Africa Initiative

People

People

Director

  • Wilmot James

    Wilmot James

    Director of the Africa Initiative, Professor of Practice and Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center at the School of Public Health
    wilmot_james@brown.edu

    Wilmot James joined Brown University in March 2023 as Professor and Senior Advisor for Pandemics and Global Health Security at the School of Public Health, and as of 1 July 2026 is Director of the Africa Initiative based at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs. Prior to his Brown appointment, he was a Senior Research Scholar at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) in the College of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University. James is a thought leader in global health security and diplomacy. He serves on a variety of advisory boards and committees including the Wellcome Trust's Climate-Health Impact Awards Advisory Committee (Chair), the Scientific Advisory Council to the Fund for Science and Technology (Paul Allen FF-ST), co-chair of the Mirror Life Policy Working Group (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), panel chair of the Schmidt Sciences Post Doctoral Fellows Program and plays a leading role in the efforts of the G7-led Global Partnership's and Africa CDC's Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biothreats in Africa. James was a Member of Parliament (South Africa) between 2009-2017 and a Trustee of the Ford Foundation of New York between 1996 and 2008. He is the author and/or editor of 17 books including the policy-oriented Vital Signs: Health Security in South Africa (2020, Brenthurst Foundation), Nature's Gifts: Why we are the way we are (2010, WITS U Press, Johannesburg) and a co-edited collection of the Nelson Mandela's presidential speeches Nelson Mandela in His Own Words (Little Brown & Co. 2003 and 2017). James co-designed the first post-apartheid immigration and refugee protection system for the Mandela Government. The best job he ever had - he says - is as Chairman of the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra!

Program Assistants

  • Danica Damoah

    Student Assistant

Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Chike Nwoke

    Chikezirim Nwoke

    Postdoctoral Research Associate in International and Public Affairs
    chikezirim_chima_nwoke@brown.edu
    Research Interests Youth livelihood, Neoliberalism, Gig Economy, International Development, Cyberfraud, Ethnography, Africa, Statehood, Policy, Violence, Knowledge Production, Gender , New Media, Artificial Intelligence

Affiliates

  • Professor Nii Addy

    Nii Addy

    Visiting Scholar in Africana Studies, Associate Professor (Professional), McGill University School of Continuing Studies
    nii_addy@brown.edu
    Research Interests Intergenerational learning, African and African diaspora youth entrepreneurship, Cross-sector partnerships, Sustainable development in the Global South, Higher education collaborations with community and philanthropic organizations, Transformative leadership
  • Geri Augusto

    Geri Augusto

    Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs
    geri_augusto@brown.edu
    +1 401 863 9068
    Research Interests Indigenous and other subjugated knowledge systems, science and technology policy in the Global South, Black transnationalism and history of black resistance (USA, Southern Africa, Brazil), critical black geographies, transformation of higher education systems
  • Rob Blair

    Robert Blair

    Arkadij Eisler Goldman Sachs Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs
    robert_blair@brown.edu
    +1 401 863 9728
    Research Interests Peacekeeping, statebuilding, security sector reform, quantitative and experimental methods, Foreign Aid
  • Barrymore Bogues

    Barrymore Bogues

    Asa Messer Professor of Humanities and Critical Theory, Professor of Africana Studies, Director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice
    +1 401 863 1782
    Research Interests African and African diaspora political theory, intellectual and cultural histories, African and Caribbean politics, Global South development issues, Caribbean Art, political economy of race, slavery and the history of capitalism
  • Donghyun Danny Choi

    Donghyun Danny Choi

    Stephen Robert Assistant Professor of Political Science
    dannychoi@brown.edu
    Research Interests Democracy, Representation, Political Parties , Legislative Politics , Identity Politics
  • Nitsan Chorev

    Nitsan Chorev

    Harmon Family Professor of Sociology, Professor of International and Public Affairs
    nitsan_chorev@brown.edu
    +1 401 863 7698
    Research Interests Global Health, Foreign Aid, International Organizations, Globalization, Neoliberalism
  • Alethea Desrosiers

    Alethea Desrosiers

    Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
    alethea_desrosiers@brown.edu
    Research Interests Colombia, global mental health , digital solutions, Ecuador, Entrepreneurship training, Human-centered design , Implementation science, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Task-shifting , Well-being and mental health , Youth
  • Omar Galarraga

    Omar Galarraga

    Tenured Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice
    omar_galarraga@brown.edu
    +1 401 863 2331
    Research Interests Health economics: incentives for behavioral change, evaluation of health systems reform, applying rigorous quasi-experimental approaches to estimate effects of health interventions, microsimulation and economic evaluation of public health programs, AIDS, Health services research, HIV, Global Health, Health Econometrics
  • Daniel Goodwin

    Daniel Goodwin

    Visiting Fellow
  • Abigail Harrison

    Abigail Harrison

    Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences
    abigail_harrison@brown.edu
    Research Interests Global HIV prevention , Reproductive Health, Women's reproductive decision-making and empowerment, Adolescents living with HIV , Social Epidemiology , Health behaviors and behavioral interventions , Qualitative and mixed methods research, South Africa , Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Patrick Heller

    Patrick Heller

    Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs
    patrick_heller@brown.edu
    +1 401 863 5357
    Research Interests Development, Globalization, social theory, democratization, governance, urban transformation
  • Nancy Jacobs

    Nancy Jacobs

    Professor of History
    nancy_jacobs@brown.edu
    +1 401 863 9342
    Research Interests South Africa, colonial Africa, the environment, animals, knowledge about the environment and animals, History of Science, Medicine and Technology
  • Mark Lurie

    Mark Lurie

    Professor of Epidemiology
    mark_lurie@brown.edu
    Research Interests Human migration and social interaction , Pandemic prevention and prediction , Antiretroviral therapy , HIV, AIDS, TB and sexually transmitted diseases, Infectious diseases, Mathematical modeling
  • Asabe Poloma

    Asabe Poloma

    Associate Provost for Global Engagement, Director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
    asabe_poloma@brown.edu
  • Susan Short

    Susan Short

    Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies and Professor of Sociology
    susan_short@brown.edu
    Research Interests Gender , Social Demography, Global Population Health , Structural Inequality
  • Daniel Jordan Smith

    Daniel Jordan Smith

    Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr. ’32 Professor of International Studies, Professor of Anthropology, Inaugural Director of the Africa Initiative
    daniel_j_smith@brown.edu
    +1 401 863 1938
    Research Interests Nigeria, Africa, Development, medical anthropology, gender, population processes, infrastructure, corruption
  • Bryce Steinberg

    Bryce Steinberg

    IJC Assistant Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs
    bryce_steinberg@brown.edu
    Research Interests Children & Families, Education, Global Health, Development Economics, Labor Economics, Public Economics
  • Michael White

    Michael White

    Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies, Professor of Sociology, Director of Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences Sociology
    michael_white@brown.edu
    +1 401 863 1083
    Research Interests Migration and population distribution: from urban residential segregation, to rural-urban migration in developing societies, to contemporary international migration and immigrant assimilation

Staff

Former Associates