Anita Raj

Anita Raj is the Executive Director of the Newcomb Institute and holds the Nancy Reeves Dreux Endowed Chair in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University. She is a research scientist with expertise in developmental psychology and public health, focusing on gender equity, gender-based violence, reproductive health, and women’s empowerment in global contexts.

Her research spans epidemiologic and qualitative assessments of gendered, social, and cultural vulnerabilities affecting maternal, child, and adolescent health across diverse national settings. She has led numerous federally and foundation-funded studies and is the creator of the EMERGE platform, which develops evidence-based gender empowerment indicators for tracking SDG5. She also leads the Violence EXperiences (VEX) study in California and Louisiana, providing data for policy development on violence and mental health.

Dr. Raj’s extensive publication record—nearly 300 peer-reviewed articles—demonstrates consistent contributions to understanding gender norms, contraceptive decision-making, intimate partner violence, and adolescent health, particularly in South Asia and the U.S.-Mexico border region. Her work often involves mixed-methods, large-scale surveys, and intervention evaluations, with a strong emphasis on equity and measurement science.

Honors include the UC San Diego Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring and the Faculty Research Lecturer Award. She has served as an advisor to UN Women, UNICEF, WHO, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and is a Co-Chair of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Gender Empowerment.

She has advised numerous doctoral and master’s students and led multiple research grants focused on gender equity and health. Her leadership extends to global advisory roles, including on the International Advisory Board for Lancet Global Health. She has developed technical tools for survey researchers and implementers working on gender empowerment and violence prevention.

Dr. Raj’s research is conducted through interdisciplinary teams and centers, including collaborations with institutions in India and the U.S. Her future work continues to focus on scaling gender equity interventions and improving data systems for tracking gender empowerment globally.