Judith F. Helzner
Director, Population and Reproductive Health

Email: jhelzner at macfound dot org

Judith F. Helzner is the Director of Population & Reproductive Health in the Foundation's International Programs.

Helzner joined the Foundation in July, 2002, and serves as a strategic advisor to staff members in the Mexico, Nigeria and India offices on grantmaking related to population issues. She is also responsible for grants made to international organizations in the population field.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Helzner was with the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region, where she first served as Director of Program Coordination starting in 1987 and was later named Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health, a position she held from 1997 to 2002. Helzner has also worked with the International Women's Health Coalition (1985-1987), with Private Agencies Collaborating Together (1982-1984), and with Pathfinder Fund in Boston (1977-1982). She has been a consultant to several organizations, including the World Health Organization and USAID, where she Co-chaired its Interagency Gender Working Group Subcommittee on Men & Reproductive Health.

Helzner has published articles and book reviews in journals such as Studies in Family Planning and International Family Planning Perspectives. She graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor's degree in French and received master's degrees in both Demography and International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kole A. Shettima
Director, Africa Office, and Co-Chair, Higher Education Initiative in Africa

Email: kshettim at macfound dot org

Kole Shettima is the Director of the Foundation's Africa Office in Abuja, Nigeria. He is responsible for grant making in the Population & Reproductive Health area, Human Rights and International Justice, and the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa.

Prior to joining the Foundation in 1999, Shettima taught at the University of Maiduguri (Nigeria), the University of Toronto, and at Ohio University. He was State Coordinator, and National Education Coordinator of Women in Nigeria; Coordinator of the Working Group on Nigeria, Toronto; and Co-chair of the Economic Justice Working Group of the Inter-Church Coalition on Africa, Toronto. Shettima is on the board of several organizations including the Center for Democracy and Development. He has published in several academic journals including Africa Development, Review of African Political Economy, African Studies Review and Journal of Asian and African Studies.

Shettima has a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, a Masters Degree from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and his undergraduate degree is from the University of Maiduguri where he has also been a faculty member.

Dipa Nag Chowdhury
Acting Director

Email: dnagchowdhury at macfound dot org

Dipa Nag Chowdhury is Acting Director of the Foundation's India office.

Prior to joining the Foundation in 1998, Nag Chowdhury worked with the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D.C., an international NGO, researching issues of food security and nutrition. She was also involved in a study of adolescents and young-adults on health, substance abuse, and the onset of HIV/AIDS at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. Nag Chowdhury has worked with Naz Foundation Trust in India, a leading NGO focused on sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Nag Chowdhury has Masters Degrees in Political Science from Bombay University, India, and Public Administration from Syracuse University.

Sharon Bissell Sotelo
Director, Mexico Office

Email: sbissell at macfound dot org

Sharon Bissell Sotelo is Acting Director for the Foundation’s Mexico Office and Program Officer for the Foundation’s grantmaking in Population and Reproductive Health, working with organizations in maternal mortality prevention and youth reproductive health promotion. Much of this work centers on indigenous and rural populations in Mexico, and seeks to improve access to and quality of reproductive and sexual health services for women and young people.

She sits on the Technology Grants Committee that supports initiatives to develop and use new technologies to promote social development. Prior to joining MacArthur in 2001, she worked at the Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (Information Group on Reproductive Choice, GIRE), a leading reproductive rights organization in Mexico, and as a consultant for numerous Mexican civil society organizations and networks. She holds a Master’s degree from Tulane University and diploma courses in gender, reproductive health and human rights from El Colegio de México and the Universidad Tecnológica de Monterrey in Mexico.

Erin Sines
Program Officer, Population & Reproductive Health

Email: esines at macfound dot org

Erin Sines is a Program Officer in Population and Reproductive Health in the Foundation’s International Programs.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Sines worked at the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington, D.C.-based NGO, where she provided strategic guidance, technical assistance, and capacity building in the use of data for reproductive health policy and program development. She worked closely with policymakers and researchers in Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Mongolia. Earlier in her career, she worked on adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Latin America and conducted research on domestic maternal and child health issues. Ms. Sines has an M.P.H. from Columbia University and received her B.A. in Spanish and International Politics from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.