Member Spotlight: C. Pauline Daniel
Full Name
Chandra Pauline Daniel
Chapter Affiliation/MAL
UNA New York City Chapter
Background
Dr. C. Pauline Daniel is originally from India, currently a U.S. citizen. Her early school years were in both India and Nigeria. She holds a Ph.D. in Infectious Diseases and Nutrition and is pursuing her second doctoral program in Public Health [Health Policy and Management] at the New York Medical College. Prior to her career in the United States, she worked in Switzerland at the World Health Organization headquarters, as a Consultant and contributed to the evaluation of evidence-based grading of articles for the WHO Guidelines on Injection Safety, in 2009.
She joined the Policy and Strategic Information and Planning Branch [PSIPB] in October 2021 as a project intern on the Strategic Plan Results Analysis for UNFPA’s Policy and Strategy Division. Prior to joining the Policy and Strategy Division, she was with the Technical Division-Sexual and Reproductive Health Branch since June 2021 as an intern to evaluate UNFPA’s reports on the Strategic Information System [SIS] and the Joint Program Monitoring System [UNAIDS] with a special focus on HIV and the Key Populations. She was eventually recruited as a P3 consultant for a Population and Development branch project at UNFPA.
Prior to joining UNFPA, she worked for the Black Health [National Black Leadership Commission on Health] in New York, leading efforts to evaluate and monitor health disparities among the minority populations in the United States. As part of the federal funded program of the Office of Minority Health, she evaluated a five year funded program for five states in the U.S. She served as a Public Health Program Manager on a CDC program for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task force [HIDTA]- Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] for New Jersey (2016-2018).
She was assigned to a project at the Commissioner’s Office at the New Jersey Department of Health. She coordinated and led evaluation of the New Jersey State Interagency Opioid Core Working Group. Dr. C. Pauline Daniel supported endeavors to launch of the Overdose Fatality Review Team for New Jersey along with Assist. Special Agent Christopher Jakim of the Drug Enforcement Administration. She enjoyed building and evaluating interagency activities which involved multisectoral departments and agencies of the Public Health and the Law Enforcement sectors.
She enjoys enhancing collaborations and served as the UNA-USA’s 2020-2021 Global Goals Ambassador for SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.
Pauline is thrilled to work for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with her experience from the SRHB-Technical Division and current experience at the PSIPB (Policy Strategy and Information Planning Branch) of the Policy and Strategy Division.
Pauline is enjoying her exploration of work experience at UNFPA and is passionate about supporting UNFPA’s evaluation and policy work.
Dr. Chandra ‘Pauline’ Daniel can be reached at datascientist18@gmail.com
How long have you been a member?
More than three years.
What inspired you to join UNA-USA?
- The plethora of activities at UNA-USA. Activities fit all age groups and professionals at different levels in the hierarchy of their career. UNA-NYC’s WorldView Institute 2019, offered by the UNA New York Chapter, was my starting point in joining UNA-USA. The experience and collaboration with UN agencies was invigorating and led me to join UNA-USA as a member and apply to the first Global Goals Ambassadors program initiated by UNA-USA in 2020. I got actively involved after the recruitment with trainings from Ms. Anna Mahalak and Senior Director of UNA-USA- Ms. Farah Eck and support from Ms. Victoria Deng. You just get so inspired…as a member. Being actively involved as an ambassador was a much more rewarding experience
- The importance given to ‘partnership-building’ by UNA-USA: A combination of my previous work experiences [working for the World Health Organization, the National Black Leadership on Health, the Drug Enforcement Administration- HIDTA [High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Task Force] and placement to work with the Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner of Health]inculcated the significance of partnerships to achieve goals. Very similar to SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. At UNA-USA, this role was amplified by dedicating one assigned role to promoting partnerships as the Global Goals Ambassador. It was one more inspirational factor for actively engaging with UNA-USA.
What’s been one highlight of your experience as a UNA-USA member?
I should highlight the UNA-USA Passport event that Olivera Jankovska and myself [Global Goals Ambassador for SDG-17] organized. Farah and Anna were an immense support to prepare us and the speakers for the national event.
