about

Jessica Kritz studies cross-sector collaboration at the intersection of global health and conflict. She is the principal investigator on a long-term research project to build a health-focused, strategic, cross-sector collaboration between city government, non-governmental and community organizations in the Old Fadama slum of Accra, Ghana. Jessica brings a multidisciplinary approach to health through her career and research trajectory, which began with dispute resolution in law and has transformed to include broader work in conflict resolution and health, with a focus on policy change in developing countries. This unique perspective has helped her to create a theory-of-change model that focuses on stakeholders and involves local communities in policy change. The model is now being tested in other slums in Accra with increasing numbers of stakeholders. Jessica is an Assistant Research Professor in the Conflict Resolution Program at Georgetown University and the Director of the Georgetown Initiative on Health and Peace.

She has supported and served on numerous university committees and advisory groups related to global engagement, including Palestine, health disparities, India, China, the university’s response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the university licensing committee on the rights of workers who produce college apparel. She has conducted projects in Rwanda, Palestine and South Africa, and speaks and reads French. Jessica has served on the boards of multiple community organizations and currently serves on the board of Études Music Academy.