Fall 2022 Fellows

Abdullah Alhenaki is an expert in national security with a track record of working at leading policy-making government entities in Saudi Arabia, advising senior decision-makers on foreign policy and security issues. Academically, Abdullah graduated with a Pi Sigma Alpha honor from California State University majoring in political science. He also holds a graduate certificate in international relations from Harvard University Extension School and is currently pursuing an M.A. in strategic studies with a focus on U.S. foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies. Abdullah is also the recipient of many professional certificates including from Kearney, Jane’s Intelligence Unit, and the NESA center.

Megan Anderson currently serves as the global affairs section chief in the Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), where she leads a diverse team covering media freedom, anti-corruption, elections, civil society, transnational repression, and marginalized populations. Before that, she led the Africa team in DRL’s Office of Global Programming, where she oversaw more than 35 programs that promote rule of law, defend political space, and strengthen civil society in nearly 20 countries on the continent. She has worked in democracy and human rights issues, primarily in Africa, since 2005. Megan’s career began at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), where she supported programs in Central Africa, including for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first democratic elections in 2006, and then at Freedom House, where she designed and managed initiatives in a range of restrictive environments in Africa before joining DRL in 2011. She has a B.S. in foreign service from Georgetown University and a master’s in public policy with a concentration in international governance and institutions from George Mason University. She has lived in England, France, Mexico, Niger, and South Africa and speaks French.

Dr. Edouard-Robert Aquereburu has a Ph.D. from the University of Paris. He is a lawyer specializing in development and infrastructure financing in Africa. Edouard-Robert is also a researcher and lecturer in law school. He has a couple of years of experience helping clients on various aspects of their operations in Francophone Africa, mainly in the natural resources, extractive industries, telecoms, and infrastructure. He lived and worked in Paris for a couple of years prior to joining Aquereburu & Partners in Togo. Edouard-Robert is very active in the public sector. He advises the mayor of Aného on aspects of development, financing, and cultural projects. He is also the founder of Mi Dounou, a food bank that takes care of children and single women. He is a native French speaker and speaks English fluently.

Felizia Bacall is the managing director for Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe and Eurasia at the Mission Transaction Unit (formerly USAID's Development Credit Authority) at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). She manages a team of investment officers and relationship managers that originate, structure, and manage loans and guarantees. Felizia also leads the DFC's Policy Coordination Group for the Western Hemisphere, advising on DFC policies and priorities in the region. Before joining USAID, Felizia was a consultant at The Bridgespan Group, providing management consulting services to foundations, nonprofits, and philanthropic organizations. She also worked as a research analyst for the Finance Department of the International Monetary Fund and was a financial services associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She has lived and worked in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Felizia earned her M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and her bachelor’s in economics, politics, and global studies from Brandeis University. She is a native Spanish speaker.

Amanda Banda designs and advises on influencing strategies on politics, policies, and financing decisions of major global health institutions, bilateral donors, and pharmaceutical and diagnostics manufacturers to ensure sufficiently funded, accessible quality public health care services, affordable diagnostics, and therapies for low-income countries and most marginalized populations. She serves as a global health advocate at Wemos focusing on the health systems, human resources for health, finance for health, and Intersectional Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights. She has co- led and served as a strategic advisor to COMPASS Africa Project (Coalition to build Momentum, Power, Activism, Strategy, and Solidarity) at the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC). At Médecins Sans Frontières, she was part of the Health Politics Team as HIV advocacy coordinator in charge of the African region. She has served as Interim TB Policy Advisor, and currently serves as the infectious diseases policy and advocacy advisor at MSF Access Campaign. Amanda co-chaired the Health Workers for All Coalition, a global network of academics, CSOs, and professional networks influencing health workforce issues. She is an Advisory Board member of Global Health Impact Project and serves as a CSO representatives to the Health Systems Connector of the ACT-A and a committee member of Light Africa. She has a background in international relations (Hons) and political studies (M.A.) at universities in Zimbabwe and South Africa respectively and is studying global health policy (M.Sc.) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Abhijit Dutta is senior director and head of communications and government affairs for the Asia Pacific region at Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the maker of iconic global brands such as Kleenex tissue, Huggies diapers, and Kotex sanitary napkins. In this role he is responsible for advancing the company's purpose of delivering Better Care for a Better World in its largest international region with operations in more than 30 countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, and South Korea. He is a member of the company’s APAC Leadership Team as well as its Global Communications Leadership Team. Prior to Kimberly-Clark, Abhijit served in a number of regional communications leadership roles at Rio Tinto and Procter & Gamble, focused on securing and strengthening the license to operate, guiding the scope of their corporate citizenship mandate and impact initiatives, and building multi-stakeholder partnerships. Abhijit is a citizen of India and a long-term resident of Singapore. He is fluent in English, Hindi, and Bengali, and is currently focused on improving his proficiency in Mandarin.

