Lauren van der Walt
Executive Director/ Founder
Lauren is a medical anthropologist who has spent the past two decades promoting the health and rights of women, children, refugees, immigrants and internally displaced populations. Prior to founding Optio, she worked for a number of non-governmental organizations including UNICEF, the Berkeley Human Rights Center and Venture Strategies for Health and Development (now the OASIS Initiative). Her work within these organizations focused on policy change and using harm reduction strategies to improve women’s access to reproductive health services in restrictive settings. She holds Masters Degrees in Medical Anthropology and Public Health and a doctoral degree from University of California, Berkeley. In addition to working at Optio, Lauren teaches at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.
