Meet the IIHA Team

Leadership

  • Brendan Cahill, Executive Director

    Brendan Cahill is the Executive Director of the Institute of International
    Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) at Fordham University and leads its outreach, academic
    programs, research, and publications.
    For over twenty-three years he has created, directed and taught in humanitarian
    programs throughout the world, including South Africa, Jordan, Kenya, India, Egypt,
    Myanmar, Kuala Lumpur, South Korea, Nepal, Sudan, Colombia, Nicaragua,
    Ecuador, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, England and the United States. He
    established one of the first Masters programs in Humanitarian Action in the world,
    and, to date, has trained nearly 4,000 aid professionals from over 140 countries. 
    He designed and implemented a full undergraduate Humanitarian Studies program at
    Fordham University. He created a new Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies
    program in New York, an online Master of Arts in International Humanitarian Action
    and an undergraduate Minor in Community and Global Public Health.  
    The Institute, which he helped create, acts as a bridge between the University and
    humanitarian practice, and hosts lectures and symposia on a regular basis. Due to the
    work of the Institute, Fordham University is the US partner for NOHA, a consortium
    of 12 European universities offering humanitarian education. Mr. Cahill has also
    served on the editorial board of their academic journal.
    Mr. Cahill is the Publisher of The Refuge Press, an imprint of Fordham University
    Press. He is currently co-authoring a textbook in Humanitarian Studies, to be
    published by University of Toronto Press. He is the Executive Producer of
    Humanitarian Fault Lines, the Institute’s first podcast. His research includes the
    intersection of Design and the Humanitarian Sector, and Food Insecurity and
    Conflict.
    He received his BA from Colby College and his IDHA and MBA from Fordham
    University.
    Besides his work for the IIHA, he is the President of the CIHC, an independent
    humanitarian NGO. He is a Trustee of The Helen Hamlyn Trust in London, a
    Director of the KMC Foundation in New York, a member of the Advisory Board of
    The Humanitarian Centre of University College Dublin. He is the President of the
    Point Lookout Historical Society and the Secretary of the Point Lookout Civic
    Association.

    He is married with four children and lives in Point Lookout, New York.

    phone: 718-817-5694
    letter in open envelope: [email protected]

  • Larry Hollingworth, Humanitarian Programs Director

    Larry Hollingworth is a Visiting Professor of Humanitarian Studies at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) at Fordham University in New York. Over the past decade, Mr. Hollingworth served as Humanitarian Coordinator on CIHC-supported missions for the United Nations in Iraq, Lebanon, East Timor, Palestine, and Pakistan. After serving as a British Army officer for thirty years, Mr. Hollingworth joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and held assignments in Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. He was appointed UNHCR Chief of Operations in Sarajevo during the siege of the city in the Balkan conflict. Mr. Hollingworth has also worked with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). He was awarded Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002 and honored by the U.S Department of State on the 60th Anniversary of the 1951 Convention Related to the Status of Refugees in 2011. Mr. Hollingworth is a frequent lecturer on relief and refugee topics in universities and is a commentator on humanitarian issues for the BBC. In his current role as Humanitarian Programs Director, which he has held for over 15 years, Mr. Hollingworth directs humanitarian training courses for participants from or intending to enter the humanitarian aid world. He has directed 48 one-month courses and more than 50 one-week courses, of which there are over 2,300 alumni.

    Register for Mental Health in Complex Emergencies here

Administration

  • Lucianny Thumbnail

    Lucianny De Leon is a recent graduate from Fordham University, holding a degree in Business Administration with a deep-seated passion for social innovation. During her academic tenure, Lucianny actively engaged in initiatives aimed at community development and sustainability. She has left her mark on global communities through her participation in Fordham's Global Outreach projects, which included empowering youth in St. Thomas and promoting sustainable agricultural practices in Mexico. She has honed her skills in the commercial banking sector with over two years at Chase Bank, where she excelled in customer service and financial management. Additionally, her role as a Business Development Intern at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP provided her with a solid foundation in legal business operations and strategic planning. At the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, Lucianny, leverages her business acumen and passion for humanitarian work to coordinate programs that drive change and foster a more equitable world. 

    phoneletter in open envelope: [email protected]
    letter in open envelopephone: (718) 817-5732 Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri 10am-4pm