Dr. Joseph Elaikwu Enegela is a Nigerian medical doctor with training and experience in public health, global health security, and capacity building. He is the chief executive officer of Africa Diseases Prevention and Research Development Initiative, a non-government organization supporting direct diseases intervention projects and providing professional capacity building/learning solutions and consultancy in the health space in Nigeria. He is also an executive director with Indrap Learning Limited, which provides vocational training for returning irregular migrants and internally displaced persons and educational solutions in the formal education system, including an online preparatory site for high school exams. An alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and University of Edinburgh, Joseph has had relevant training and clinical experience with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, and Institute of Public Health University Hospital Heidelberg. He has over 13 years of experience in the public health and learning space. He has led two USCDC-funded public health Intervention projects in Nigeria including a comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment project between 2017 to 2021 and a global health security project which supported the government of Nigeria's Port Health Services on border health and disease surveillance between 2018 and 2021.

Shari M. Erickson currently serves as chief advocacy officer and senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy with the American College of Physicians (ACP). In this role, Shari oversees the operations of the Washington, D.C., office and manages ACP’s overall advocacy and policy initiatives relating to Congress and federal regulatory agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and other federal bodies. Shari also oversees ACP’s Department of Medical Practice, which is responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of programs, products, tools, and services to assist medical practices with regulatory compliance and practice transformation. In addition, she currently serves as co-chair of the Primary Care Collaborative’s Public Policy and Advocacy Committee. Before coming to ACP, Shari was a senior program director with the National Quality Forum in Washington, D.C., where she was responsible for managing an array of projects that support its national strategy for health care quality measurement and reporting. She received her Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of public health and her B.A. and B.A.-international studies degrees from Miami University in Ohio.

Michael Harvey is a researcher, professor, and teacher. His research is focused on understanding biological diversity, how it evolved, and how best to preserve it. He uses birds as a study system and works primarily in the Borderland (U.S.-Mexico border region) and Neotropics (Central and South America). As the head of a lab at the University of Texas at El Paso, he leads a diverse team of scientists pursuing similar topics, and he also serves in leadership roles in scientific societies at the national and international level. His duties as a professor give him the opportunity to teach the next generation of students at the largest primarily Hispanic university in the U.S.

Patrick Klein has been working in the European Commission (Brussels) for more than 20 years and is currently head of the social economy/social enterprise team in the General Directorate “Internal Market.” In this role, he recently supervised several projects including the preparation of the European Social Economy Action Plan that aims to boost policies for the development of non-for-profit organizations. With his team, he is particularly active today in developing a transition pathway initiative to reinforce preparedness to a low-carbon economy and to help not-for-profits digitize their activities. Before working in that area, he served eight years as project officer to structure financial schemes to boost SME’s growth in different EU countries. He gained his first professional experience in the private sector as junior consultant for Arthur Andersen and Deloitte from 1997 to 2001. His responsibilities focused on advising and promoting SMEs’ investment in countries located in Maghreb, Asia, and Latin America. He graduated from the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium) with a master’s degree in European administrative studies and from the University of Law and Political Science of Strasbourg (France) with a master’s in international relations. He also has a B.A. in international business from the University of Metz (France).

