Our Team
The Global Women’s Institute’s team brings diverse research expertise and a shared commitment to ending violence against women and girls.
Mary Ellsberg, PhD (she/her)
Executive Director
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0666-5196
Dr. Mary Ellsberg is the executive director and founding director of the Global Women's Institute at the George Washington University. Dr. Ellsberg has more than 30 years of experience in international research and programs on gender and development. Before joining the university in August 2012, Dr. Ellsberg served as vice president for research and programs at the International Center for Research on Women. Dr. Ellsberg’s deep connection to global gender issues stems not only from her academic work but also from living in Nicaragua for nearly 20 years, leading public health and women’s rights advocacy. She was a member of the core research team of the World Health Organization’s Multi-Country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence Against Women, and she has authored more than 40 books and articles on violence against women and girls. Dr. Ellsberg earned a doctorate in epidemiology and public health from Umeå University in Sweden and a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies from Yale University.
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Marianne Makar (she/her)
Assistant Director of Research Administration
Marianne brings to the Global Women's Institute extensive grants, finance and project management experience from more than 10 years at The Brookings Institution. She has an educational background in political science and peace studies, including master’s degrees from Syracuse University and the University of Bradford.
Justin Brown (he/him)
Research Program Associate
Before joining the Global Women's Institute team, Justin worked in the nonprofit space. For two years, he served as an AmeriCorps volunteer with City Year in Washington, D.C., in some of the city’s most under-resourced communities and for another two years as an alumni board member. He then spent five years managing logistics, data and operations for Live It Learn It, an education-focused nonprofit.
Justin brings a love of reading and a solution-oriented approach with him to the Global Women's Institute to support moving the mission forward of ending violence against women.
Flávia Dutra (she/her)
Research Assistant
Flávia primarily supports the What Works to Prevent Violence — Impact at Scale program. Before joining the Global Women’s Institute, Flávia worked with George Washington University professors to conduct research and editing for publications. After completing her bachelor’s degree, she transitioned to being a full-time research assistant to a Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor, whom she supported in the launch of a book on reproductive rights. She is passionate about policy research on reproductive rights and women’s health care. Flávia is fluent in Portuguese.
Flávia graduated summa cum laude from the George Washington University in 2022 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science and a minor in psychology.
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Heather Holmes, MBA
Research Institute Administrator
With over 20 years of professional experience, Heather brings a variety of expertise to the Global Women's Institute, including budget development and long-range planning, finance and operations, personnel management, process/systems improvement strategies and pre-/post-award administration. Heather’s interest in combating violence against women began in college when she volunteered as a sexual assault peer educator and expanded years later when she volunteered as a court-appointed special advocate in the District of Columbia. She is passionate about working to end gender-based violence and is particularly interested in the areas of human trafficking, child marriage and climate change.
When not working, Heather volunteers with several organizations in the Washington, D.C., area, including those focused on food insecurity, homelessness, at-risk youth and animal welfare. She holds a master of business administration degree from Strayer University and bachelor of arts degrees in political science and French from Mary Washington College.
Maureen Murphy, MPH, DrPH (she/her)
Lead Research Scientist
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3507-7564
Before joining the Global Women’s Institute, Maureen worked with numerous international non-governmental organizations, including in South Sudan with the American Refugee Committee and in Sierra Leone with GOAL Ireland. Prior to this, she worked with the Child Protection in Crisis Network based at Columbia University to coordinate locally driven child protection and gender-based violence research projects in Africa and Asia.
Maureen holds a master’s of public health from Columbia University and has a professional interest in improving monitoring and evaluation in complex emergencies, particularly in the realm of gender-based violence and reproductive health programming. She is a published author on a variety of gender-based violence and reproductive health topics. She has a doctor of public health degree from the George Washington University Department of Global Health.
