Alumni Directory Display

Lauren is a recent graduate of the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, where she earned a Master of Public Health with a focus on community health and development.  In her graduate thesis, Lauren assessed the implementation of governmental food and nutrition support programs for women in India and learned the importance of national health system efficiency and accountability. Prior to her MPH, Lauren pursued a B.A. in Political Science at Rice University, with minors in Global Health Technologies and Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities. While at Rice, Lauren created low-cost, high-impact global health technologies for use in resource-constrained settings, some of which she field-tested in Swaziland in 2010. Lauren is excited to return to Swaziland as a PiAf Fellow with a broadened understanding of global public health and an opportunity to make data-driven recommendations to optimize utilization of national health resources.

Alumni Update:

Katie is currently the Deputy Country Director at Action Against Hunger where she focuses on program quality, program development, and future-looking strategy. She is based in Erbil, Iraq.

Fellow Bio:

Katie studied International Development with concentrations in Economics and Sub-Saharan African Studies at UC Berkeley. Her passion for international development dates back to high school when she volunteered in Latin America with the immersion and community development program called AMIGOS de las Américas. Since then, she has worked in development through NGOs (Save the Children International, Women’s Microfinance Initiative), government agencies (State Department), multilateral organizations (UN High Commissioner on Refugees), community development programs (Mutual Financing of African Women, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant), academic research (UC Berkeley, Beatrice Bain Women’s Research Group, teaching “Development Theory and Praxis in Haiti”) and the private sector (Crowdsparc). Through these various experiences, Katie has lived and worked across the world including in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Uganda and Cameroon. Most formatively, in Cameroon Katie conducted research exploring the relationship between different microfinance packages and borrowers’ incidences of domestic violence, which became the foundation of her senior honors thesis. Given her passion for fieldwork and research, Katie eventually hopes to pursue a PhD. In the meantime, Katie is looking forward to moving back to Uganda in order to see her friends, work more closely on-the-ground with refugees and learn from professionals in the field.

Olivia is from Chicago and graduated from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan with a focus on poverty, health, and international development. During her time as a Wolverine, she led a summer volunteering trip to Peru as part of an internship with Childreach International, lobbied on Capitol Hill as a member of the ONE Campaign, and worked at Barger Leadership Institute on campus. She interned with LIFT Communities, working one-on-one with low-income and homeless individuals to help build a sustainable path out of poverty. During her semester study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, Olivia volunteered weekly at a primary school in Nyanga Township as an English tutor for fifth grade students. She is excited to continue addressing issues of education and inequality as a Fellow with the Kucetekela Foundation. Olivia looks forward to exploring Lusaka and playing ultimate frisbee on Sundays, a KF Fellow tradition.

Alumni Update:

When her fellowship ended, Alison headed home to Fort Lauderdale, FL. She studied for the GRE while visiting family and friends before moving to Washington, D.C. in January 2014. She works in USAID’s Bureau for Global Health with a team focused on implementation science in HIV. She’s had the opportunity to return to Africa since her fellowship ended, and will be visiting Tanzania, Malawi and Benin this spring and summer.

Fellow Bio:

Alison is a politics major from Plantation, FL. At Princeton, she was a member of Wildcats A Cappella, a Project Coordinator for Anchor House and a member of the Cap & Gown Club. She enjoys singing and writing in her free time. Alison has studied abroad in Istanbul and Dakar during her time at Princeton. While in Kampala next year, Alison looks forward to learning Luganda and riding boda-bodas.

Jessica graduated from Macalester College with a BA in Economics and an interdisciplinary concentration in International Development. In college, she participated in the four-year civic engagement program Bonner Community Scholars and worked at the youth farming organization Urban Roots.  Jessica studied abroad at Ashesi University in Ghana. Her involvement with Sesa Mu Farmers’ Initiative inspired her honors thesis, which used econometric methods to analyze the effect of loan timing on fertilizer use in Ghana. Jessica earned the Winter Mann-Hill Fellowship to design and lead a workshop on sexual violence prevention and response for Ashesi students that volunteer with Future of Africa, a nonprofit that serves street children. She served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the International Rescue Committee’s refugee resettlement office in Utah and developed initiatives to improve access to contraception and better respond to domestic violence. Jessica has worked on a farm in Nicaragua, attended the UN climate negotiations in Paris, and is passionate about health equity. She is excited to continue working with the International Rescue Committee in Sierra Leone and support education, health, and women and girl’s protection and empowerment programs. 

Isabella graduated from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in May 2017 with a degree in Science, Technology and International Affairs. During her time at Georgetown, Isabella focused on the implications of environmental policy in the lives of people worldwide. Her interest was solidified during her semester in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she worked at a BRICS Policy Institute studying the intersection between gender and climate in the BRICS countries and researching ground-up adaptive solutions to climate change pioneered by women. While at Georgetown, Isabella was a tour guide and the Director for Human Resources at the Corp, the largest entirely student run nonprofit in the world. Isabella has an insatiable curiosity for the natural world around her and as such idolizes Dr. Jane Goodall and enjoys hiking and camping.

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Originally from Germany, Fenja Tramsen spent her teenage years living in Yorkshire, England. In 2023, she graduated from Swarthmore College with a double major in History and Political Science. During her time at Swarthmore, Fenja developed her interest in politics by working as a research assistant at two labs (one focused on incarceration in the American South, and the other on the impact of socio-economic status on voting). She also enjoyed pursuing studies abroad, first studying Arabic in Amman, Jordan, and later spending a semester in Ghana studying history, politics, and Twi. While in Ghana she completed a policy internship at the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability in Accra, which deepened her interest in both advocacy work and international relations. Fenja also developed a strong set of skills in donor relations, archival work, and environmental justice through her positions at the List Art Gallery, the Peace Collection archives, Swarthmore’s Office for Alumni Engagement, and the Office of Sustainability. As a culminating academic project, Fenja combined her interests to complete archival research in Berlin for her thesis on German colonial livestock projects in Namibia. Fenja is thrilled to be joining the International Livestock Research Institute as a Princeton in Africa fellow this year!

Alumni Update:

After her fellowship, Emily spent another year working for Plan in the same capacity as a Technical Writer and took on some additional roles and responsibilities. She then returned to the US for a year to do some remaining coursework in order to apply to medical school. She is currently working for UCSF as Research and Training Coordinator for Kenya. She coordinates a program that facilitates medical and master’s students and residents to do clinical work or research here in Nyanza Province as well as connect researchers to one another since they have a multi-institutional research collaboration. She is based in Kisumu, Kenya until June this year, when she will go back to the US for medical school. She is not yet sure which school she will attend, though she has a couple of options already!

Fellow Bio:

Emily (Princeton ‘11) is an economics major with a certificate in African-American Studies from the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. During her time at Princeton she was a member of the varsity swim team, an active Cap and Gown member and occasionally bartended and tutored to pay the bills. Through Princeton she interned with the Global Fund in Switzerland, which sparked an interest in a career in global health and development.  Emily aspires to become a physician one day. While in Uganda next year, Emily looks forward to learning about and participating in local music and dance, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, and waking up to a new adventure every day.