Alyson Neel
New York
Alyson Neel is the Director of Communications for the Louisiana Department of Health. She is a gender policy specialist with journalism, research, and advocacy experience in Turkey, the United States, and most recently Myanmar. In Istanbul, Turkey, Neel spent 2.5 years reporting on a range of gender inequities for Today’s Zaman, the then-largest English language daily; The Washington Post; and other international publications. She then worked on global and domestic health policy for U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and supported U.S. and global civil society leaders in their advocacy for the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the UN Foundation. After being selected as a 2016-17 Luce Scholar, Neel spent 15 months in Yangon, Myanmar, where she supported a local women's organization while authoring a bilingual children's book, entitled Girl Power in Myanmar, about pioneering women throughout Myanmar history. Neel received her BA in Political Communication at Louisiana State University, and her MPA in International Development at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.