  •  

    Summer Lily Egan is the Communications Officer at the Institute of International Humanitarian
    Affairs (IIHA), where she works directly for the IIHA Executive Director, developing and implementing the communications and marketing strategy to fulfill the Institute's overall mission and vision. Summer Lily joins us from Connecticut; however, she brings us four years of international experience in humanitarian work. After graduating with a BA in Communication, Summer Lily accepted a position as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Oregon, where she coordinated after-school education programs. Summer Lily then served as an English Teacher in Catalonia. Following this experience, Summer Lily joined the Peace Corps in Cambodia, where she trained teachers in the most up-to-date English instruction practices and taught English classes to 1st -6th grade. Upon her return from Cambodia, Summer Lily entered the hospitality field as the Sales and Marketing Manager at a historic inn and wedding venue while undergoing a master's program in Strategic Communication at American University. Throughout the years, Summer Lily served on the Connecticut Commission on Community Service to contribute her perspective as a returned volunteer and knowledge in communications.

    As a new addition to the IIHA team, Summer Lily has enjoyed connecting with the Fordham and IIHA student and alumni communities. She looks forward to spreading awareness of IIHA’s programs, such as the International Diploma of Humanitarian Assistance, the Humanitarian Fault Lines Podcast, and IIHA’s events and internship program. Summer Lily encourages those interested in humanitarian affairs to follow her and @iiha_fordham or visit her at Canisius Hall on the Rose Hill campus! As Brendan Cahill, IIHA’s Executive Director, puts it best, “We are only as strong as the network we create.”

    The Institute acts as a bridge between the University and humanitarian practice, hosts lectures and symposia on a regular basis, and is the US partner for NOHA, a consortium of 12 European universities offering humanitarian education. The IIHA at 2546 Belmont Ave, Bronx, New York also provides space for undergrad and graduate students to bond during meetings and gallery showings. In addition to our courses, the IIHA publishes on a wide range of humanitarian topics, such as A Skein of Thought. Summer Lily recently moved to NYC with her boyfriend and enjoys exploring the local sites, especially while jogging. Additionally, Summer Lily regularly practices her fluency in Khmer, the Cambodian language, and Spanish. She typically goes by "Lily."

    phone: Office: (718) 817-5734 I Media Inquiries: 917-780-6347
    letter in open envelope: [email protected]

     

     

Fellows

  • Alberto Preato, Humanitarian Design

    Alberto Preato is a program manager at the UN Migration Agency (IOM) in Niger and a Visiting Humanitarian Research Scholar at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs. He received a Master Degree in Sustainable Emergency Architecture at the Universidad Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona and holds a Master in Sustainable Architecture at the Università Iuav di Venezia (Venice, Italy). Alberto Preato has been on the frontline of some of the most challenging humanitarian responses to natural disaster and complex crisis and has been deployed as shelter and settlement experts in Mozambique, Colombia, Haiti, Honduras, Vanuatu, Fiji and Niger. At the IIHA Alberto will work with partners from all over the world to find innovative design solution to better respond to the needs and uphold the rights of displaced populations in emergencies and protracted crisis.

  • Mr. Jamie McGoldrick, interim U.N. Aid Coordinator for Palestinian Territories and former Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations Resident Coordinator, and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, joins the IIHA as the first Distinguished Fellow. Mr. McGoldrick brings extensive experience in humanitarian affairs, international cooperation, economic development, and political affairs. Since 2015, he has served as United Nations Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Yemen. He assumed that position after serving as the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, the UNDP Resident Representative in Nepal since 2013, and the Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of UNDP in Georgia from 2009 to 2013. He was previously a senior manager with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, notably as the Chief of the Humanitarian Reform Support Unit (2006-2009), and Section Chief of the Middle East, North Africa and Great Lakes Unit (2005-2006). He has also held positions with the International Red Cross movement and non-governmental organizations in a number of countries in Africa and as news producer and researcher with several television production companies in the United Kingdom and Europe. Mr. McGoldrick holds a master’s degree in political science and a bachelor’s degree in social sciences, and he has additional qualifications in disaster management, preventive diplomacy and mediation.

