Ilana Seff’s research agenda focuses on improving the lives of vulnerable and marginalized populations across the globe using evidence-based solutions. Her broad research experience and interests include the prevention of violence against women and girls, particularly in humanitarian settings, social norms related to violence, and the psychosocial well-being and mental health of refugees and displaced populations.

Seff’s work employs mixed-methods approaches to evaluate and inform interventions, emphasizing the importance of coupling qualitative insights with innovative and valid quantitative measures. Current projects include: a UNICEF study that examines how women and girls’ safety, wellbeing, and access to services have been affected by COVID-19 in Italy, Iraq, Guatemala, Brazil, and Zimbabwe; Sibling Support for Adolescent Girls in Emergencies (SSAGE), a family-focused intervention to improve family functioning and shift gender norms in northern Nigeria, Jordan and Niger; and the Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to America (SALaMA), which aims to assess the psychosocial well-being of and best practice supports for adolescents resettled to the US from Arab-majority countries.

Seff received her DrPH in Global Health and Humanitarian Systems from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and an MPH from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.