Our secretariat is housed at Columbia University in New York City, USA. The Secretariat partners on the implementation of research projects and technical support. They also coordinate and disseminate the Network’s research and learning opportunities.
Cassie joined the faculty of the Department of Population and Family Health in 2010 after a long career with UNICEF. She became the Co-director of the CPC in 2018 with an interest in the integration of child protection issues with early child development. Cassie’s career has focused on the design implementation and evaluation of large scale early child development initiatives in collaboration with partners from low and middle income countries. Joining the CPC Network was an exciting opportunity to bring her skills to the international child protection community. She has raised the attention to the needs of young children suffering the consequences of armed conflict and natural disasters. Cassie is a committed faculty advisor to MPH students pursuing careers in international health, and is the director of the DrPH program Leadership in Global Health and Humanitarian Action. One of her most important roles is providing opportunities for students to apply their classroom based skills to child protection domestic and international programs and activities. Cassie has a EdD and MPH from Harvard University. She has worked in over 60 countries implementing early child development policies and programs. She is a proud New Yorker and loves the energy and opportunities to explore cuisine, art, dance and music from all over the world. She loves quiet weekends and summer holidays at a little beach town in New Jersey with her large extended family.
M. Claire Greene, PhD MPH, is an epidemiologist and implementation scientist interested in identifying opportunities to improve population mental health through community- and systems-level interventions. Specifically, her research examines models of integrating mental health and psychosocial support across sectors to enhance the accessibility, relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of these programs for displaced populations in humanitarian contexts. In her work she consults and collaborates with governments, non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, and academic institutions. At Mailman, Dr. Greene teaches Investigative Methods in Complex Emergencies, a course focused on how to collect and effectively use data to inform programming and policy in humanitarian emergencies. She is faculty within the Program on Forced Migration and Health, a member of the Columbia University Global Mental Health Programs steering committee, and a faculty affiliate of the Columbia Population Research Center.
Sabrina is an Assistant Professor in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Affiliated Faculty with the CPC Learning Network (’07 CPC Learning Network practica placement alumna). In addition to her position at Columbia, she serves on the Board of Directors for Roots of Health and facilitates the Research and Evaluation Thematic Group for the Olympic Refuge Foundation Think Tank. Sabrina’s work seeks to improve the health of populations affected by conflict and displacement through rigorous scholarship, innovative and applied pedagogy, and effective mentorship and service. She is dedicated to engaging in projects and initiatives that center children’s voices and agency, seek to address both proximal and distal/structural sources of violence and harm, with a focus on active prevention and destruction of harmful structures and purposeful co-creation of spaces that support healthy development, psychosocial wellbeing, and eventually happy, thriving, just societies. Sabrina is a dedicated educator, researcher, and collaborator born in Poughkeepsie, NY and raised across New York, West Germany, and Chile. Sabrina has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Colgate University, holds an MIA and MPH from Columbia University, an MS from The City College of New York, and completed her PhD in epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She speaks English and Spanish fluently and has previously worked in French, Mandarin, Nepali, and Russian. She has nearly two decades of experience designing and implementing studies in humanitarian contexts. In her free time Sabrina is a dedicated parent (fur and human), runner, soccer enthusiast, election poll worker, and environmentalist, who centers the environmental and social justice impact of her daily activities to create a more just and harmonious living environment for all.
San joined the CPC Learning Network in September 2019. She is a pediatric doctor by training and her professional experience bridges clinical medicine, public health and research. She is committed to promoting the health and wellbeing of children and families, including those affected by violence and forced displacement. She has fieldwork experience in remote Indigenous Australian communities, Nepal, Zimbabwe, and Jordan. San is currently coordinating a joint project of CPC and the Bank Information Center that aims to improve the World Bank’s ability to prevent and respond to child sexual exploitation and abuse. She also advocates for the needs and rights of migrants and asylum seekers and supported the development of public health guidance to preserve access to asylum during the COVID-19 pandemic. San was born in Sydney, Australia and grew up in Tasmania, home of the Tasmanian Devil. She loves travel, yoga, and reading. Her nana was a circus trapeze artist, and like Yana, San dreamed of running away with the circus!