     

  • Anthony Land, Senior Fellow

    Anthony (Tony) Land, PhD graduated from Brunel University in 1971 with the degree of Bachelor of Technology with Honours in Polymer Science and Technology and was awarded the degree of Master of Technology, also from Brunel University, in 1972 for research into high temperature resistant polymeric materials. Between 1972 and 1985, he worked with various NGOs in South Asia. From 1979 to 1985 he was employed by Tearfund and seconded to HEED in Bangladesh and to ACROSS in Southern Sudan, as Field Director. In 1985, Dr. Land joined UNHCR and worked with them in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malawi, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Russian Federation, Geneva and Brussels, in operational field roles and in donor relations, until his retirement in 2006. Since leaving UNHCR, Dr. Land has undertaken various consultancies and taught on courses in humanitarian subjects at Fordham University (New York) as well as Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Manchester University, University of Copenhagen and the University of Medical Science and Technology in Khartoum. In 2014, he was admitted into the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at University of Liverpool. His thesis is titled “Towards enhancing responsibility and accountability in humanitarian action: Understanding the subjective factors that influence evaluation of humanitarian actions and the implementation of the recommendations made.” Having served as the Senior Tutor for the Center for International Humanitarian Cooperation (CIHC) from 2008 to 2014, Dr. Land now holds a Senior Fellowship and is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) at Fordham University in New York.

    letter in open envelope: [email protected]

    Register for the next in-person IDHA here

  • Willem van de Put, IIHA Fellow

    Willem van de Put is a cultural/medical anthropologist and philosopher by training. He worked in international public health since 1989, first with Médecines sans Frontières Holland, where he introduced medical anthropology and mental health programming, later as the founder of TPO Cambodia (1993-1998) and general director of HealthNet TPO (1998-2016). Together with Lynne Jones and the unfailing support of the IIHA at Fordham University, Willem started the course Mental Health in Complex Emergencies in 2004.

    Currently Willem works as a research fellow with the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, and is affiliated as research fellow with Fordham University, with a focus on emergency programming and health systems development in fragile states. Willem has also co-founded ‘C4C’, a foundation working on ‘Culture for Change’, applying experience in action research in concrete programmes where cultural traits and beliefs are transformed from perceived barriers for effective healing to drivers of sustainable change.

    Publications

    Van de Put, W. A. C. M. and Eisenbruch, M. (2002). The Cambodian experience. Trauma, war, and violence: Public mental health in socio-cultural context. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers; US.

    Eisenbruch, M., de Jong, J. T., and van de Put, W. (2004). Bringing order out of chaos: A culturally competent approach to managing the problems of refugees and victims of organized violence. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17(2), 123-131.

    Van de Put, W. and Eisenbruch, M. (2004): Internally displaced Cambodians: Healing Trauma in Communities. In: The Mental Health of Refugees: Ecological approaches to healing and adaptation. Edited by Kenneth Miller and Lisa Rasco, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey/London

    Van de Put, W., and van der Veer, G. (2005): Counseling in Cambodia: cultural competence and contextual costs. Intervention, July 2005. Volume 3, Nr 2. p 87-96. Psychiatry, 62 supplement 2, 64-72

    Ventevogel, P., van de Put, W., Faiz, H., van Mierlo, B., Siddiqi, M., & Komproe, I. H. (2012). Improving access to mental health care and psychosocial support within a fragile context: a case study from Afghanistan. PLoS Med, 9(5), e1001225.

    Register for Mental Health in Complex Emergencies here

  • Martine van der Does is a Dutch national and humanitarian expert with over 15 years of international experience. With a background in architecture she started her career working on humanitarian shelter at Delft University of Technology but soon moved to the field with Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) as a Construction Logistician. In 2010 Martine joined the Netherlands Foreign service where she worked in the Africa Department, Stabilisation and Humanitarian Aid Department and served as a Diplomat in Afghanistan and Jordan. In 2018 joined the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Myanmar where she worked in remote areas on protection and water and habitat issues. Until recently Martine was the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Netherlands Government in Amman, Jordan. 

    Martine is academically involved as a lecturer at Delft University in the Netherlands and Fordham University in New York. In the past years she also ran the prestigious International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA) as a Course Director in Geneva. Martine holds a Master of Science Degree in Architecture from Delft University of Technology and a Masters of Arts Degree in International Humanitarian Action from Fordham University. In her time off she is an active cyclist and runner and enjoys ultraraces.

