and economic opportunity. With vast experience leading social behavioral research projects around the world in the areas of HIV, gender, and family planning, Dr. Shattuck prioritizes collaborative work with government officials and grassroots organizations to define locally relevant solutions. At IRH, Dr. Shattuck leads the FACT Project’s work in Nepal, developing family planning messages and game-based approaches. As a known champion for the inclusion of men in reproductive health work, he is an active advocate of vasectomy services, publishing research articles, blogs, presentations and other thought pieces for a variety of audiences. Dr. Shattuck received PhD from NC State University in Psychology, his B.A. in History from Clark University. He speaks Amharic (Ethiopian National Language).

Senior Research Manager

Dr. Bryan Shaw has over a decade of international health and development experience, focusing on rigorous public health research and behavior change interventions. At IRH, Bryan works as a senior research officer, largely providing strategic leadership and quality control for research studies under the Passages Project. He received his PhD from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in International Health and also holds a MPH and MS in Applied Medical Anthropology. Bryan worked previously with Population Services International (PSI), UNICEF, and USAID.

Senior Research Officer

Natacha Stevanovic-Fenn has over a decade of gender and international development experience, focusing on rigorous qualitative research design and analysis conducted in the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), South Asia, and sub Saharan Africa. Her areas of technical expertise include: sexual and reproductive health; child marriage; gender-based violence; male engagement and masculinities; social norms; youth migration; migration-development nexus; and gender analysis. At IRH, Natacha works as a senior research officer, providing technical leadership and oversight on the conceptualization and operationalization of research projects. She received her PhD in Sociology from Columbia University, MA in Social Anthropology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining IRH, Natacha worked with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and UNICEF. She is a French native and she is fluent in English, Spanish and Serbian.