Joe Lamport was trained as a journalist; served in the US Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa; and then earned a master’s in journalism at Columbia University. After working on housing law and eviction prevention for the City of New York for six years, he returned to West Africa as communications advisor to the USAID West Africa Trade Hub, which led him into international development communications. He has since worked on the Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub for USAID and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network as communications advisor. He is currently communications director for Alive & Thrive, a global initiative on maternal, infant, young child, and adolescent nutrition funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Micah Loudermilk is a senior associate with the management and information technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and a non-resident scholar with the Middle East Institute’s Cyber Program. At Booz Allen, Micah is a recognized thought leader and international cybersecurity business leader. His work focuses on the development and implementation of national-level cybersecurity programs, strategies, and transformation efforts. Micah is a subject-matter expert on the intersection between geopolitics, cybersecurity, and emerging technology. Prior to joining Booz Allen, he worked across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East for several geopolitical risk, security, and intelligence consultancies where he led analytical teams focused on political, security, and economic issues spanning the cybersecurity and technology domains. In these capacities, he advised multiple national government entities and leading Fortune 500 companies. Micah sits on the Board of Advisors at the University of Akron’s Center for Intelligence and Security Studies and also previously worked with the National War College, the Institute for National Strategic Studies at National Defense University, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He holds an M.A. in international relations and a B.A. in history, both from the University of Akron.

Simon Madjie is a lawyer and investment promotion and facilitation professional with over 10 years’ experience in initiating, leading, and strengthening investment partnerships between the United States, Ghana, and Africa. He has served as the executive secretary of the American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana (AmCham), since 2009, responsible for facilitating trade and investment between the Republic of Ghana and the U.S. He works closely with Chamber member companies, business coalitions, government officials, and business executives to advocate for U.S companies in the country. He is the coordinator of the Chamber’s AfCFTA Resource Center, an institution set up to bridge the information gap about Africa’s biggest trade agreement for international businesses.

Amb. Damien Miller is Australia's Permanent Observer to the Organization of American States and minister counsellor (strategic communications) at the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Between 2017 and 2020, he was the assistant secretary of the Soft Power, Partnerships, and Research Branch at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He is a member of the advisory board of A New Approach (an independent cultural policy think tank); a non-executive director of the Aurora Education Foundation (focused on Indigenous education); and a senior Atlantic Fellow at the Atlantic Institute (based at the Rhodes Trust, Oxford University). From 2013-17 he was Australia’s Ambassador to Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. He was the first indigenous Australian to be appointed head of an overseas mission. Damien also served overseas as Australia’s deputy ambassador to Germany (2010-2013) and the Australian High Commission in Malaysia (2000-2003). Damien holds a graduate diploma in foreign affairs and trade from Monash University and a bachelor’s of arts and bachelor of laws from the University of New South Wales. He is a descendant of the Gangalu people of central Queensland. He has a strong interest in diplomacy, soft power, and human rights.

Dr. Chantell Murphy (she/her) is a program manager for nonproliferation and arms control research and development at Y-12 National Security Complex, where she works on the ethics of emerging technologies, nuclear verification, and international nuclear safeguards. She is also working on sustainable diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility solutions for the DOE/NNSA complex. Chantell is a nonproliferation expert and has worked at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and as a visiting scientist at the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany. She recently founded an organization called Atomsphere, which aims to build a bridge between outdoor adventurers and the nuclear community by raising awareness about the impacts of all things nuclear on nature. Chantell loves rock climbing and skiing and has a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of New Mexico, an M.S. in health physics from Georgetown University, and a B.S. in physics from Florida State University.

