Expert Bio

Calyn Ostrowski serves as program consultant for the Woodrow Wilson Center's Global Health Initiative (GHI), which addresses maternal health, health financing, and health in post-conflict and post-disaster settings. In this capacity, she identifies and analyzes effective programs and policies that are key to addressing global health inequities. She organizes public forums, including a monthly maternal health series, with federal and foreign policymakers, donors, non-governmental agencies, and academic scholars to increase political willpower and enhance solutions for improving reproductive and family planning services, maternal and child health, and gender equality.

As lead coordinator of the 2009-2012 Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health series, Calyn works with the Maternal Health Task Force at Harvard University and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to research and identify key program and legislative issues that impact maternal health. In 2011, she collaborated with the African Population and Health Research Center, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, to facilitate in-country dialogue workshops with Members of Parliament, midwives, donors, NGOs, media and field workers to increase education and address concerns related to policy, institutional, and organizational capacity building.

Calyn also works with the Wilson Center's Enviornmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) and supports programming under the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) award. Through this capacity she develops dialogue events on USAID's Global Leadership Priorities including family planning and reproductive health, gender, youth, poverty and health equity.

She regularly contributes to the award-winning blog New Security Beat and has written numerous articles, policy briefs, technical reports, and event summaries that are disseminated to federal and foreign policymakers, donors, NGOs, nonprofit organizaitons, and media outlets.

She holds a Master's degree from Case Western Reserve University and has an extensive background in communications, marketing, board development, program management, fundraising, and strategic planning.

Education

Masters, Nonprofit Management and Business Adminstration, Case Western Reserve University; B.A., Political Science and Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Honors

With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Calyn organized a workshop in Accra, Ghana, with 30 ministers of health and finance, where she facilitated dialogue on communication and technical gaps between the ministries of health and finance in Ghana, Senegal, and Uganda. Based on these proceedings, she produced a set of policy recommendations and published them in a formal policy brief, "Improving Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance Relationships for Increased Funding," which was voted the top policy brief of 2009 by John Hopkins University School of Public Health graduate course, "Health Policy Analysis in Low and Middle Income Countries."

Major Publications

• "Deliverying Solutions: Advancing Dialouge To Improve Maternal Health." (December, 2011). Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
• "Point of View: Improving Maternal Health Worldwide." (February, 2010). Centerpoint. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
• "Improving Transportation and Referral for Maternal Health: Knowledge Gaps and Recommendations." (May, 2010). Columbia University.
• "Improving Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance Relationships for Increased Funding." (June, 2009). Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.