  • RUTH MUKWANA is a Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow of the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs.

    (IIHA) at Fordham University. Most recently, she was an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and Fiction Co-Editor for Solstice magazine.

    For over twenty years, she worked with the United Nations including senior positions, Chief of Section, Asia & Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Chief of Duty of Care, Wellbeing and Capacity Development in the Executive Office in New York, and Deputy Head of Office for Sudan. She has worked with UNHCR, UNSCO and UNMISS in Sri Lanka, South Sudan, oPt, Tanzania and Switzerland. Her experience includes training, protection, internal displacement, voluntary repatriation, advocacy, access, and refugee status determination.

    Ruth is also a fiction writer and a 2020 Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil NYC Emerging Fellow. Her work has appeared in several magazines including Bomb, Solstice, Consequence and the Black Warriors Review and she is currently working on a novel.  She is the Creator and Host of the Stories and Humanitarian Action Podcast

    Ruth is a Ugandan national with a Law degree from Makerere University, a Masters in international and comparative Law from the Free University of Brussels and a Masters in Fine Arts from Bennington College.

    She lives in New York with her daughter.

    phone: (718) 817 5303
    letter in open envelope[email protected]

    Office Hours: Mon, Tues, Wed 10am-4pm l Virtual Office Hours Thurs, Fri 10am-4pm

    If you prefer to make an appointment please email Ruth [email protected] 

  • Sir Charles Petrie Bt, OBE has had close to 30 years’ experience working in contexts of

    conflict and famine, some of it with Médecins Sans Frontières (Mali and areas under the
    control of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) and much of it with the UN system
    (Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda (during the 1994 Genocide), the Middle East, Democratic
    Republic of the Congo, and Afghanistan). From mid 2003 to end 2007 he was the UN
    Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative for Myanmar.
    After being asked to leave Myanmar for supporting the monks of the Saffron Revolution,
    he became the UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for Somalia.
    A position he held until early 2010. Charles Petrie resigned from the UN at the end of
    2010 at the level of Assistant Secretary General as the Executive Representative of the
    Secretary General for Burundi.


    After leaving the UN, Charles Petrie was, from March 2011 to September 2012, the
    special policy advisor to the President of Somalia based in Villa Somalia Mogadishu.
    From February 2012 to March 2015, upon the Myanmar government’s invitation, Charles
    Petrie coordinated the Norwegian Government sponsored Myanmar Peace Support
    Initiative. A mechanism set up to facilitate the discussions between the Government and
    the Ethnic Armed Groups. In March 2012, Charles Petrie was designated by the UN
    Secretary General to lead an internal review of the UN’s actions in Sri Lanka during the
    last phase of the conflict. The report was submitted to the Secretary General in early
    November of that year and served as the basis for the elaboration of the Secretary
    General’s ‘Rights up Front’ policy – a policy that places protection at the forefront of all
    UN action.


    In the first half of 2015, Charles Petrie was designated as one of seven experts
    commissioned by the UN Secretary General to review the UN's peace building efforts.
    The report they produced contributed to the formulation of the joint UN General
    Assembly (262) and UN Security Council Resolutions (2282) on ‘Sustaining Peace’. In
    the latter part of 2016, he was invited to lead an assessment of the UN’s integrated
    strategy for the Sahel. The recommendations of the report, submitted to the UN Security
    Council in January 2017, formed the basis of the Presidential Statement on the Sahel.
    Finally, as concerns the United Nations, Charles Petrie is providing mentoring support to
    a number of newly appointed UN Resident Coordinators.
    In addition to work he continues to undertake for the UN, Charles Petrie has also been
    invited to provide policy guidance to various governments. From 2018-2019, he was advisor

    to the Syrian opposition. Funded by the German Government, he was tasked with helping
    the opposition redefine its legitimacy following the losses in areas of control within Syria.
    Since February 2021, Charles Petrie has been providing support to Myanmar civil society’s
    opposition to the military. In this capacity he has been able to get a better sense of the limits
    of traditional humanitarian aid in reaching those most affected. Coming out of these
    observations has been the belief that a new model of international engagement needs to be
    found and developed that is able to support the emergence of local governance structures
    ( https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-a-new-aid-model-can-better-assist-communities-
    in-pariah-states-105617 ). In January-February 2024, Charles Petrie crossed in Myanmar
    to get a better understanding of the governance structures in areas no longer under the
    control of the Myanmar military (https://www.noemamag.com/a-journey-into-rebel-held-
    myanmar/).


