Dr. Jody Heymann
Founding Director
Distinguished Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Luskin School of Public Affairs, and Geffen School of Medicine
Jody Heymann, MD, PhD, is founding director of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center and served as dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health from 2013-2018.
As director of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center (WORLD), Heymann leads an unprecedented effort to improve the level and quality of comparative policy data available to policymakers, researchers and the public. WORLD examines health and social policies and outcomes in all 193 UN countries. WORLD’s mission is to strengthen equal opportunities worldwide by identifying the most effective public sector approaches, improving the quantity and quality of globally comparative data available, and working in partnerships to support evidence-based improvements in countries worldwide. WORLD has worked with global bodies (WHO, UNICEF, UNDESA, UNESCO, ILO, and others), civil society in over 100 countries, research groups, private sector leaders, and other global change agents. In 2023, WORLD launched new policy data on accelerating progress toward achieving gender equality in the economy, with data from 193 countries on topics including girls’ access to education, sexual harassment and discrimination at work, and policies that support gender equality in work and in caregiving across the life course. WORLD’s analyses of constitutions in all 193 UN member countries and their role in strengthening social and economic rights contributed to creating a Partnership for Advancing Constitutional Equal Rights. WORLD’s launches on policies affecting children reached people in 190 countries, as did their No Ceilings partnership with the Clinton and Gates Foundations on equal opportunities for women, men, girls, and boys. Heymann previously held a Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Social Policy at McGill University where she was the founding director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy. While on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, she founded the Project on Global Working Families. Heymann has received numerous honors, including election to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine in 2013 and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2012.
Heymann has authored and edited more than 500 publications, including 19 books. Selected titles include Equality within Our Lifetimes (University of California Press, 2023), Advancing Equality (University of California Press, 2020), Changing Children’s Chances (Harvard University Press, 2013), Making Equal Rights Real (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Lessons in Educational Equality (Oxford University Press, 2012), Protecting Childhood in the AIDS Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2012), Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder (Harvard Business Press, 2010), Raising the Global Floor (Stanford University Press, 2009), Trade and Health (McGill Queens University Press, 2007), Forgotten Families (Oxford University Press, 2006), and Healthier Societies (Oxford University Press, 2006).
Pragya Bhuwania
Senior Research Analyst
pragyabhuwania (at) ucla.edu
Pragya Bhuwania is a Senior Research Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center. She works on estimating the causal effects of laws, policies, and programmatic interventions on women and children in developing countries. She uses quasi-experimental research designs and advanced econometric methods to assess these impacts. Her research interest lies at the intersection of applied microeconomics, health, gender, and development. Previously, she was a Maternal and Child Health Equity (MACHEquity) Fellow, jointly held at McGill Institute for Health & Social Policy and IIM Bangalore, where she extensively worked on impact evaluations of national- and state-level policies in India. She received her PhD in Health Policy and Management from UCLA, MSc in Statistics from the University of Oxford, and BA in Economics from Delhi University.
Adele Cassola
Chief of Social Policy Research
acassola (at) ph.ucla.edu
Adele Cassola is Chief of Social Policy Research at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center, where she manages existing globally comparative policy databases, develops new research initiatives in policy areas that affect social equity, and leads analyses and writing projects for different audiences and stakeholders. She previously co-led the early expansion and analyses of WORLD’s database on equal rights in the constitutions of all 193 UN member states. Adele has published three co-edited books, over a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals, nine book chapters, and several policy reports and opinion pieces, including publications that highlight WORLD’s findings on rights to education and health, women’s constitutional rights, and protections of equal rights across socioeconomic status, migration status, and sexual orientation and gender identity.
Adele has a PhD in Urban Planning from Columbia University, an MSc in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies and European Studies from the University of Toronto. She previously led multi-year public health and social policy research initiatives with York University’s Global Strategy Lab and McGill University's Institute for Health and Social Policy.
Alfredo Martin
Senior Research Analyst
aemartin (at) ph.ucla.edu
Alfredo Martin is a Senior Research Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center. Alfredo is an applied microeconomist with a background in law and public policy. He uses quasi-experimental methods to evaluate the causal effect of policies and laws on different human rights. Alfredo holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia State University, a Master of Public Policy from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Chile and a Law degree from University Diego Portales.
Michael McCormack
Senior Policy Analyst
mmccormack (at) ph.ucla.edu
Michael McCormack is a Senior Policy Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center. His research interests include labor economics, economic development, the political economy of household debt and progressive social policy. Prior to working at WORLD, he worked as an economic policy associate at The Century Foundation and was also a researcher at UMass Boston's Center for Social Policy. He received BAs in Political Science and Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MA in Applied Economics from the University of Massachusetts Boston. His work has appeared in Cambridge Journal of Economics, Challenge, and The American Prospect.
