Jody Heymann

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Dr. Heymann established and will continue to lead the first global initiative to examine health and social policy in all 193 UN nations. This initiative provides an in-depth look at how health and social policies affect the ability of individuals, families and communities to meet their health needs across the economic and social spectrum worldwide. In addition to carrying out award-winning global social policy research, Heymann carried out some of the original studies on the risk of HIV transmission via breast milk to infants in Africa, the impact of HIV/AIDS on tuberculosis rates in Africa, and how labor conditions impact the health and welfare of families globally.

She has authored and edited more than 200 publications, including 15 books. These include Changing Children’s Chances(Harvard University Press, 2013), Making Equal Rights Real (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Lessons in Educational Equality (Oxford University Press, 2012), Protecting Childhood in the AIDS Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2012), Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder (Harvard Business Press, 2010), Raising the Global Floor (Stanford University Press, 2009),Trade and Health (McGill Queens University Press, 2007), Forgotten Families (Oxford University Press, 2006), Healthier Societies (Oxford University Press, 2006), Unfinished Work (New Press, 2005), Global Inequalities at Work (Oxford University Press, 2003), and The Widening Gap (Basic Books, 2000).

Deeply committed to translating research into policies and programs that improve individual and population health, Dr. Heymann has worked with government leaders in North America, Europe, Africa and Latin America as well as a wide range of intergovernmental organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, the World Economic Forum, UNICEF and UNESCO. Central to her efforts is bridging the gap between research and policymakers. She has helped develop legislation with the U.S. Congress as well as with UN agencies based on the implications of her team’s research results. Dr. Heymann’s findings have been featured on CNN Headline News; MSNBC; Good Morning America; Fox News; National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” “Fresh Air” and “Marketplace;” in The New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Business Week; Inc; Portfolio; Forbes India and USA Today, among other internationally and nationally syndicated programs and press.

Kian Goh

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Kian Goh is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She researches the relationships between urban ecological design, spatial politics, and social mobilization in the context of climate change and global urbanization. Dr. Goh’s current research investigates the spatial politics of urban climate change responses, with fieldwork sites in cities in North America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. More broadly, her research interests include urban theory, urban design, environmental planning, and urban political ecology. As a professional architect, she cofounded design firm SUPER-INTERESTING! and has practiced with Weiss/Manfredi and MVRDV. She previously taught at Northeastern University, the University of Pennsylvania, the New School, and Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Goh received a PhD in Urban and Environmental Planning from MIT, and a Master of Architecture from Yale University.

Dr. Goh’s forthcoming book, Form and Flow: The Spatial Politics of Urban Resilience and Climate Justice, will be published by the MIT Press in 2021. The book investigates the contested power relationships and conflicts around plans proposed by cities to respond to climate change impacts. Exploring sites in New York, Jakarta, and Rotterdam, it traces the global flows of ideas and influence in the production and justification of climate change plans, and the local social movements organized against unjust and exclusionary actions.

Recent publications include articles on urban theory and climate justice in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, urban planning and the Green New Deal in the Journal of the American Planning Association, the politics of urban flooding in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, the global and urban networks of climate change adaptation in Urban Studies, and queer space and activism in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers.

Michael Manville

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Michael Manville is Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His research areas are transportation, land use, and housing, and the interrelationships between those. He has particular interests in road and parking pricing; the determinants of driving and transit use; and the influence of land use regulations on the supply and price of housing.

Dr. Manville’s research has been published in journals of planning, economics, urban studies, and sociology. He has received research funding from University Transportation Centers, from the John Randolph Haynes Foundation, and the TransitCenter, among others. He has consulted for developers, environmental groups, local governments, and the United Nations.

Dr. Manville has an MA and PhD in Urban Planning, both from UCLA Luskin. Prior to joining Luskin as a faculty member, he was Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University.

Selected Publications

Manville, Michael, Mott Smith and Shane Phillips. 2025. The Consequences of Measure ULA: Some Clarifications. UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. August.

Manville, Michael and Mott Smith. 2025.  The Unintended Consequences of Measure ULA. UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. April.

Manville, Michael, Hannah King, Juan Matute and Theodore Lau. 2024. Neighborhood Change and Transit Ridership. Journal of Transport Geography. 121.

