Gilbert Collins Named New CHW Associate Director and Director of Global Health Programs

Written by
Alex Wheatley
Oct. 28, 2016

Gilbert Collins has been named Director of Global Health Programs and Associate Director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School (WWS). He replaces Kristina Graff, who has helped to develop and run the Center for Health and Wellbeing (CHW) and its Global Health Program (GHP) over the past nine years.

“We are thrilled to have Gilbert join the CHW-GHP team. He brings a rich background in social and development policy work both in the U.S. and abroad, and he is a treasured colleague and mentor to many at the Woodrow Wilson School,” says Graff. “We know that the center’s programs will thrive under his guidance and care.”

Collins currently serves as the Woodrow Wilson School’s Director of Graduate Student Life. In this role, he directs WWS academic and co-curricular programs, including the Junior Summer Institute, and offers academic advising and career counseling to students preparing for careers in public service.

Before coming to Princeton, Collins spent eight years as the U.S. Peace Corps Country Director in Namibia and Associate Director in Botswana, focusing on HIV/AIDS interventions and other development activities. Prior to that, he served as the Evaluation and Planning Team Leader for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, providing strategic guidance for relief and development activities in health, water/sanitation, nutrition, psychosocial support, shelter, and other sectors for seven years.

“I am very excited to join the CHW/GHP family! As a Princeton MPA graduate, it will be a joy to support students, scholars and faculty who share a passion for improving lives in the U.S. and around the world,” says Collins. “It has been inspiring to learn about how those engaged in GHP and CHW have been both nurtured and challenged by colleagues from complementary disciplines.” 

Collins received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. He is an MPA graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School with a focus in development studies. Born in Germany, he grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and speaks French, German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.

As we welcome Gilbert, we bid adieu to Kristina. She leaves to serve as the Executive Director of Timmy Global Health, a global health organization working to expand health care access in hard-to-reach communities in Latin America and engaging with university students and medical professionals in health care outreach and advocacy.

“I know I have extremely large shoes to fill as Kristina moves on,” Gilbert says. “I join everyone in appreciation of Kristina’s many contributions, and hope to continue the high level of professionalism, commitment and care that she has demonstrated over the past nine years.”