Dr. Karen Austrian

Dr. Karen Austrian leads the Population Council’s  Girl Innovation, Research, and Learning (GIRL) Center, a global research hub focusing on adolescents, particularly girls. With a background in empowering girls in East and Southern Africa, she designs and evaluates programs enhancing girls’ protective assets like financial literacy and education access. Austrian spearheads large-scale trials, including the Adolescent Girls Initiative in Kenya and the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program in Zambia. Additionally, she leads research on the impacts of COVID-19 on adolescents in Kenya. 

Beyond research, Austrian actively engages with global stakeholders, providing guidance on evidence utilization for girls’ programs and policies. Before joining the Population Council in 2007, she co-founded the Binti Pamoja Center, empowering adolescent girls in Nairobi’s Kibera slum. Austrian holds an MPH from Columbia University and a PhD in public health and epidemiology from Ben Gurion University, Israel. Fluent in English, Hebrew, and Swahili, she operates from the Council’s Nairobi office.