Cornelius Nagbe currently serves as international humanitarian law expert on the Panel of Experts established pursuant to United Nations Security Council resolution 2140 (2014) on Yemen. Prior to his appointment on 17 May 2022 by the secretary-general to the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen, Cornelius worked as an International Consultant on children and armed conflict in the South Asia Regional Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), representing the agency on a team of consultants that led a joint scoping exercise (JSE) in Maldives under the Global Framework for United Nations Support on Syria/Iraq Third Country National Returnees. He also briefly provided research expertise to the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights as an expert on compliance with international humanitarian law in the Middle East and North Africa. From August 2019 to August 2020, Cornelius served at United Nations Headquarters in New York as human rights program management officer at the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). In field operations, he has served in democracy, rights, and governance assignments in conflict and post-conflict zones for more than two decades (1998-2021) in Liberia, Somalia, Kenya, Iraq, and South Sudan with the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM), the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the UN Development Program (UNDP), Save the Children UK, and in various other roles. Cornelius holds a master’s in international human rights law from the University of Oxford and master’s in international relations and a bachelor’s in mass communication from the University of Liberia.

Isabelle Nichols is the head of strategy and operations for the Investment Engine at Bridgewater Associates, a premier asset manager with $150B AUM serving institutional investors such as pension funds, endowments, and central banks. Her work focuses on the areas of talent, governance, organizational design, and transformational management initiatives at the heart of Bridgewater’s research and management capabilities. Over the decade she has worked at the firm, she served in a variety of strategic management roles across the firm. Early in her career, she was chief of staff to CEO, David McCormick. For several years, she worked on the Bridgewater’s founder transition, developing the Board and governing structures, launching Bridgewater’s Partnership, and change managing the executive leadership structure. Isabelle is a leader in Bridgewater’s Women’s Influence Network and sits on several non-profit boards, focused on advancing education, particularly for women. Prior to joining Bridgewater, she worked on the transformation of modern companies at Treacy & Co, and studied global governance through her work with the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Partnership for Peace Consortium for Defense & Security Studies. Isabelle is a graduate of Dartmouth College, with a BA in international relations and Latin language & literature. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, her two children, and her dog, MacGyver.

Chioma S. Nwachukwu is the senior manager for public policy engagement with Gavi, the vaccine alliance. There she has built strategic partnerships for routine immunization and leads on Gavi/COVAX’s engagements with the African Union, AVATT, and Africa CDC, among others. Chioma is an international development expert with over two decades of experience and a passion for global health. Her work focuses on public policy and advocacy that improves the state of primary healthcare and empowers women, adolescents, and children. In addition to delivering and/or overseeing advocacy projects/programs in 18 countries, Chioma has extensive experience in leading diplomatic engagements at the head of state and ministerial levels. Chioma has worked with multisectoral and multi-stakeholder teams to generate thought leadership and strategic insights particularly related to geopolitical, global health, and governance issues across a range of thematic areas including routine immunization, HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, primary healthcare, and reproductive health. Chioma holds an M.S. in health, population, and society from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in international affairs from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Naseem Qader currently serves on the Board of Directors for the World Affairs Council of America (WACA), headquartered in Washington, D.C., where she focuses on the national Council’s branding, governance, and public relations efforts to support a 92-Council network across the United States. Naseem partners with the diplomatic community, think tanks, Congress, military leaders, academia, and institutions from around the world to produce high-level programming about critical issues facing the globe. Prior to joining WACA, Naseem held a variety of roles in the corporate sector, primarily in the media and publishing industries including Knight-Ridder, Times Mirror Company, TV Guide International, and Valassis Communications, Inc. Her work centered on consumer advertising research, strategic planning, CRM, business development, and multicultural marketing. Naseem is currently researching how best to measure the impact of soft power and cultural diplomacy in international relations as well as how to use public diplomacy tools to enhance nation branding. Naseem holds an B.S. in behavioral science and an M.B.A. from California Polytechnic University in Pomona, California. Naseem lives with her husband and parents in Trabuco Canyon, California. She also enjoys hiking, international travel, and foreign-language films.