Clare McKenzie
Program Analyst
cmckenzie (at) ph.ucla.edu
Clare (she/her) works as the Program Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center. Prior to joining the team, she received a BA in Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University and a MA in Public Policy from Pepperdine University. Her graduate research focused on equitable access to water for Southern Californians in the era of climate change. Clare’s experience includes research and public communications roles at the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment, Los Angeles Waterkeeper, and the Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter. She is passionate about engaging community members in public policy decisions and increasing the accessibility of international academic research.
Kristen Mosher
Program and Operations Manager
Tel: 310 825 7126
kmosher (at) ph.ucla.edu
Kristen Mosher (she/her) is the Program and Operations Manager at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center. She manages WORLD’s operational and administrative needs including fiscal oversight, academic and staff human resources, student affairs, and UCLA departmental coordination, working with internal and external stakeholders across WORLD project areas. Prior to joining the team at WORLD, Kristen worked in project management, grant writing, and database development at The Children’s Trust of Massachusetts and The Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative at Lesley University. She has also worked as a teacher in the U.S. and abroad. Kristen received her BA in English Literature and Writing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her MA in International Affairs from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. Her graduate research focused on education and gender equality in the international development and humanitarian spaces.
Nicholas Perry
Director of Partnerships
nperry (at) ph.ucla.edu
Nicholas Perry is the Director of Partnerships at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center. In addition to supporting research on gender, equal rights, work and family, education, poverty and disability, Nicholas directs WORLD’s global research and dissemination partnerships with policymakers, civil society organizations, intergovernmental organizations, funders, and the public at large. In this outreach work, Nicholas works with the WORLD team to develop and disseminate tools that translate newly available law and policy data into evidence-based decision making, support policy-focused advocacy, and increased transparency and accountability. Over the last decade, this work has given Nicholas the opportunity to lead work with leaders, policymakers and civil society groups in over 110 countries on all continents. Nicholas has a particular focus on bringing together different actors to use the data in different ways, including global, regional, and country-specific convenings and collaborations to support the translation of data to impact. Nicholas’ professional background includes work in direct political engagement, political polling and messaging, and grassroots political organizing. Nicholas received his BA in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Southern California.
Amy Raub
Director of Research
araub (at) ph.ucla.edu
Amy Raub is Director of Research of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center and leads WORLD’s research developing and analyzing quantitative measures of national policy approaches that advance health, economic security, education, and equity in all 193 UN countries with a deep focus on creating actionable evidence for policymakers and civil society. Over the course of more than a decade and a half at WORLD, Raub has advanced the development of quantitatively comparable indicators that enable the rapid identification of structural inequalities embedded in law, make legal loopholes transparent, support monitoring and accountability for whether countries are meeting their international commitments, and highlight gaps in legal protections that undermine effective implementation and enforcement of fundamental rights. This work spans a wide range of topics including aging, early childhood, gender, education, economic security, caregiving, health, migration, disability, working conditions, social protection, non-discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual orientation and gender identity, and constitutional rights.
Raub has presented WORLD’s findings to UN human rights committees, civil society groups, researchers, and at international conferences on five continents. She has authored and edited 2 books, more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, and numerous reports and policy briefs for a wide range of audiences. Raub holds a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Melbourne, a MS in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin and received her BA in Economics from Rice University. Prior to joining WORLD, Raub worked in economic consulting using econometrics to assess disparities across race, gender, and age in a variety of spheres, including mortgage lending, policing, and employment.
Aleta Sprague
Director of Legal Analysis and Communication
asprague (at) ph.ucla.edu
Aleta Sprague is Director of Legal Analysis and Communication at WORLD, where she leads WORLD’s written and transmedia communications and oversees a project portfolio examining the role of laws, policies, and constitutional rights in advancing or undermining social and economic equality across different national legal systems as well as across U.S. states. Since beginning at WORLD in 2014, Aleta has coordinated the center’s efforts to translate its rich quantitative data and rigorous policy impact studies into accessible resources for different stakeholders. She also manages WORLD’s reviews of existing research evidence in areas including gender equality, work-family policies, discrimination, social and economic rights, and structural inequalities embedded in the law.
Aleta has co-authored two books, several book chapters in edited volumes, and dozens of peer-reviewed articles and opinion pieces. Her policy writing has appeared in outlets including the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and CNN, and she has presented WORLD’s research at meetings and conferences around the world. Previously, Aleta was a policy analyst at a public policy think tank where her research focused on poverty, access to basic income and public assistance programs, and financial inclusion for low-income communities. Aleta received her BA in Anthropology and French from New York University and her JD from UCLA School of Law, where she focused on international law and human rights and completed a specialization in Critical Race Studies. She is a member of the California and New York state bars.
Pam Stek
Writer and Senior Researcher
pstek (at) ph.ucla.edu
Pam Stek is a Writer and Senior Researcher at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center. She received her BA in Mathematics from Macalester College and her PhD in History as well as a graduate certificate in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Iowa. Her graduate research focused on how women’s political and labor activism shaped understandings of gender, class, ethnicity, and citizenship. Prior to joining WORLD, she was employed as a researcher and writer for several nonprofit organizations, as a history instructor, and as an actuary.
