Debra joined HealthBridge as a consultant in 1995 and later became full-time. In her role as Regional Director she provides support to different programs (livable cities, tobacco control and NCD prevention, and gender and reproductive health). Based in Bangladesh, she works particularly with HealthBridge’s Asian partner organizations. Her work includes research, training, writing and advising organizations in a range of countries. In the last several years she has focused particularly on livable cities, with an emphasis on urban planning and transport policy.
Education
Harvard School of Public Health
Master of Science in Population and International Health, 1993.
Harvard College
Bachelor of Arts in English and American Literature and Language, 1987. Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
Tobacco control
Debra provides technical assistance to the Tobacco Control/NCD Prevention program. In particular, she assists with tobacco control work conducted by WBB Trust (Work for a Better Bangladesh) and HealthBridge Vietnam.
Livable cities
Debra provides technical assistance to Livable Cities projects funded by HealthBridge in Asia and Africa. She is particularly interested in urban planning and transport planning as they relate to public health, well-being and happiness.
Gender
Debra supports HealthBridge’s gender program, and is particularly interested in the issue of the economic contribution of women through their unpaid work.
Publications
Debra regularly writes for various newspapers in Bangladesh, has written and co-written various publications, mostly on tobacco control, gender/reproductive health and livable cities issues, and is the author of Beyond Apologies, Defining and Achieving an Economics of Wellbeing (www.instituteofwellbeingbd.org).