Joanne Csete, PhD, MPH
Health and Human Rights Expert
Expert on health and human rights, especially access to health services for criminalized persons and gender-related rights. Adjunct associate professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Long experience in research, policy analysis, program design, and monitoring and evaluation.
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, Public Health Nutrition, Program in International Nutrition
- Cornell University
- Ithaca, NY, 1988
- Andrew D. White Graduate Fellow
- Master of Public Health
- Columbia University School of Public Health
- New York, NY, 1981
- Bachelor of Arts in Economics, cum laude
- Princeton University
- Princeton, NJ, 1977
Employment
- 2014 - Present
- Adjunct associate professor
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and independent consultant
- Feb. 2012 - 2014
- Senior program officer/Deputy director
- Global Drug Policy Program, Open Society Foundation
- Jan. 2009 – Jan. 2012
- Associate clinical professor, Population and Family Health
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
- Sept. 2007 – Sept. 2008
- Interim Executive Director
- Firelight Foundation, Santa Cruz, CA
- 2004 – Aug. 2007
- Executive Director
- Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
- 2000 – 2004
- Director, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Program
- Human Rights Watch, New York
- 1998 – 2000
- Chief, Programme Planning and Policy Unit
- UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Nairobi
- 1993 – 1998
- Senior Advisor, Nutrition, Programme Division
- UNICEF, New York
- 1988 – 1993
- Assistant professor, Dept. of Nutritional Sciences and Development Studies Program
- University of Wisconsin – Madison.
- 1984 – 1985
- Field research supervisor, Rwanda cash-cropping project
- International Food Policy Research Institute
- 1981 – 1984
- Nutrition program supervisor
- Catholic Relief Services Burundi Program, Bujumbura, Burundi.
- 1977 – 1979
- Volunteer mathematics/statistics teacher
- US Peace Corps, Zaire Programme (now Democratic Republic of Congo)
Media
-
- The legacy of HIV for the human rights enterprise
- Joanne Csete kicks off a weekend workshop on the Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure with a public lecture at the University of Toronto on April 26, 2013
- Watch Video
-
- Restricting access to sterile needles is a human rights violation
- The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union produced a series of short films to help explain why human rights is so important.
- Watch Video
-
- Why Have International Drug Policies Proved so Resistant to Change?
- In this video twelve world leading drug policy experts address the question: why have international drug policies proved so resistant to change?
- 10:13 - 10:40
- Watch Video
-
- Is There Hope for Reform of International Drug Policies?
- In this video twelve world leading drug policy experts address the question: Is there hope for reform of international drug policies?
- 12:30 - 14:50
- Watch Video
-
- A Balancing Act - Policymaking on Illicit Drugs in the Czech Republic
- This video briefly describes drug policy developments in the Czech Republic and calls attention to the new publication by the Open Society Foundation
- Watch Video
Publications
- J. Csete, A. Kamarulzaman, M. Kazatchkine et al. Public health and international drug policy (The Lancet Commissions). Lancet 387(10026):1427-80, April 2, 2016.
- View Publication
- J. Csete and H. Catania. Methadone treatment providers’ views of drug court policy and practice: a case study of New York State. Harm Reduction Journal 10:35, 2013.
- View Publication
- J. Csete and H. Catania. Methadone treatment providers’ views of drug court policy and practice: a case study of New York State. Harm Reduction Journal 10:35, 2013.
- View Publication
- J. Csete and D. Wolfe. Viral transmission linked to injecting illicit drugs: finding the best medicine. Future Virology 8(2):105-107, 2013.
- View Publication
- J. Csete and R. Elliott. Criminalization of HIV transmission and exposure: in search of rights-based public health alternatives to criminal law. Future Virology 6(8):941-950, August 2011.
- View Publication
- R. Jürgens, J. Csete, J.J. Amon, S. Baral and C. Beyrer. People who use drugs, HIV and human rights. Lancet doi: 10:1016/S0140-6736(10)60830-6, 20 July 2010.
- View Publication
- J. Csete. Consequences of injustice: pretrial detention and health. International Journal of Prison Health, 6(1):3-14, 2010.
- View Publication
- J. Csete and P. Grob. Switzerland, HIV and the power of pragmatism: lessons for drug policy development. International Journal of Drug Policy 23(1):82-86, 201
- View Publication
- J. Csete and J. Cohen. Health benefits of legal services for criminalized populations: the case of people who use drugs, sex workers and sexual and gender minorities. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 38(4) 816-31, 2010.
- View Publication
- J. Csete. Victimhood and vulnerability: sex work and the rhetoric and reality of the global response to HIV/AIDS. In L.Murthy, ed. The Business of Sex, pp 45-80. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2013.
- View Publication
- J. Csete. Overhauling oversight: human rights at the INCB. In J. Collins, ed. Governing the global drug wars. London: LSE IDEAS, 2012, pp 63-68.
- View Publication
- J. Csete. Lessons not learned: Human rights abuses and HIV/AIDS in the Russian Federation Human Rights Watch short report, April 2004.
- View Publication
- J. Csete. Why the US needs to change its drug policy. BMJ Group blog, 7 February 2014.
- View Publication
Other Activities
- 2011 – present
- Member, UN Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights
- 2013 – present
- Member, Global Fund Reference Group on Human Rights
- 2009 – 2012
- Member, UN Advisory Group on HIV and Sex Work
- 2010 – 2012
- Member, UN Technical Advisory Group to the Commission on HIV and the Law
- 2009 – present
- Vice chairperson, Board of Directors, Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center, New York, NY
- 2011 – present
- Secretary, Board of Directors, China Health Action
- April 2011
- Invited opening plenary speaker, International Conference on Drug-Related Harm, Beirut (Rolleston Oration)
- June 2008
- Invited speaker, United Nations General Assembly high-level session on HIV/AIDS, side event on gender and human rights
Languages
- English
- native speaker
- French
- excellent writing, reading and speaking
- Spanish
- good reading, some writing, some speaking
- Kirundi/Kinyarwanda
- now rusty, but some reading, writing and speaking
- Kiswahili
- basic conversation