Dr. Shirley Graham
Dr. Shirley Graham is the Director of the Gender Equality Initiative in International Affairs (GEIA) and Associate Professor of Practice in International Affairs at George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs. She teaches two graduate courses: Global Gender Policy and Gender, War & Peace; and an undergraduate course: Women in Global Politics. Shirley has conducted research into gender discourses on peacekeeping with officers in the Irish Defence Forces, and the role of U.S. military gender advisors in security cooperation. She facilitated a review and strategic planning for the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence and led an all-Ireland feminist peace project, Hanna’s House. She led a consultation process with civil society organizations in Ireland, North and South, to inform the first Irish National Action Plan on women, peace and security.
Dr. Graham is a member of the U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace & Security (WPS) a coalition of experts serving to inform and educate U.S. Congress, the Administration, and civil society on WPS thematic areas and issues. Shirley is the founder of the Student Consortium on WPS , a student organization with over 200 members focused on education and awareness-raising across disciplines and developing innovative approaches to expanding and amplifying the WPS agenda such as putting LGBTQAI+ issues on the agenda and including men and boys as perpetrators of violence as well as victims. Shirley is the lead convenor of the #GWREPROFREE seminar series and through this process she aims to create a GW university-wide sex and gender education curriculum for all Freshman students.
Sara Rosenbaum
Sara Rosenbaum is the Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy and Founding Chair of the Department of Health Policy, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. She also holds a Professorship by Courtesy in the law school and is a member of the faculty of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Professor Rosenbaum has devoted her professional career to issues of health justice for populations who are medically underserved as a result of race, poverty, disability, or cultural exclusion. With respect to public engagement and health policy practice, Professor Rosenbaum is best known for her work on the expansion of Medicaid, the expansion of community health centers, patients’ rights in managed care, civil rights and health care, and national health reform. Between 1993 and 1994, Professor Rosenbaum worked for President Bill Clinton, directing the drafting of the Health Security Act and designing the Vaccines for Children program, a landmark law offering near-universal coverage of vaccines for low income and medically underserved children. Professor Rosenbaum also regularly advises many state governments on matters of health policy.
Dr. Anne Markus
Dr. Markus is the Department Chair for Health Policy and Management. The overarching theme of social justice weaves through Professor Markus’s work. An expert on the financing and organization of health care and on access to care, she is particularly interested in how the health system addresses – or fails to address – the needs of women, trans and nonbinary persons, minorities and children, including those of low-income and with special needs. Dr. Markus brings her combined knowledge of public policy, health policy and law both to the classroom, where she teaches maternal and child health policy and analysis, comparative health systems and health reform, fundamentals of health policy, and health policy research, and to her substantial research portfolio.
Dr. Markus has broad and interdisciplinary training in law, public policy, and health policy, and over 25 years of local, state, federal and international experience. She has been studying private and public health insurance and public programs, such as Medicaid/CHIP, health centers, and maternal and child health services, as well as health reform in the U.S. and abroad. In general, her current research focuses on the promotion of children and women’s health and the policies that support this goal.
Caitlin Murphy
Caitlin Murphy is a Research Scientist within the Health Policy and Management Department at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. She brings over a decade of mixed-method public health research, health policy research, and health systems research in the fields of maternal and child health, women’s health, reproductive health, family health, and health among low-income and vulnerable communities. She brings content expertise regarding mental health, trauma, and social determinants of health (SDH), as well as pathways for addressing SDH in healthcare settings. Previously, she supported women’s and children’s health research initiatives at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Population Services International’s Women’s Health Project, the Research Center for Leadership in Action at NYU, the World Bank Group, Population Action International, and the Ms. Foundation for Women. Ms. Murphy has a Masters’ in Public Policy Analysis from NYU Wagner with a concentration in health and gender, and is a current doctoral student in the Health Policy and Management Department at GWU.
Sonia Suter
Sonia M. Suter is a Professor of Law at GW Law, and the Founding Director of the Health Law Initiative. Sonia M. Suter’s scholarship focuses on issues at the intersection of law, medicine, and bioethics, with a particular focus on reproductive rights, emerging reproductive technologies, and ethical and legal issues in genetics. She has published widely in law reviews, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journals, and science journals. One of her recent articles was selected for Editors’ Choice 2020 by the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, one of the leading peer-reviewed journals in medical ethics and legal medicine. Another was chosen by the same journal’s editorial team as one of its “favorite widely read and cited articles” that has “made a big impact.” An internationally recognized expert in genetics and the law and assisted reproductive technologies, Professor Suter is a co-author of the leading textbooks in those areas. She also participates in national working groups and advisory boards and as a consultant to policymakers on issues in her field of expertise. At GW Law, she teaches Torts, Law and Medicine, Genetics and the Law, and Assisted Reproductive Technologies.
