Jennifer Zelaya

Jennifer Zelaya is a Research Associate at the Global Women’s Institute. Jennifer received a dual master's degree in Public Health and Social Welfare, with concentrations in Community Health Sciences and Mental Health, from UCLA's schools of Public Health and Public Affairs, respectively. In 2014, Jennifer was a Graduate Summer Scholar at the UCLA Blum Center on Poverty and Health in Latin America. There, she lead the design, implementation, and evaluation of a qualitative study examining intimate partner violence throughout Leon, Nicaragua.

During the summer of 2015, Jennifer was a Child Protection and Gender-Based Violence Intern at the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). In this role, she provided technical feedback related to protection mainstreaming of proposals submitted by non-governmental agencies and UN Partners. In addition, Jennifer supported a Violence in the Home initiative that OFDA is developing.

Jennifer has previously managed community-based and clinical research studies related to trauma and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. She also has extensive experience providing therapy to adults and children who experience a wide-range of psychosocial stressors.