MENLO PARK, Calif. – Helena Choi, an expert in health policy issues in the developing world, will join the Population Program of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as a program officer, Foundation officials announced today.
For the past five years, Choi served as a project program officer with Public Health Watch, a project of the Open Society Institute in New York City. In that role, she made grants to non-governmental organizations that monitor and advocate for policies in the developing world that would encourage governments to meet their commitments to international health goals.
“Helena’s background working to reduce obstacles to family health is an ideal fit with the goals of Hewlett’s Population Program,” said Sara Seims, director of the Foundation’s Population Program. “We’re delighted she’s joining us.”
In her work at the Hewlett Foundation, Choi will focus mainly on grantmaking for research that explores the relationships among population dynamics, reproductive health, and economic growth, and that helps sub-Saharan Africans overcome problems of access to timely, accurate information on population science and related data.
Choi earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and English from Wellesley College and a master’s degree in public affairs in international development from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
After completing her studies, she worked as a financial analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston for several years before entering the nonprofit world. In 2003, while at Princeton, Choi worked as an intern in the Office of Public Partnerships at the United Nations Children’s Fund. There she researched the impact of participation in sports and other physical activity on early childhood development.
“I’m very pleased to join the Population team,” Choi said. “Making a difference in reproductive health, development, and women’s rights has always been my central interest, and I can’t think of a better place to make that difference than at the Hewlett Foundation.”
About The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1967 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, the environment, global development, performing arts, philanthropy, and population, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Contact:
Jack Fischer
Hewlett Foundation Communications Officer
(650) 234-4500 x5744
jfischer@hewlett.org