Dr. Felicia Knaul
Director, Harvard Global Equity Initiative
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Felicia Knaul, MA, PhD (Economics, Harvard University) is the newly-appointed director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative and Associate Professor at the Harvard Medical School. As a result of her personal experience, she founded Cáncer de Mama: Tómatelo a Pecho (Breast Cancer: Take it to Heart) in 2007, a program that undertakes and promotes research, advocacy, awareness and early detection initiatives on breast cancer in Latin America. Her book on her life with breast cancer Tómatelo a Pecho was released in October.
Dr. Knaul has more than 100 publications and is a member of numerous organizations, including: Consultative Council of UNICEF in Mexico; Harvard-Mexico Foundation, Mexican Council on Competitiveness; and the High Level Early Childhood Development Secretariat at the Earth Institute of Columbia University. Dr. Knaul has held senior government posts at the Ministries of Education and Social Development in Mexico and at the Department of Planning of Colombia. She has worked for the WHO, World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and UNICEF. Dr. Knaul is Canadian, and resides in Boston and Mexico City. She and her husband, Dr. Julio Frenk, have two children, Hannah and Mariana Havivah.