Public Health Experience 

Data Analytics 

Vanessa is currently a Data Analysis Advisor (Contractor) at USAID in the Bureau for Global Health, Office of HIV/AIDS. Previously, she was a Data Manager and Analyst at CDC South Africa through the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program. In these roles she facilitates data management, analysis, and visualization deliverables and communications for President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)-funded programs. 

Research 

During graduate school, Vanessa worked in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and at the Rwanda Zambia HIV Research Group (RZHRG) where she assisted the research team in coordinating, designing, and implementing a Postpartum Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) Research Project and intervention in Kigali, Rwanda. She also worked as a Research Interviewer at the Georgia Emerging Infections Program at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, where she conducted active surveillance on food-borne illnesses, influenza, and healthcare-associated infections. Vanessa’s publications can be found here.

Grassroots Projects  

Vanessa served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Rwanda, where she collaborated with staff at a local health center and Secondary school to implement projects in HIV/AIDS, Water, Hygiene, and Sanitation (WASH), malaria, literacy, and youth development. During and after her undergraduate program she worked on projects based in the U.S. as a Research Assistant in numerous organizations across different public health domains, including the Duke Global Health Institute (obesity prevention program), RTI International (alcohol and smoking behaviors), and the UNC Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research (aging and long-term care).

Data Consulting & Career Development

Vanessa is the founder & owner of Chilombo Global Career Services, a career development platform designed to help students and professionals jumpstart their career search. Chilombo Careers aims to improve job prospects and increase awareness about opportunities and job search strategies among public health professionals worldwide. She also provides data consulting services via the branch of  Chilombo Global Career Services called Chilombo Consulting.