Dr. Karen Hardee to Head Research Team at PAI

Washington, DC… Dr. Karen Hardee, a social demographer for over 20 years, has joined Population Action International (PAI) as Vice President of Research. In that capacity, Dr. Hardee will lead an esteemed team of researchers in developing strong evidence-based advocacy on issues related to women’s well being and global population in an effort to build a more just and prosperous world.

“I couldn’t be more delighted to welcome one of the field’s pre-eminent policy researchers to PAI,” said Amy Coen, President/CEO of PAI. “Karen has led the research in several arenas of sexual and reproductive health and population including family planning, HIV/AIDS and safe motherhood policies and programs through assessing the role that gender plays in women’s, men’s and adolescents’ experiences with the programs. I can’t think of another person more qualified to lead PAI into the next generation of our research.”

Dr. Hardee’s most recent work focused on building harmonized tools for global partners to assess and improve the quality of data reported to measure success in global health initiatives. She has directed global research portfolios and was technical advisor on the series, “What Works” A Policy and Program Guide to the Evidence on FP/RH, Safe Motherhood and STI/HIV/AIDS Interventions.” Her career has included jobs in the public and private sectors. She has worked as Senior Advisor at John Snow, Inc, senior fellow and director of the Center for Research and Evaluation at Constella Futures, and Deputy Director and Principal Research Scientist at Family Health International. Dr. Hardee has consulted for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and has received funding for research and evaluation projects from Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the Gates Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

Dr. Hardee holds a BA from Duke University in Comparative Area Studies and a Ph.D. in Development Sociology from Cornell University. She has an extensive publications record and has lived in seven countries.

“Working at PAI brings together my background and skills in research and advocating for evidence-based policy making. I am so happy to be joining such an important organization,” said Karen Hardee.

Dr. Hardee can be reached at 202.557.3410 and will work out of PAI’s offices at 1300 19^th Street, NW, Second floor, Washington, DC 20036.

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Population Action International (PAI) works to improve individual well-being and preserve global resources by mobilizing political and financial support for population, family planning and reproductive health policies and programs.