    In August 2021, Charles Petrie published a book entitled The Triumph of Evil, which relates
    the story of an attempt to get a former UN official to account for his alleged involvement in
    the murder of thirty-two people, including UN colleagues. He is currently working on a
    second book with the working title of Lyrics for Unsung Heroes. The book will honour
    ordinary individuals whom he met over the years – individuals who have demonstrated
    incredible courage and nobility.
    Charles Petrie was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014
    New Year’s Honours list for services to international peace, security and human rights.
    Upon his request, he received the award in Mogadishu. Following the death of his father
    in October 2021, he became the sixth Baronet of Carrowcarden. Charles regularly serves as an IDHA Course Mentor. 

Adjunct Faculty

  • Bernard Wiseman is a former Head of Mission with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders and has been working in international humanitarian response for 10 years. Bernard began his international career working with the United States Peace Corps, where he served in Senegal, West Africa as an environmental education extension agent in small rural communities. Bernard has worked with MSF since 2015 as a logistics manager, Coordinator, and most recently Head of Mission. He has served communities in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Bernard most recently returned from Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2022 where his MSF teams worked with thousands of displaced populations across the country.

    Courses: HUST

  • Christopher Harland is the ICRC’s Deputy Permanent Observer and Head of Humanitarian Affairs at the ICRC’s Delegation to the United Nations in New York. He held ICRC legal positions in the Regional Delegation for the United States and Canada, based in Washington, D.C. (2014-2018), in Kuala Lumpur for Southeast Asia (2012-2014), New Delhi for South Asia (2007-2012) and the Legal Division of the ICRC at its Headquarters in Geneva from 2004 to 2007.

    A Canadian lawyer, Chris previously held positions with the United Nations in the Cyprus Referendum (2004), was a member of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2002-2004), at the Human Rights and Rule of Law Department of OHR in Bosnia, and worked with the UN in Africa from 1996 to 1998. He has also worked in the Office of the Legal Counsel at UN Headquarters as an intern (1995) and clerked with a judge of the Federal Court of Canada (1993-1994).

     

    Courses: HUST

  • Pierrette Quintiliani has been working in the field of humanitarian affairs since 1989.
    Throughout her career, she has collaborated with various organizations, including the
    Swiss government, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Save the Children,
    the World Bank, and Oxfam America. Her advocacy and relief work have taken her to live
    and work in different parts of the world, such as the Great Lakes region and Sub--
    Saharan Africa, as well as in the Caucasus and South-East Asia.

    Ms. Quintiliani holds a master's degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University and
    a Ph.D. in Sociology from Bradford University (UK). As a scholar, her research interests
    revolve around studying relationships and partnerships between humanitarian
    organizations, traditional and non-governmental organizations, and local governmental
    organizations. For the past fifteen years, she has been teaching about conflicts and
    humanitarian assistance at Brandeis University. She is also an advisor to students in
    the Coexistence and Conflict department of the Heller School for Management and
    Social Policy. Ms. Quintiliani has been teaching at the Institute of International
    Humanitarian Affairs since 2019.

    Register for Humanitarian Resource Management and Administration here  under Humanitarian Training Course

  • Jim Stillwagon retired from the practice of law in December 2023 after 50 years serving migrants, asylees, refugees and children as Counsel to the firms of White & Case LLP and Alvarez & Diaz-Silveira LLP. His public service work on behalf of asylees and unaccompanied immigrant children has been recognized by the Legal Aid Society of New York, the Chief US Immigration Judge, the Volunteers of Legal Service and Sanctuary for Families.

    He is a frequent lecturer on Migration and Asylum; and has spoken before the ABA Litigation Section, the American Society for International Law and the American Immigration Law Association. He is a graduate of Villanova University (BA 1967) and St. John’s University (JD 1974}. He has been teaching in Fordham’s Humanitarian Studies Department since 2021, and has served as a lecturer at IDHA Programs for over 20 years.

