Elen Costigan

Elen Costigan, MPA, MPH, is the SIPA Capstone Advisor to the project Protection, Human Rights, and Health for Migrants in Mexico and Central America. She is a Doctoral candidate of Public Health (DrPH) in Epidemiology at Columbia University through the department of Forced Migration, and her interests center around promoting community engagement and the intersection of health and human rights.

Elen has over fifteen years of experience working in humanitarian action and public health, including 10 years with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in various emergency settings in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mexico and Honduras. After years of managing emergency response interventions she focused on training MSF teams around the globe in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Nigeria, Sudan and South Sudan. In addition to emergency response, Elen has also worked with the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and with grassroots nonprofit organizations in Central America, managing humanitarian and public health programs. She led research initiatives with the micro-finance organization FINCA International, working with large-scale data and population surveys. Most recently she worked as Lead Epidemiologist for the COVID-19 response in Guinea Bissau, working with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), MSF and the Ministry of Health.

Elen holds a triple BA/BS in Political Science, Economics and Spanish Literature from Ohio State University graduating Magna Cum Laude, with Honors and Research Distinction. She holds dual Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees from the London School of Economics and Columbia University for which she was Awarded the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. She further holds a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology from Harvard University. Elen is dual citizen of the US and Brazil and is fluent in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Swahili and Tok Pisin.

Honors and Awards

Rosenfield Doctoral Scholarship: 2020 – 2022

Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship: 2011 – 2012

The Ohio State University – Mershon Fellowship (2006) and Research Distinction - Honors Thesis in

International Relations