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Alina Potts, MPH (she/her)
Research Scientist
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3787-3679
In her work at the Global Women’s Institute, Alina aims to center women and girls in asking and answering questions around how to better address gender-based violence (GBV) in humanitarian settings. Previously, Alina coordinated violence prevention research at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and explored intersections between GBV and child protection in emergencies. As a practitioner, Alina led GBV programming for the International Rescue Committee in a number of humanitarian responses over the last 10-plus years — including Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar), Lebanon, Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya (Dadaab) and Sudan (Darfur). Her experience in forced migration extends to refugee resettlement in the U.S., asylum advocacy in Europe, and addressing grave violations in conflict settings.
Alina holds a B.A. in anthropology and international development from Boston University and a master's of public health in forced migration and health from Columbia University. She welcomes opportunities for shared learning and teaches graduate classes on GBV in complex emergencies.
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Chelsea Ullman, PhD (she/her)
Lead Research Scientist
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6713-8782
At the Global Women’s Institute, Chelsea plays a primary leadership role in the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Research and Evidence Consortium. She joined the Global Women's Institute at its founding while serving as a Presidential Fellow at the George Washington University (a selective program that offers high-achieving students the opportunity for professional development while completing a master’s degree).
Chelsea has contributed to the strategic growth of the Global Women's Institute by developing key policy initiatives and communications and outreach programs, as well as participating in research on violence against women and girls globally. Chelsea holds a PhD in public policy and public administration, focused in gender and social policy, from the George Washington University. Her doctoral work explored theories of justice for survivors of campus sexual assault in the United States, with a goal of improved policymaking on the issue. Chelsea is committed to amplifying the voices of survivors of violence in research and policy.
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Saini Das, MA, PhD (she/her)
Research Scientist
Saini supports the data management processes for the What Works to Prevent Violence — Impact at Scale program. She brings expertise in survey and research design, statistical analysis and modeling. Prior to joining the What Works team, she was a postdoctoral research scientist at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, where she supported gender-synchronized randomized controlled trials in East Africa. Saini has worked in Malawi and India and has published research on gender and adolescence.
Saini has a PhD in economics from the University of Oklahoma. She has a keen interest in understanding the various socioeconomic pathways that lead to entrenched gender norms and gender-based violence and evaluating programs that break the cycle of violence through rigorously designed impact evaluations. Her other research interests lie in the areas of reproductive health and adolescent empowerment.
Elena Aguilera, MS (she/her)
GenderPro Program Management Consultant
Elena supports the implementation and improvement of the GenderPro Capacity Building Programme, advancing gender integration in health systems and global development.
A biomedical engineer turned gender and innovation specialist, Elena has led digital transformation initiatives and founded Guala, a Honduran nonprofit that uses 3D printing and artificial intelligence to provide prosthetics for survivors of violence. Before joining the Global Women’s Institute, she contributed to gender policy development at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and led partnership and fundraising initiatives for international and Swedish organizations. She is an active advocate for women in technology, contributing to research, mentoring, and authorship that highlight the role of women in STEAM and digital equity.
She holds an MS in health economics, policy, and management from Karolinska Institutet and a BS in biomedical engineering from the Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana. A Forbes-recognized innovator, she is passionate about leveraging technology and systems thinking to promote gender equality and sustainability.
Gabriella Nassif, PhD (she/her)
Research Scientist
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4332-3806
Gabriella first joined the Global Women's Institute in 2023 as part of Putting Survivors at the Center, a research project that piloted innovative strategies to build the capacity of humanitarian organizations without experience in the fields of gender and gender-based violence to support survivors following a spontaneous disclosure of gender-based violence.
Prior to joining the Global Women's Institute, Gabriella worked as a research consultant for various international and local nongovernmental organizations and agencies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region on issues related to gender, women’s economic empowerment and labor force participation and women’s labor migration. Gabriella holds a PhD in global gender and sexuality studies from the University at Buffalo SUNY. Her doctoral work used the framework of social reproduction to explore the racialization and feminization of care workers in Lebanon, with a focus on women migrant domestic workers.
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Olivia Dupont, MPH (she/her)
Senior Research Associate
Prior to joining the Global Women’s Institute, Olivia worked at Physicians for Human Rights, where she supported research, capacity development and advocacy on sexual violence in conflict zones. She has worked extensively with local partners across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, Iraq, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Olivia holds a BA in Global Security and Justice and French from the University of Virginia and a Master's of Public Health from the University of Virginia.
