Dr. Zara Ahmed leads policy analysis and science strategy at Carbon Direct. Dr. Ahmed's primary focus is strategic planning, program development, and U.S. policy engagement.
Prior to working at Carbon Direct, Dr. Ahmed was the Government Affairs and Policy Lead for the COVID-19 Response at the CDC. She rejoined CDC in August 2021 after two years at the Guttmacher Institute as the Associate Director for Federal Issues. Before her time at the Guttmacher Institute, Dr. Ahmed spent 10 years with CDC, including seven years based overseas at US embassies in Rwanda, Namibia and Haiti as a senior technical advisor, and three years as the Associate Division Director for Policy and Communications in the Division of Global Health Protection at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.
In addition, Dr. Ahmed has worked as a sexual health counselor at an alternative high school in Michigan and as a consultant in Bangladesh on the labor rights of migrant women. Dr. Ahmed has also conducted field research on sex worker rights in Cambodia, health financing in rural Cameroon, and donor coordination of malaria programs in Senegal. She holds a BA in political science from Brown University, MPP and MPH degrees from the University of Michigan, a MBA from the University of Oklahoma, and a DrPH from the University of North Carolina, where she is also an adjunct faculty member.
Education
DrPH, Health Leadership and Management
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MPP, MPH
University of Michigan
MBA
University of Oklahoma
BA, Political Science
Brown University
Awards
Certificate of Appreciation for Extraordinary Effort and Impact, US Embassy, Port-au-Prince (2016)
Center for Global Health Director’s Award for Partnership, CDC (2015)
Certificate of Appreciation for Exceptional Technical Support, US Embassy, Port-au-Prince (2015)