Dr. Sara Imershein
Dr. Imershein graduated from University of Pennsylvania magna cum laude, and received her medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine in 1980. Dr. Imershein completed her residency at NYU-Bellevue Medical Center. She is board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Senior Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
Dr. Imershein serves on the Board of NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation and currently serves as Chair of the District of Columbia Section of ACOG and current Chair of the District of Columbia Section of ACOG.
Dr. Imershein believes in empowering women to make intelligent and personalized decisions about their health care, with the counsel of her clinician when needed. Dr. Imershein is a champion of patient education, nondirectional options, and informed consent.
From adolescence through late menopause, Dr. Imershein has cared for women at all stages of life with compassion, up-to-date medical knowledge, and gentle, experienced clinical skills. Today, Dr. Imershein concentrates on family planning medical services in the D.C. area. She is committed to medical education and advocacy for safe access to the full range of reproductive health services.
Dr. Julia Strasser
Julia Strasser, DrPH, MPH is the Director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health and an Assistant Research Professor of Health Policy and Management at The George Washington University. Dr. Strasser’s research focuses on contraception, abortion, and access to care for underserved populations. She has worked in healthcare, with a focus on policy and research, for over 15 years, including previous positions at the National Cancer Institute, the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington. She holds a DrPH in Health Policy from The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, an MPH from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a concentration in women’s and reproductive health, and a BA in History from Yale University.
Sarah Axelson
Sarah M. Axelson, MSW, is a Lecturer in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University. Ms. Axelson is a passionate public health executive with nearly 15 years of experience developing and implementing sustainable reproductive health programs at the local, state, and national levels. She is a recognized expert in the sexual and reproductive health field, with particular expertise at the intersection of adolescent sexual health and the science of learning. Ms. Axelson serves as the Interim Head of Programs at Power to Decide, a national reproductive health organization, where she oversees all programmatic activities within the organization. Her career has also included time in the federal government, as a Project Officer for the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program in the US Department of Health and Human Services/Family and Youth Services Bureau, as well as work in the non-profit world, as the Director of Training at ETR and as a Program Manager at Advocates for Youth, among other roles.
Dr. Feygele Jacobs
Feygele Jacobs, DrPH, MS, MPH serves as Director of the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health and Professor of Health Policy and Management. Prior to joining the faculty full-time, she was President and CEO of the RCHN Community Health Foundation (RCHN CHF), a non-profit foundation dedicated exclusively, until its sunset in 2022, to supporting and benefiting health centers and the communities and patients they serve across America. At its founding, she was the Foundation’s executive vice president and previously, executive VP and chief of staff of the Ryan Community Health Network (RCHN), the Foundation’s predecessor entity, and its affiliate CenterCare, Inc., a health center owned managed care plan serving low-income people across New York City.
Her career has also included positions in both New York City’s and Boston’s public health care systems, and at a major teaching hospital network in New York. She continues to teach core courses in public health policy. In collaboration with colleagues in the Geiger Gibson Program, she has co-authored dozens of policy briefs, data notes and blog posts related to community health center policy and care for the underserved. Feygele holds a DrPH from the University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public Health, where she also completed a certificate in Public Health Informatics. She is also a graduate of Columbia University (MS, MPH) and Oberlin College.
Jessa Davidson
Jessa Davidson is a Senior in the Elliott School of International Affairs, majoring in International Affairs with a concentration in Conflict Resolution. She is also the student leader for GW Reproductive Freedom. Jessa will be starting law school in the fall of 2023 to become a lawyer for women’s rights and gender equality.
Jessa has already worked to advance human rights. Her notable achievements include organizing the March for Our Lives Syracuse in 2018, publishing a law review paper about advancing and protecting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, and speaking on a panel at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2022. Jessa will continue fighting against injustices as she goes forward with her career. Feel free to reach out to her with any questions about GWReproFree: jessa_davidson@gwu.edu