Workshop Participants

Constance Rose AMBASA-SHINSANYA | Constance Rose Ambasa-Shisanya is a Social Science Research Associate at Family Health International (FHI) Nairobi where she has worked since 2006.  Currently much of her work on HIV/AIDS takes place in western Kenya in Kasavai under the aegis of CLOUT (Center for Livelihood Opportunities Unlimited and Technologies), a Kenyan NGO for which Ambasa-Shisanya serves as a program officer for Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS.  Her background is in social science teaching and research with a focus on HIV interventions and reproductive health. She taught for over ten years in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kenyatta University. Her areas of expertise include both quantitative and qualitative research methods, community mobilization, planning and implementing community projects and scientific writing.

Judith AUERBACH | Judith Auerbach is Deputy Executive Director for Science and Public Policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), where she is responsible for developing, leading and managing SFAF’s local, state and international policy agenda.  Prior to joining SFAF, Auerbach served as Vice President, Public Policy and Program Development, at amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research), where she headed amfAR’s Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C. and coordinated programmatic activities across the foundation.  She came to amfAR in 2003, after serving from 1995 to 2003 as Director of the Behavioral and Social Science Program and HIV Prevention Science Coordinator in the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  In these capacities, she held responsibilities for overseeing activities related to the development of scientific and budgetary priorities for AIDS research in the social, behavioral, and prevention sciences and AIDS research related to women and girls. Auerbach received a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Catherine CAMPBELL |
Catherine Campbell received her PhD in social psychology from the University of Bristol then lectured at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, before taking up her current position at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1993. At LSE Campbell is a professor of Social Psychology, Director of the Master of Science in Health, Community and Development and Director of the MPhil/PhD Program. Her interests have been shaped substantially by her South African origins since she grew up in a turbulent period of the country’s history.  She is interested in the following areas: HIV/AIDS, community participation, partnerships, social development, public health and health promotion, sexuality, stigma, collective action, social change, power and empowerment; ‘social capital’, social exclusion and social inequalities - with particular attention to the way in which health inequalities are shaped by social identities relating to gender, ethnicity, age/youth and socio-economic position.

Brandon COHEN (Program Assistant) | Brandon Cohen is currently a Social Change Fellow completing a graduate degree in International Development and Social Change at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is also a program assistant for the aids2031 social drivers unit and a consultant for the All People Be Happy Foundation in Houston, Texas, and Amizade Global Service-Learning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Prior to studying at Clark University, Cohen worked with the Tahirih Justice Center in Washington, DC, and was a founding member of a small NGO - FORGE, in Palo Alto, California. He spent two years working as Associate Director of FORGE, where he lived and worked in four refugee camps in Zambia and Botswana.

Usa  DUONGSAA | Usa Duongsaa is a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Chiang Mai University, and coordinator of the AIDS Education Programme (AEP) in Thailand.  She also serves as Board member for the Asian HIV/AIDS Reduction Foundation—which oversees the Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN) and the Health & Development Network (HDN)—both working in the Asia-Pacific region and for the Constellation for AIDS Competence, which is promoting the AIDS Competence in 20 countries around the world.

William FISHER (Co-Convener) | William Fisher is the Director of International Development, Community, and Environment at Clark University, Professor of International Development and Social Change, and Research Professor at the George Perkins Marsh Institute.  His primary research centers on the politics of development; transnational social movement networks and advocacy; forced displacement and migrant populations; and conflict and development.  Other research interests include global health and social justice, religion and violence, non-governmental associations, and the role of participation and community-based institutions in development planning and action. He has lived and woked in Nepal, India, and Afghanistan and has consulted for amfAR, UNDP, UNFPA, the World Bank, CARE, USAID and other organizations. He received his PhD in anthropology from Columbia University in 1987 and has previously taught at Columbia, Princeton, and Harvard Universities.

Eduard GREBE | Eduard Grebe is a researcher in the University of Cape Town's AIDS and Society Research Unit and where he is currently enrolled in the Masters of Commerce program. Grebe’s current research interests include leadership for effective AIDS responses in Africa, civil society mobilization for AIDS treatment access and Aid for AIDS programs. He is a member of the aids2031 Leadership Working Group.

Geeta Rao Gupta | Geeta Rao Gupta has been president of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) since 1997.  Prior to becoming president, she held a number of positions with ICRW including consultant, researcher and officer. She has extensive experience in the field of women and HIV/AIDS, and is frequently consulted on issues related to AIDS prevention and women’s vulnerability to HIV.  Gupta has been recognized for her commitment to quality research, her dedication to educating policy-makers and the public on the gender related aspects of HIV/AIDS, and her abiding commitment and overall contributions to the field.  She received her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Bangalore.  

