Anita Raj, PhD, MS

Anita Raj is the Executive Director of the Newcomb Institute, holds the Nancy Reeves Dreux Endowed Chair, and is a Professor in the Celia Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University. A developmental psychologist and public health researcher, she is internationally recognized for her interdisciplinary work on gender equity in global health and development. She has led numerous federally and foundation-funded studies on gender theory and measurement, sexual and reproductive health, maternal and adolescent health, women’s empowerment, and gender inequalities, including gender-based violence and child marriage. She has authored approximately 375 peer-reviewed publications and is among the most cited social scientists globally.

She founded and directs EMERGE, an open-access platform providing evidence-based measures of gender equality and empowerment, and developed indicators used in national surveys for global tracking of Sustainable Development Goal 5. She also leads the Violence EXperiences (VEX) Study, which collects state-level data in California and Louisiana on violence, discrimination, and mental health to inform policy and prevention efforts. 

Dr. Raj has served as an advisor to UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Blue Shield of California Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation on issues of gender equity, women’s health, and empowerment. She has been an invited speaker at the United Nations General Assembly on child, early, and forced marriage, serves on the International Advisory Board of The Lancet Global Health. She was previously a Steering Committee Member of The Lancet Commission on Gender and Social Norms, previously co-chaired the Committee on Gender Empowerment, Sociodemographic Development, and Population Dynamics for the National Academy of Sciences, and was on the leadership team for an NIH supported special issue on “Gender, power, and health: Modifiable factors and opportunities for intervention,” published in the journal Social Science and Medicine. 

Based on her unique and impactful contributions to understanding and addressing gender inequities in health and development using rigorous social science and other advanced methodologies, she was recently elected to be a member of the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and science, recognizing individuals who have made outstanding contributions to medical and public health research, policy, and leadership.