Dr Jennifer Yourkavitch

Dr. Yourkavitch is the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning for USAID Advancing Nutrition. She is a perinatal and pediatric epidemiologist and board-certified lactation consultant whose research and applied work addresses social and structural determinants of health, particularly in relation to lactation and breastfeeding practices, maternal and child health and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases, gender, equity, health systems and service delivery around the world. For more than 20 years she has designed, implemented, monitored and evaluated public health programs.

Jennifer has authored many articles and technical publications on global health, including health and nutrition equity in low- and middle-income countries, and several quantitative and qualitative studies on reproductive health, including women’s experiences with lactation and social and environmental influences on breastfeeding. She is a Research Scientist in the Department of Public Health Education at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and also holds an adjunct position in the Maternal and Child Health Department in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Jennifer also serves as an Academic Editor for child health at PLoS One.