We connected with experts from the Director of Harvard Medical School, Dr.Synho Do, Director of Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research [GFMER], Dr. Meena Cherian, New Jersey Department of Health-Regulatory Officer Sam Stewart), Drug Enforcement Administration, Special Agent Anthony Jennings, New York University, Dr. Joyce Moon Howard, JTR Consultants Ltd., CEO Mr. Robert Cartwright, and the Teach Tech Academy (Sherwin, Samuel and Nathaniel). The preparation for the Passport event resulted in a partnership hackathon which instantly connected experts together as we prepared for the UNA-USA Passport event. We were able to enhance partnerships and thereby promote health messages on World Health Day, through the event in 2021.
The other events would be collaborative events. Capacity building on SDGs in collaboration with:
- Law enforcement agencies -The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement executives, Franklin Township Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Delaware’s Hero Help Program.
- Shelter Trust Orphanage via Teach Tech Academy.
- International capacity building in collaboration with Dr. Srikanth Tripathy of Dr. D.Y.Patil Medical College (India- medical students and professors)
How has UNA-USA helped you professionally?
My research at New York Medical College and the excellent learning experience gained at UNA-USA led to an internship at the United Nations Population Fund. My role as UNA-USA’S Global Goals Ambassador was one of the key highlights which supported the responsibilities to evaluate and understand the UN programs using the SDG lens. Having served as the Global Goals Ambassador for SDG 17 has propelled my career and opportunities at the United Nations Population Fund. UNA-USA also provided a platform to highlight the excellent partnership research program called the ‘Public-Private Analytic Exchange program’ [AEP] of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The DHS deliverables were shared on a broader scale and benefited several participating UNA-USA members from across our nation. UNA USA has also helped me to share the benefits of serving and being a member with my fellow doctoral and New York Medical College students. Thanks to my professor Dr. Kenneth Knapp (New York Medical College) and Victoria Deng (UNA USA) for guiding me through protocols to start a UNA club for our school.
Can you tell us more about your internship with UNFPA?
First, serving as the Global Goals Ambassador at UNA-USA (2020-2021) was foundational in my recruitment into an internship at UNFPA. At the UNFPA, I started off my internship with the Sexual and Reproductive Health branch, which falls under the Technical division of the UNFPA and contributed to building a prototype on recommended reporting patterns for the Key Populations and HIV. I gained a lot of skills and strategies working alongside my supervisors Ms. Elizabeth Benomar, Global Coordinator for HIV/AIDS and Mr. Tim Sladden, Senior Advisor for Key Populations. At the Policy Strategy and Information Planning branch, I worked on UNFPA’s strategic plan results analysis and reported to Dr. Tharanga Godallage, Global Results Based Management Advisor. This led to a consultancy reporting to Dr. Rachel Snow, the Chief of the Population and Development branch, in updating UNFPA’s Population Situation Analysis Guide.
Interacting with the Executive Director of UNFPA Dr. Natalia Kanem was epic and down to earth. Dr. Kanem was very kind to facilitate a great research collaboration with Dr. Alanna Armitage (National Representative of Mexico, UNFPA).
The cumulative experience gained at UNFPA is currently feeding into the preparation for an analysis of Gender Based Violence for one of UNFPA’s countries.
What would you say to someone interested in joining UNA-USA?
If you would prefer to engage in cutting-edge public health initiatives, UNA-USA opens the door to a plethora of opportunities that would pave your future career and enhance your knowledge on the working modalities of the United Nations. A heart to serve the nation was always inculcated by my loving parents Mr and Mrs. Dinakar Paul and UNA-USA provided an excellent venue to serve my nation.
I would highly recommend the readers of this interview to set up initiatives and activities in your school and organization that affiliates with the UNA-USA. You can be assured of excellent support to your organizational and institutional goals with the most diplomatic and innovative strategies.
A special note for students: Check out ‘Innerview’ and build your resume. There are so many volunteering activities and projects you get involved in and ‘Innerview’ captures it and tags the relevant SDGs to your volunteering hours. You will receive certificates (as you continue to add events and activities to your resume) which are important in your job applications to the United Nations.
