Biographies Staff at the Institute for Reproductive Health

Victoria H. Jennings, Ph.D
Institute Director, Principal Investigator of the AWARENESS project, and Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Georgetown University Medical Center.
Dr. Jennings, an anthropologist whose academic interests focus on health behavior and culture change, has 20 years experience in the international family planning and reproductive health field. In addition to being responsible for overall direction of the Institute, she coordinates the activities of the AWARENESS project in policy development and implementation. Dr. Jennings serves on numerous boards and task forces on international health issues.

Marcos Arevalo, MD, MPH
Director of Biomedical Research; Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 
Dr. Arevalo is an Obstetrician-Gynecologist by training, with a Public Health degree in the area of Population/Family Planning. Areas of experience include programmatic and service delivery aspects of family planning and reproductive health, quality of care, and breastfeeding. Dr. Arevalo manages the Institute's field trials of simple natural family planning methods.
arevalom@georgetown.edu

Irit Sinai, Ph.D
Senior Research Officer, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Dr. Sinai adds her expertise in research design and data analysis to a number of the Institute's research projects. She is responsible for analyzing data for the Institute's field trials of simple natural family planning methods and for providing technical assistance to the Institute's operations and behavioral research.
sinaii@georgetown.edu

Rebecka Inga Lundgren, MPH
Senior Program Officer, Research Instructor
Ms. Lundgren specializes in operations research in reproductive health. She has seventeen years experience in program implementation, research and evaluation in reproductive health, twelve of which served in Latin America. Ms. Lundgren's research focuses on expanding choice and improving the quality of family planning services. Ms Lundgren is currently responsible for the overall development, management and representation of the Institute's activities in India, Guatemala and El Salvador. Specific interests include male participation in reproductive health and serving rural indigenous families.
lundgrer@georgetown.edu

Jeannette A. Cachan, MA
Senior Program Manager and Research Instructor,
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 
Ms. Cachan has over thirteen years of experience working in family planning programs. As an instructional designer and trainer, she is responsible for developing and testing training curricula in natural methods of family planning, including the Standard Days Method. Ms. Cachan also oversees the development and production of communication and educational materials at the institute.
cachanj@georgetown.edu

Caroline Blair, MBA
Senior Program Manager
Ms. Blair is a reproductive health program management professional with over seventeen years' experience, twelve of which were served in Africa. Ms. Blair has developed country programs and projects, supervised research, participated in the development of information, education, and communication strategy, and managed social marketing activities. As Senior Program Manager, she will work with Institute staff to develop and implement strategies to expand the availability and use of fertility-awareness based methods developed by the Institute. She also will be responsible for the overall development, management and representation of the Institute's activities in specific countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
cb229@georgetown.edu

Claudia Velasquez, MPH
Program Officer 
Ms. Velasquez, who has a degree in Public Health in the areas of population and family planning evaluation, has over five years of experience working with family planning programs in North Africa and Latin America. She is responsible for the management and supervision of operations research projects in Ecuador and Honduras as well as serving as backup for training activities in West Africa.  In managing these projects, she provides technical assistance by conducting trainings, preparing proposals, helping in the development of educational materials and tools as well as supporting the institute in its various research efforts.
cv38@georgetown.edu

Monica Marini, MA
Program Officer
Ms. Marini, currently pursuing a master’s degree in public communication, contributes to Institute initiatives by designing and coordinating the development and production of information, education and communication materials. She also provides administrative and technical support to field trials and biomedical research.
marinim@georgetown.edu

Gretzel Jové Castro, MBA
Representative in Bolivia
Ms. Castro has a background in Social Science (Social Communication) and Masters in Business Administration. Ms. Castro has many years of experience in reproductive health research applied to various ethnic groups. Her responsibility include the incorporation of the Standard Days Method into services of the Ministry of Health and Nongovernmental Organizations.

Claudia De la Quintanta, MA
Representative in Bolivia
Ms. de la Quintanta, a Sociologist, majored in Gender and Development. She has experience in research and evaluation relating to sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health and gender issues. She is currently involved in introducing the Standard Days Method into the curricula of Bolivia's Auxillary Nursing Schools and is also responsible for training health providers.

Mitos Rivera, BSc.
Representative in The Philippines
Ms. Rivera, who has experience in the field of adult education, training and curriculum development, materials development, policy development and restructioning the areas of population, health education and natural family planning, coordinates in-country activities of the Philippine office of the Institute for Reproductive Health. These activities include testing the effectiveness and introduction of simple methods of natural family planning in the Philippines, as well as oversight of operations research and policy development activities.

Maria Mukabatsinda, RN, BSN
Representative in Rwanda
Ms. Mukabatsinda, Country Representative for the Awareness Project in Rwanda, is a nurse by training. She holds a bachelor's degree in medical administration and is currently a candidate for a masters degree in public health. Ms. Mukabatsinda has over seven years experience with increasing responsiblities in social marketing management in her last position being communications manager. Prior to working in social marketing, Ms. Mukabatsinda has supervised numerous family planning and HIV/AIDS studies in Rwanda with a particular focus on information, education, and communication.
awarenessrda@rwanda1.com

Margarita de Monroy, RN
Representative in Central America
Ms. Margarita de Monroy has worked in reproductive health since she received her nursing degree in El Salvador in 1973. She also holds a masters degree in research, along with undergraduate degrees in public administration and education. Throughout her career, Ms. Monroy has focused on breastfeeding, family planning and health promotion. She has expertise in program design, implementation and evaluation; and has worked extensively in training and research. Ms. Monroy has worked with the Ministry of Health and NGOs on projects funded by PAHO, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, USAID, GTZ and UNICEF. She is responsible for providing technical assistance and oversight to research and service delivery activities related to the introduction of the Standard Days Method in Central America.

Last updated: 4-23-2003