Megan Rabin, MPH (she/her)
Graduate Research Assistant
Prior to joining the Global Women’s Institute, Megan worked as a research coordinator on various behavioral economics studies regarding HIV in East and South Africa. She also supported and conducted research on menstrual health in Nepal. Megan specializes in mixed-methods research, as well as human-centered design and participatory methods.
Megan holds a master’s of public health in community and behavioral health science from the University of Pittsburgh, and she is currently pursuing her PhD in global public health sciences at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Her research interests include gender-based violence, reproductive health and humanitarian health.
Farhana Bhuiyan, MPH (she/her)
Graduate Research Assistant
In her role at the Global Women’s Institute, Farhana contributes to research and communication initiatives. She is currently pursuing her PhD in global public health sciences in the Department of Global Health at the George Washington University.
Before starting her PhD, Farhana worked for nearly a decade at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she held multiple research and leadership positions. Alongside her research and programmatic responsibilities, she served as a faculty member at the school, teaching in the master of public health program. Farhana’s research has centered on understanding how social determinants, gender, and power dynamics shape public health, particularly sexual and reproductive health and rights among adolescents and marginalized or structurally silenced communities in Bangladesh. She is experienced in translating evidence into practice through creative advocacy and educational materials that promote health equity.
Baily Soma, MPH Candidate (she/her)
Student Researcher Specialist III
Bailey is a MPH in Humanitarian Health and Disaster Response candidate at the George Washington University. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Public Health with a community health focus from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and brings experience in mental health research, community health practice, and nonprofit human services. Before returning to graduate school, she spent time at a community-based nonprofit nonprofit supporting immigrant, refugee, and low-income communities. She is committed to humanitarian health, health equity, and the rights of women and girls across immigrant, refugee, and underserved communities.
Haifa Khalid Ahmed, MPH Candidate (she/her)
Student Researcher Specialist III
Haifa supports the UNFPA-GWI project, "Stopping Harm Before It Happens," contributing to a global knowledge platform and evidence-informed toolkit for Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (SEAH) prevention. Her work will involve conducting structured desk reviews, synthesizing findings from academic and grey literature, and translating technical content into user-oriented resources for humanitarian and development settings.
Currently an MPH candidate at the Milken Institute School of Public Health specializing in Global Health Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation, Haifa also serves as an Urban Health Fellow. She holds a B.S. in Psychology from Howard University. As a Sudanese-American, Haifa’s professional focus is deeply personal. Having witnessed the impact of human rights violations and civil unrest on women and girls, Haifa is dedicated to developing rigorous frameworks that prevent, protect, and support survivors of gender-based violence. Utilizing her native fluency in Arabic and English, she aims to bridge the gap between research and implementation to ensure public health interventions remain culturally relevant and impactful.
Tesmerelna Atsbeha
Senior Fellow
Tesmerelna Atsbeha is a Senior Fellow at the Global Women's Institute at George
Washington University. She is a donor organizing advisor and practitioner focused on resourcing gender justice movements. Her work centers on the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV) and the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) through feminist participatory practices and building financial resilience in the field. She currently supports funder organizing spaces and individual private philanthropies on strategy development and field-building.
Tesmerelna brings over twenty years of experience advancing gender equity through philanthropic strategy, multi-donor collaboration, and field infrastructure development. She served for nearly a decade on the Women's Rights team at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, where she designed and governed multi-donor platforms including the Gender-Based Violence Funders Forum and Fondo Autonoma (Reproductive Autonomy Collaborative Fund), mobilizing over $500 million in collective investment. She is a founding advisor to the Accelerator to End Gender-Based Violence, a board member of MeToo International, and a member of the Global Women's Institute Leadership Council and the Global Leadership Council of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative. She has written on gender and racial justice in philanthropy for the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Nonprofit Quarterly, and Alliance Magazine. Tesmerelna holds a BA in international relations from Brown University, a Master of Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and an MA in organizational psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.