Mike ISBELL | Mike Isbell received his law degree from Harvard University in 1985 and is a senior advisor for the aids2031 project. An independent consultant for the last 10 years specializing in public health policy, strategic advocacy planning, and health-related communications, Isbell has been involved in AIDS work for more than two decades. He directed the AIDS project at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the largest gay and lesbian legal rights organization in the U.S.; directed the public policy and education programs at Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City; and served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS under President Bill Clinton.

Muriisa KABEBA | Roberts Kabeba Muriisa is Head of the Department, Acting Dean, and Lecturer in the Faculty of Development Studies, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda, where he has taught since 2001.  A Ugandan citizen, Muriisa received his PhD in Public Administration from the University of Bergen, Norway, where he completed his dissertation on the AIDS pandemic in Uganda, social capital and the role of NGOs in alleviating the impact of HIV/AIDS.  His current research focuses on 1) "Shaping Research Universities" at Unifob Global, University of Bergen, with particular attention to financial governance and research in public universities in Uganda; and 2)  the impact of HIV/AIDS on government establishments and the effectiveness of institutional responses.

Daniel KIM | Daniel Kim is a Research Associate in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. He holds a medical degree from the University of Toronto and doctor of public health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. His research includes a primary focus through epidemiologic studies on the linkages between social capital and health. He has co-authored a book on Social Capital and Health with Ichiro Kawachi and S.V. Subramanian-both of whom are Professors of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.


LAMBERT Wesler | Lambert Wesler is a Haitian physician with a masters degree from Boston University School of Public Health. Lambert also holds a PhD. in medicine from the University of Haiti. He has worked for Partners in Health (PIH) in Haiti since 1997 and the Ministry of Health since 2003. He served at different levels and aspects of PIH programs, including clinical management and program management. The comprehensive approach of PIH to treat HIV has strengthened his understanding of various social issues behind HIV/AIDS, and built his commitment to contribute to the responses available.

Sudirman NASIR |  Sudirman Nasir is a lecturer and researcher in the Faculty of Public Health, Hasanuddin University in Makassar, Indonesia. He is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Nasir has been working on HIV and AIDS prevention programs in Indonesia since the early 1990s. Nasir has held several positions at the Indonesia HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project (IHPCP), such as Project Coordinator and Trainer.  Some of his areas of interests include HIV/AIDS prevention and care, drug use with reference to sexuality and masculinity, medical anthropology and human rights. 

Cheikh NIANG | Cheikh Niang is a Professor of Social Anthropology and Research Methods at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal. He is co-editor of the Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Niang is also the coordinator of the West African Office of the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance (SAHARA) Program in Partnership with the Human Science Research Council, South Africa and the Tropical Institute of Community Health, Kenya.  In 2001, he was the lead author representing the UNDP/World Bank study on “Reforming Technical Cooperation for Capacity Building.” He has also established a strong partnership with UNAIDS, having completed several national and international projects for UNAIDS and its co-sponsors in the past several years.   

Willis O. ODEK | Wills Odek, a Kenyan citizen with a master of science in Demography and Health from the University of London, is presently a PhD candidate at the University of Aberdeen, UK.  He has ten years of progressive experience in HIV/AIDS, livelihoods (especially Microfinance) and reproductive health research and programming. His pioneering work involved intervention research exploring the potential role of microfinance/micro-enterprise services as an HIV prevention strategy among female sex workers in Kenya.  Odek has also had an extensive involvement with HIV/AIDS and reproductive health program design, monitoring and evaluation.  His research interests are social capital, livelihoods, sexual and reproductive health and demography.

Jeffrey O’Malley | Jeffrey O’Malley is originally from Canada and is the Director of the HIV/AIDS Group in the United Nations Development Programme’s Bureau for Development Policy. The UNDP HIV/AIDS Group is responsible within the UNAIDS system for leadership on human rights, gender and sexual diversity; governance of HIV responses; and development planning and mainstreaming. The Group also manages and supports UNDP involvement in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, for which UNDP serves as Principal Recipient in 26 countries, as well as UNDP involvement in other health partnerships such as Roll Back Malaria. O’Malley has 25 years of experience in public health and development, including almost 20 years of international leadership on HIV/AIDS. Prior to joining UNDP, he worked as Country Director for India with PATH, an international public health NGO. Between 1993 and 2004 he established and led the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, an international development NGO specializing in HIV/AIDS.  Also he has worked for the Harvard School of Public Health and for the World Health Organization.

Paul PRONYK |  Paul Pronyk, an infectious disease/public health physician from South Africa, has medical degrees from the University of Manitoba in Canada and Tufts University, as well as an MSc (Infection and Health in the Tropics) and a PhD. from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  Pronyk is currently the Research Director and HIV/AIDS Technical Advisor for the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) - a partnership between the Earth Institute, Columbia University and the United Nations Development Program.  MVP aims to accelerate progress towards MDG targets through the systematic application of a package of health and development interventions in 14 village clusters in 10 sub-Saharan African countries. Pronyk has 10 years of field experience in sub-Saharan Africa and has published in the areas of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, gender-based violence, economic development, social capital, health systems development, and public health ethics.

