Karen Schmidt, MPH, MS
Deputy Director
Karen Schmidt is the deputy director of the Access Project and Millennium Villages Rwanda, both initiatives of the Center for Global Health and Economic Development at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
Karen directs the New York operations for the Access Project, which provides management technical assistance to improve health systems in Africa. Managing budgets and operations for more than $3 million in annual grant funding, Karen ensures smooth operation of the field office in Rwanda, monitors project progress, and revises operational and programmatic plans to ensure continued progress toward objectives. Karen also provides operational and strategic oversight for the management team.
Background
In 2003-2004, Karen was based in Kigali, Rwanda, as the project manager for the Macroeconomics and Health Project and a team member for the Access Project.
Prior to that, Karen spent more than two years in Kenya as a Michigan Population Fellow with Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). With PATH, she worked primarily on the USAID-funded IMPACT project, using behavior change communication for the prevention of HIV and STD’s. Focused on adolescent reproductive health, Karen developed a life skills education comic book for girls and young women (partnering with the Kenya Girl Guides Association), and helped develop a program to increase adolescents' access to reproductive health services through private pharmacies. She also managed the development of a behavior change communication strategy and program to improve TB treatment seeking and adherence. Before going to Kenya, Karen worked as the Community Director for Yale University's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. Karen also worked as an independent public health consultant for PATH, Family Care International, and Family Health International. Projects included documentation of HIV and AIDS programs in Ethiopia and the Philippines, and research on long-term and permanent contraception in Malawi.
Karen earned her M.P.H. at Yale University, where she conducted her master's thesis research on infant feeding decisions in settings with high HIV prevalence. She also holds an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, and worked as a newspaper and radio journalist for more than 10 years. She received a B.A. in French from the University of Virginia.
Publications and Presentations
Thairu, A and Schmidt, K. “Training and Authorizing Mid-Level Providers in Life-Saving Skills in Kenya.” In Shaping Policy for Maternal and Newborn Health: A Compendium of Case Studies. JHPIEGO (2003).
Global Health Council 2002 conference: “An integrated arts approach to youth behavior change” and “Using simulation games for communication strategies in crisis response”
Global Health Council 2001 conference: “Infant feeding decisions in high HIV prevalence settings.”
“Moving Beyond Fear,” Yale Medicine, Winter 2002
Gopinath CY; Kiranga M; Obyerodhambo O; Schmidt K . Discussion Guides for Peer Educators. Corporate authors: Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, Family Health International. (2002).
Community Input on HIV/AIDS Research Priorities and Collaboration: A Report on the CIRA Community Advisory Committee Focus Group Initiative. Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, Yale University. (1999).
“ThinkT@nk,” weekly chat and column, Hartford Courant, 1997.