     

    Courses: HUST

  • Joshua Weber comes to Fordham University with more than 15 years’ experience implementing humanitarian response, risk reduction, and reconstruction programs in post-disaster and conflict environments. During this time, he worked integrally with governments, NGO’s, and community level stakeholders to respond, rebuild and increase resiliency to humanitarian crises. Joshua has extensive field level response experience as a shelter and emergency response expert in the US, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Nepal, Philippines, Ukraine, and Lebanon. As well as, regional level experience in Asia and the Pacific. At the IIHA, he is leading courses in humanitarian information management, monitoring & evaluation, and disaster risk reduction. Currently, Joshua supports refugee resettlement efforts in the US.

  • James Shepherd-Barron is a practicing disaster management consultant with over thirty years’ experience advising INGOs, UN agencies, thinktanks, and governments on humanitarian coordination and disaster risk management policy and practice. A former UN official and Director of Emergencies for Care International, he was lead consultant on current IASC reference modules for Cluster and Inter-Cluster coordination. He also moderates Disasterwise.org – an online platform which explores the myths, maths and management of disaster – and presents a financial literacy podcast on behalf of CashEssentials.org.

    Register for International Disaster Management here

  • Piwi has worked for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement for over 30 years.

    His assignments focused on humanitarian and development programming and coordination in various operational and managerial positions.

    He worked in 16 country offices in Asia and Africa, the regional offices in East and Central Africa, Asia Pacific and at the IFRC Secretariat in Geneva. Since May 2020, Piwi serves as IFRC Head of the Pakistan Country Delegation based in Islamabad.

    Piwi is a faculty member of the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) in New York. Himself an alumnus of the IDHA 24, is currently serving as Chairperson of the Alumni Council of the Centre for International Humanitarian Cooperation.  He holds a Master of Arts in International Humanitarian Action through the IIHA/Fordham University in New York.

     

  • Melissa Labonte, Associate Professor of Political Science, is an award-winning researcher and teacher, specializing in humanitarian access and civilian protection, peacebuilding, multilateral peace operations, conflict resolution, human rights, and West African politics. Her current research focuses on conflict-driven hunger and famine, and impediments to UN Security Council action and accountability when food is used as a weapon of war against civilian populations. She has published three books on human rights, humanitarian intervention, and the Responsibility to Protect, and her research has appeared in leading international relations and area studies journals, including African Affairs, Global Governance, Third World Quarterly, International Studies Perspectives, and International Journal of Human Rights. Professor Labonte is a faculty affiliate with Fordham’s Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, and Advisory Board Member of Columbia University Press’ International Affairs Online (CIAO). She has taught in a number of IDHA courses, including in New York, Rome, and Nairobi.

    A former sub-Saharan Africa Advisor to Freedom House and steering committee member for She4SG, she has also held numerous elected and appointed leadership positions within the International Studies Association and the Academic Council on the United Nations System. Between 2016—2020 she served as Interim Dean and Associate Dean in Fordham's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, leading initiatives resulting in significant growth in enrollment, the development of innovative new graduate programs, and the near doubling of development resources and support for graduate students. Professor Labonte is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Steering Committee overseeing the University’s Middle States accreditation and self-study process.

    [email protected]

  • Mark is an emergency physician and clinical toxicologist, with post graduate qualifications in Public Health, and Tropical Medicine. He is the editor textbooks in emergency medicine and in toxicology and has published extensively. He has research interests in disaster management, and venomous creatures, especially venomous jellyfish found in Australia.

    Mark completed the IDHA in 2009 and has been both tutoring then directing IDHA courses since.

    In Australia Mark is one of the senior leaders of the Australian Medical Assistance Teams (AUSMAT), a WHO verified EMT. Over a number of years, he has responded many sudden onset disasters, and during the COVID pandemic he spent months in Papua New Guinea working with national leaders supporting the country.

    To learn more about the IDHA please visit fordham.edu/idha

    Current book recommendation: Exiles by Jane Harper

  • Angie is an emergency nurse practitioner and midwife. She has also trained and worked as a lawyer. Angie has two Masters qualifications, in Nursing; and Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Angie grew up in Northern Ireland during the troubles and migrated to Australia as a teenager.

