sandra garcia is an executive latina leader and public health researcher with experience in philanthropy and social impact work. most recently, sandy was vice president/director of research and evaluation for the susan thompson buffett foundation, where she served for over a decade. there she helped conceptualize, fund, and steward rigorous evaluations on health and education in the global south and the us. she also championed equitable evaluation methods and helped institutionalize evaluative practices for more impactful grantmaking across the foundation. before this, sandy lived and worked in mexico city. she was country director of the population council’s mexico office for four years, and director of reproductive health for latin america and the caribbean (lac) during all but two years of her 14-year tenure. in 2007, sandy received the guttmacher institute’s darroch award for excellence in sexual and reproductive health research for spear-heading research that “played an important role in the country’s recent decision to legalize first-trimester abortion.”

sandy holds a bachelor’s degree in english and american literature from harvard university, and a masters (reproductive health) and doctorate (social demography) from the harvard school of public health. She has published over 75 peer-reviewed articles and served on numerous technical committees and advisory groups globally, including as advisor to the world health organization’s regional advisory panel for lac. recently, she returned to her native el paso, texas where she has enjoyed family and engagement with local government and community service projects, while on her way to her next professional adventure.