Joining the CPC Learning Network in July 2020, Yana is committed to work that respects the agency and meaningful participation of children, young people, and communities. She is an experienced coordinator and researcher born in Belarus and raised in San Francisco. For over 10 years, Yana has worked with national, international, and academic institutions doing program management, mixed-methods research, and strategic analyses to improve social services for children and families. She has worked in Liberia, Ethiopia, and Zambia contributing to evaluations of life skills programs for women and girls. Yana is enthusiastic about engaging with research that directly impacts programs and policies. Yana has a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies/Biology from UC Santa Cruz and a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She speaks English, Russian, and Spanish. In her free time, you can find her dancing Casino (Cuban-style salsa), planning her next trip, and flying trapeze (she has dreamt of running away with the circus).
Senior Research Consultant Cécile Fanton d’Andon began her work with the CPC Learning Network in 2015 as a part of the COMPASS (Creating Opportunities through Mentoring, Parental Involvement, and Safe Spaces) project in DRC and Ethiopia, seeking to improve the prevention and response to violence against adolescent girls in humanitarian settings. With her expertise in research in complex settings, Cécile has since moved on to lead CPC’s involvement with the Partnership Against Child Exploitation (PACE) program and support various other CPC projects including the initiative to improve the World Bank’s ability to prevent and respond to child sexual exploitation and abuse. With 10+ years of experience in impact evaluations of development and humanitarian programs in 11 countries, Cécile is passionate about asking questions and sees science as the art of getting as close as possible to reality in a constant attempt to better capture the complex nature of human lives/situations/contexts. She is always questioning the relevance of any given research approach and the appropriateness of the information we collect to better understand the world around us. Cécile focuses on using quantitative research for evaluation particularly in the fields of adolescent wellbeing, girl’s empowerment, and child exploitation. Cécile has a diploma in Statistics from the French Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique (ENSAE), a Master of Economics from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics of the Pompeu Fabra, and a Master of Economics and Public Policy from Sciences Po in Paris. When she’s not asking the tough questions and pursuing rigorous research, Cécile enjoys several diverse activities including drawing, dancing, speaking foreign languages, and practicing fun- yet sometimes dangerous- outdoor sports. Even outside of work, Cécile loves to hear people’s stories and is fascinated by how unique we all are, while sharing so much of our humanity.
Tanvi is a Senior Program Officer with seven years of experience in planning, adapting, and researching adolescent health and mental health programs in low- and middle-income countries. She has collaborated with prominent global organizations and donors, including UNICEF, WHO, and AstraZeneca, as well as local NGOs. Currently, Tanvi is a DrPH candidate at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Matthew Ware joined the CPC learning network as a Graduate Research Assistant in January 2024. He is a first-year student at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in the Population and Family Health Department with a certificate in Public Health and Humanitarian Action. Matthew is passionate about CPC’s goal of re-examining the children’s’ rights field to center children and youth and has been interested in this topic ever since he campaigned for the U.S. to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a high school student. Prior to beginning his Master’s in Public Health, Matthew spent three years at a community health clinic working on program metrics and evaluation and supporting Street Medicine/homeless health initiatives. Matthew completed his bachelor’s degree in Global Affairs from Yale-NUS College in Singapore. In his free time he can be found baking in the very small 50 Haven Avenue kitchen.
Shanze is a second-year MPH student at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health with a certificate in Population Mental Health. Before coming to Columbia, Shanze spent a year working at The Carter Center, supporting its cross-departmental initiative to integrate the use of psychosocial strategies within the Center’s long-standing neglected tropical disease elimination programs. Shanze received her Bachelor’s of Arts in Sociology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia
Emaan joined the CPC Learning Network as a Student Research Worker in May 2024. She is a second-year student at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health with a certificate in Child, Youth and Family Health. Emaan completed her bachelor’s degree in Biology at the Pennsylvania State University. For the past 5 years, she has worked with multiple research teams on projects that share a unifying theme of global child health.
Claire joined the CPC learning network as a Student Researcher in February 2025. She is a student at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in the Population and Family Health Department with a certificate in Public Health and Humanitarian Action. Claire is passionate about humanitarian health and public health interventions which bridge gaps between policy and advocacy. Prior to her Master’s in Public Health, Claire worked in diverse research positions, and notably as a Program Coordinator and Research Assistant for the Refugee and Migrant Women’s Initiative in Tampa, FL. In her free time, she loves nature, live music, creating and appreciating art, photography, and travel.
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