Dr. Sonita Singh is Pressident and CEO at I-STARRT. She is an Assistant Professor from the LSU School of Public Health in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health. She received her Ph.D. from Tulane University School of Law in International Development focused in Spatial Economics and her Master’s in Public Health from the Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine in International Health Development. Her specialty is spatial-temporal analysis of multi-vulnerable populations.

She has performed research throughout the US and several countries in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Her work to-date has focused on stabilizing at-risk populations ranging from refugees, child soldiers, pregnant mothers and children with HIV, as well as post-conflict and criminal justice-affected populations. Her current research focuses on New Orleans. She uses advanced research methods to map out the main drivers of inequity and violence over time, with the goal of identifying the structural tenets of poverty and deconstructing them to create pathways to equity and security.

She has been responsible for the acquisition and execution of federal domestic grants from the Dept of Justice, Dept of Health, and Centers for Disease Control as well as federal international grants (USAID, National Institutes of Health and Care Rwanda). She has lived in New Orleans since 1991, and is deeply rooted in an extensive community of culture-bearers connecting New Orleans with its African and Caribbean roots.