Michael Sheldrick is a co-founder and chief policy, impact, and government relations officer at Global Citizen. He was one of the four co-founders who spearheaded the first major Global Citizen advocacy campaign – The End of Polio – in 2011 which raised $118 million with the support of John Legend and then-Australian prime minister Julia Gillard. He currently leads Global Citizen’s campaigns to rally support from governments, businesses, and foundations to get the world on track to end extreme poverty. He is also a board member of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens. Michael's interests include history, politics, and traveling.

Mayra Souza is an international trade expert on policy and operations, working to reduce trade barriers and improve market access. With over 20 years of experience in world-class organizations, she has led projects on a global scale across chemical, automotive, and consulting companies. Presently, she leads trade compliance at International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), where she oversees the group strategy on trade advocacy and compliance programs, ensuring synergy across trade activities. Mayra actively participates in societal actions, championing efforts to achieve gender equality. She is an award-winning advocate. Mayra serves as a board member at the Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Network, OWIT Brussels, Brazilian Chamber of Commerce to Belgium and Luxembourg, and as stakeholder relations at TradeExperettes. She is a W50 leadership scholar at the London School of Economics. She holds an executive certificate in mastering trade policy from Harvard Kennedy School, an M.Sc. in international business from the University of Birmingham and a B.A. in international relations from Universidade Estácio de Sá.

Abigail Nazareth Aquino Valerio has been with the Philippine legislature since 2007 specializing in legislative process and strategic communications. She headed the Communications and Legislative Departments of the office of then-Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, where she contributed to the latter’s recognition as the most productive senator. After the latter’s term in 2019, Abi performed similar functions at the office of Magdalo Party-list Representative Manuel Cabochan, House of Representatives. The office represented sectoral groups such as retired uniformed personnel, urban poor, and youth. Abi graduated with a B.A. in political science from the University of the Philippines Manila, where her paper on corruption in the Philippine military was awarded the best thesis. In 2012, Abi finished her M.A. in Public Management, majoring in public policy and program administration at the University of the Philippines Open University. In 2015, Abi also finished a short course on strategic civil military operations officer online from the Armed Forces of the Philippines Civil-Military Operations School, Armed Forces of the Philippines. Abi also attended the executive program on communications for public policy delivery at the National University of Singapore – Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy in 2016. Currently, she is a consultant for communications at the office of Senator Francis Escudero, while serving as the communications director to former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Dr. David Okelue Ugwunta, a Nigerian, is a distinguished academic with research interest in economic growth and development, public and corporate finance, and fiscal policy, amongst others. Over the years he has co-authored over 30 rigorously researched articles published in peer reviewed journals. Currently, Dr. Ugwunta is the honorable commissioner for Budget & Planning with the Government of Enugu State in Nigeria. He is on leave of absence as a senior lecturer from the Department of Banking & Finance, Enugu State University of Science and Technology. His key responsibilities as Hon. Commissioner include: preparation of the state development and growth plan; fiscal planning of the state finance; annual budget preparation and planning; annual budget execution and control; budget monitoring, evaluation and reporting; fiscal policy and economic intelligence. He holds a Doctorate and Master of Science Degrees in banking and finance from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka as well as a Bachelor of Science Degree in banking and finance from the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. Dr. Ugwunta is a visionist, a strategist, a team player, who has the ability to coordinate and multitask. He is interested in political processes, deepening democratic principles with their attendant consequences to good governance and democratic dividends.
A participant in the fall 2022 AILA International Fellowship, Nomma Zarubina, was arrested by federal law enforcement officials in November 2024 for allegedly making false statements to the FBI regarding her ties to Russian intelligence services. In light of these allegations, CSIS cannot verify Ms. Zarubina’s professional background and her bio has been removed from this site.