Dr. Shaheen Kassim-Lakha leads the development and implementation of external engagements, including collaborations with peer funders and local, national and international partners, to unlock resources and shift policies that enable the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to multiply its impact. In her previous role as director of international programs, Kassim-Lakha oversaw the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of the Foundation’s international program areas, including safe water access, children in communities affected by HIV and AIDS, blindness prevention and education, and disaster relief and recovery. She also led grant programs related to organizational capacity-building, monitoring, evaluation and learning. Kassim-Lakha has a broad academic and professional background in health services and global health, including experience in hospital administration, developing environmental health policy for urban centers in North America, and program management in several countries in Asia and Africa.
She has a Dr.PH from UCLA’s School of Public Health, where her doctoral research focused on measuring results and developing an evaluation approach for healthcare philanthropy, as well as graduate training in international development and environmental epidemiology from UCLA and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has served as a consultant to foundations, governments and donor organizations on community-based initiatives, regional health systems development, program evaluation, and health policy research and serves on several nonprofit boards.