    She completed her IDHA in 2009 and since then has been involved in the teaching of numerous IDHA courses.

    In Australia she is one of the senior leaders of the Australian Medical Assistance

    Teams (AUSMAT), a WHO verified EMT. Over a number of years she has responded to many sudden onset disasters, and during the COVID pandemic she spent months in Papua New Guinea working with health leaders supporting that country.

    To learn more about the IDHA please visit fordham.edu/idha

    Current book recommendation: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

  •  

    Anne is a proven, passionate advocate with and on behalf of civilians in conflict zones globally and with individuals in mental health or substance use recovery in the US. Starting in 1995, she worked for more than a decade in the Great Lakes region of Africa with non-governmental organizations and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

    She has contributed to analysis and advocacy on the impacts of conflict on civilians and vulnerable individuals, including UNICEF’s 10-year review of The Impact of War on Children Graça Machel Report. She testified before US Senate and House committees on the humanitarian crisis in the DR Congo, including the use of child soldiers, and on sexual violence as a war crime, and has worked in and written about Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad, Haiti, Kenya, Burundi, and the former Yugoslavia.

    Anne worked for numerous non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam UK, ChildFund International, Refugees International, the International Rescue Committee and Mental Health America of Virginia. She has created and taught courses on humanitarian issues at Fordham University’s Institute for International Humanitarian Affairs, the College of William and Mary and the University of Richmond. She received a BA in international relations from the College of William and Mary and an MSc in international policy from the University of Bristol in the UK. She currently lives in the DC area.

  •  

    Dr. Lynne Jones OBE FRCPsych is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, writer, relief worker and an honorary associate professor at the London school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has been engaged in assessing mental health needs and establishing and running mental health services in disaster, conflict, and post-conflict settings around the world since 1990. Most recently she has been developing interventions to improve maternal and child mental and physical wellbeing in adverse environments, including Peru, Ethiopia Venezuela, Guatemala and Bosnia. Until August 2011, she was the senior technical advisor in mental health for International Medical Corps. She is a co-founder and course director for the program on Mental Health in Complex Emergencies at the International Institute for Humanitarian Affairs, Fordham University, and consults to the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNHCR. Her most recent book  is Sorry For The Inconvenience But This Is An Emergency: The Nonviolent Struggle For Our Planet’s Future  Her other books  include The Migrant Diaries, (Refuge Press in 2021) about her work with migrants in Europe and Central America, Outside the Asylum: A Memoir of War, Disaster and Humanitarian Psychiatry (Wiedenfeld and Nicolson 2018), which explores her experience as a practicing psychiatrist in war and disaster zones. Then They Started Shooting: Children of the Bosnian War and the Adults They Become (Bellevue Literary Press, 2013) is a long-term exploration of the impact of war on children. She has a PhD in social psychology and political science. In 2001, she was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for her mental health work in conflict-affected areas of Central Europe.

  • Gonzalo Sánchez-Terán has worked for the Jesuit Refugee Service from 2001 to 2015 as Country Director in Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire and the Central African Republic, and as Program Officer in Eastern Chad and the Somali-Ethiopian border. During this time he has organized, managed and implemented emergency projects in refugee and IDP camps with a special focus in education.

    He has also done consultancy work on humanitarian assistance, development and advocacy for International NGOs in Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Chad, Uganda, Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    Since 2014 he is the Deputy Humanitarian Training Director at Fordham University (New York) where he also teaches at the International Diploma on Humanitarian Assistance. He is also the Director of the Education in Emergencies Course and the Strategic Issues in Humanitarian Assistance Course for the MIHA (Master on International Humanitarian Assistance).

    Gonzalo is also a regular lecturer for the Humanitarian Cooperation Master at Comillas University (Madrid), NOHA Master in International Humanitarian Action at Deusto University (Bilbao), and the Master of International Cooperation in Sustainable Emergency Architecture at the UIC (Barcelona).

    In the last years he has conducted training Courses for local NGOs in Sudan, Jordan, South Korea, Kenya, Myanmar, Malaysia, India, the United Arab Emirates and Nicaragua. From 2010 to 2011 he was the director of Intermon-Oxfam’s book collection.