Rachel Sullivan ROBINSON |  Rachel Sullivan Robinson is an assistant professor in the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC, where she teaches statistics and research methods.  Her research focuses on the politics of population, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.  She received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in sociology and demography in 2007.

Fiona SAMUELS |  Fiona Samuels holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Sussex and has over 15 years of experience crossing the fields of rural development and public health. She has worked extensively in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Currently Samuels is a Research Fellow in the Poverty and Public Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), with a mandate to develop and increase ODI’s research and consultancy portfolio on issues related to health and HIV/AIDS, including its links with poverty, exclusion, stigma and discrimination, social capital, vulnerability, risk, fragile states, migration and livelihoods. Prior to joining ODI, Samuels was head of research at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.

Abhay SHUKLA |  Abhay Shukla, M.D. is a public health specialist, with a postgraduate degree in community medicine from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Since 1995, he has been based in Maharashtra, working on health issues in association with people’s organizations. As Senior Programme Coordinator in SATHI-CEHAT, he has been involved in training health workers, developing health training material and advocacy on health rights and primary health care issues in Maharashtra and West M.P. He has co-edited the books ‘Review of Health care in India’ and ‘Report on Health inequities in Maharashtra’, has authored ‘The Rights Approach to Health and Health Care’ and has co-authored the JSA booklet ‘Health system in India – Crisis and alternatives’. He is a member of the NRHM Advisory Group for Community Action, and of the NHRC National core group of NGOs. He is a National Joint Convenor of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and is active in state and national activities related to health rights.

Morten SKOVDAL | Morten Skovdal has a background in public health. Skovdal has worked on health and social protection issues in China and Kenya through local and international NGOs, multi - and bilateral organizations as well as national government departments. Skovdal is presently affiliated with the London School of Economics where he is completing his PhD on the psychosocial well-being and coping strategies of young carers, orphans, and vulnerable children in Kenya.  Skovdal is the Founder and Managing Directior of WVP Kenya, an NGO operating in Western Kenya providing support to over 750 orphans and their communities. 

Lucy STACKPOOL-MOORE | Lucy Stackpool-Moore is the HIV Officer for Stigma with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Central Office in London. This position involves building and coordinating partnerships to conduct research and advocacy about HIV and human rights at international, regional, and national levels (including Bangladesh, Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Pakistan, The Dominican Republic, Thailand and Zambia). She draws on research and professional experience on participation, gender, education, HIV and the media (South Africa, Ghana, Botswana, and Ethiopia) and project management on HIV communication (Southern Africa, Brazil, UK and international) to shape her work with IPPF. Formerly with Panos as the HIV Policy and Programme Officer, her main areas of expertise are HIV communication, social mobilization and social change, participation, HIV prevention, learning and teaching for social change, pastoralism and communication for development. Stackpool-Moore  has worked as youth worker and life skills educator with out-of-school young people in Sydney Australia, as an adult educator in Mozambique and facilitator of outdoor experiential education in the USA, and as a researcher with the Institute of Development Studies and the Sussex University School of Education. She has also worked as a consultant with DID and with Higher Education with the Learning and Teaching for Transformation initiative at IDS and the Forum for Higher Education, Research and Knowledge at UNESCO.

Barbara THOMAS-SLAYTER (Co-Convener) | Barbara Thomas-Slayter is a Research Professor in the Department of International Development, Community and Environment at Clark University where she has taught for over 25 years.  She received her PhD in Government from Brandeis University and has been a Visiting Scholar at the African Studies Center of Boston University, a Fulbright Research Scholar in Zimbabwe, a Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, and a faculty affiliate of the Watson Institute’s International Scholars of the Environment (WISE) Program at Brown University. Thomas-Slayter has served on the Board of Directors of Oxfam America and as Chair of the Fulbright Scholars Selection Committee for scholars from Africa.   She has written extensively on participatory approaches to development, the changing roles of community institutions and organizations, rural livelihoods and resource management, and the dynamics of class, gender and ethnic relations.  A U.S. citizen, Thomas-Slayter has resided in several countries in East and South Asia and in East Africa, regions on which her research has focused.

Michael WOOLCOCK |  Michael Woolcock is Professor of Social Science and Development Policy, and Research Director of the Brooks World Poverty Institute, at the University of Manchester.  An Australian national, Woolcock received his PhD from Brown University in Sociology.  He is at Manchester on external service leave from the Development Research Group at the World Bank. His research calls upon a range of theories and methods to explore the role of social institutions in the survival and mobility strategies of the poor. He is the co-founder of the World Bank's Justice for the Poor program, an eight-country study of relations between customary and formal mechanisms of dispute resolution, and the author of several articles (and a co-edited book) on the application of social capital theory to development research and practice