People

Sara Casey, Director

Sara Casey, DrPH, is the Director of the Reproductive Health Access, Information and Services in Emergencies (RAISE) Initiative. In this role, she collaborates with program partners to identify and respond to challenges to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights in countries whose health systems have been weakened by war or natural disaster. She has provided technical guidance to partners to establish program monitoring and evaluation systems and conduct implementation research.  She has over 20 years of experience working on SRHR in humanitarian settings.  Prior to joining RAISE, Dr. Casey worked with the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) in Rwanda, the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University and with the Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium.  

Dr. Casey received a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree, a Master of Public Health (MPH) and a Master of International Affairs (MIA) from Columbia University and bachelor’s degree (BA) from Washington University.  

Therese McGinn, Director Emeritus

Therese McGinn is  DrPH, is Professor Emerita of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Medical Center and Director Emeritus (and founding Director) of the RAISE Initiative.  She also previously served as deputy director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) and as director of the Monitoring and Evaluation Program of the Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium. During her 30+ years of public health work in resource-poor settings globally, Dr. McGinn has focused on using sound data collection and analysis to improve the scope and quality of reproductive health services, in order for men and women to make important choices about their sexual and reproductive lives. She has worked  extensively in Africa, and also in Latin America, Asia and Europe. Over the last two decades, her work has focused on implementation science related to establishing SRH services in countries affected by armed conflict.

In addition to her applied research activities globally, Dr. McGinn taught applied programming skills to MPH students at Mailman.  She received a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree from Columbia University, a Master of Public Health (MPH) from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a BA from Cornell University.