Facebook-20150129-034244Raven Brown is currently a PhD student in the Public and Urban Policy program at Milano and a GPIA alumni. While pursuing a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Bennington College in social science and ceramics, Raven became immersed in feminist critiques of anthropology and applied those ideas to her sculpture. Through anthropology she learned about the Universal Access to Treatment Campaign and the undue burden illness places on women and children worldwide. While at GPIA, Raven continued to focus on gender and public health in development. She participated in the International Field Program in Johannesburg where she conducted participatory research on gender, economic empowerment, and HIV service provision culminating in her master’s thesis, Bridging the Gap: Innovative Strategies towards Gender Empowerment and HIV Service Provision in Alexandra Township, South Africa A Case Study. After GPIA, Raven worked in Rwanda and Uganda on a research study focusing on the role of women in post-conflict development, peace-building, and HIV service provision. She also pursued a Master’s of Public Health degree from New York University in global health. Working on research based interventions in Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia led Raven to realize that she needed to attain a PhD in order to really make a difference by being able to design research informed policies. Her professional experiences solidified her belief that policy processes need to be participatory in order to effectively meet community needs. She plans on conducting her doctoral research on the relationship between poverty reduction and violence prevention as related to gender and housing in countries experiencing rapid urbanization. Examining these links can help build a sustainable and peaceful future. Raven is also a native New Yorker.

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