Manville, Michael. 2024. Induced Travel Estimation Revisited.  Report to the Southern California Association of Governments.

Monkkonen, Paavo, Michael Manville and Michael Lens. 2024. Built out Cities? A new approach to Measuring Land Use Regulation. Journal of Housing Economics. 63.

Manville, Michael, Paavo Monkkonen, Nolan Gray and Shane Phillips. 2024. Does Discretion Delay Development? Journal of the American Planning Association. 89(3): 336-347.

Manville, Michael, Paavo Monkkonen, Michael Lens and Richard Green. 2022. Renter Nonpayment and Landlord Response: Evidence from COVID-19.  Housing Policy Debate. 33:6, 1333-13.

Manville, Michael, Gregory Pierce and Bryan Graveline. Guardrails on Priced Lanes: Protecting Equity While PromotingEfficiency. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives.

Manville, Michael, Brian Taylor, Evelyn Blumenberg, and Andrew Schouten. 2022. Vehicle Access and Falling TransitRidership: Evidence from Southern California. Transportation. 50, 303–329.

Manville, Michael and Miriam Pinski. 2021. The Causes and Consequences of Curb ParkingManagement. Transportation Research Part A. 152 (October): 295-307.

Manville, Michael.  2021. Liberals andHousing: A Study in Ambivalence. Housing Policy Debate. 33:4, 844-864.

Manville, Michael and Paavo Monkkonen. 2021. Unwanted Housing: Localism and the Politics of Development. Journal of Planning Education and Research. 44(2):685-700.

Gabbe, CJ, Michael Manville and Taner Osman. 2021. The Opportunity Cost of Parking Requirements. Journal of Transport and Land Use. 14(1):277-301

Manville, Michael. 2020. Roads, Pricesand Shortages: A Gasoline Parable. UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Explanatory Essay. October 1.

Manville, Michael, Paavo Monkkonen, and Michael Lens. 2020. It’s Time to End Single Family Zoning. Journal of the American Planning Association. 86 (1); 106-112.

Manville, Michael. 2021. Value Capture Reconsidered. UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. June 17.

King, David, Michael Smart and Michael Manville. 2019. The Poverty of the Carless: Toward Universal Auto Access. Journal of Planning Education and Research. 42(3):464-481.

Manville, Michael and Emily Goldman. 2017.  Would Congestion Pricing Harm the Poor? Do Free Roads Help the Poor? Journal of Planning Education and Research.

Manville, Michael and Taner Osman. 2017. Motivations for Growth Revolts: Discretion and Pretext. City and Community. 16(1):66-85.

Manville, Michael. 2017. Travel and the Built Environment: Time for Change. Journal of the American Planning Association. 83(1): 29-32.

Manville, Michael. 2017. Bundled Parking and Vehicle Ownership: Evidence from the American Housing Survey. Journal of Transport and Land Use. 10(1): 27–55

Hector Palencia

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Mr. Palencia graduated with a B.A. in English and a Religious Studies minor from the University of California, Irvine. From there he was granted an M.A. in Systematic Theology (with honors) from Berkley’s Graduate Theological Union, with another Masters degree in Social Welfare from U.C.L.A.

Mr. Palencia put his graduate studies to work in the practicum of gang resistance diversion programs, Mr. Palencia has numerous professional qualifications in addition he has presented on Social Welfare and Gangs, Criminalization of Homelessness, Working with Trauma in Youth, and Gang Round Table Discussions.

Mr. Palencia’s work history demonstrates a compassion borne out of his spiritual endeavors and a capacity for working with marginalized young offenders. He comes to UCLA from El Rancho unified where he served as one of the mental health liaison’s responsible for district wide mental health services which included coordinating services with partnering agencies as well as responding to crisis and working specifically with tier three students. For 4 years, he was with the East Whittier City School District overseeing middle school diversion programs, created partnerships with community agencies to meet needs not being addressed for students, and he became successful in writing numerous grants including the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant initiative. In his career, he has worked in hospice and as drug and alcohol counselor handling at-risk youth case loads.

 

 

Leyla Karimli

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Dr. Leyla Karimli’s interdisciplinary applied research critically investigates the impact of poverty reduction interventions on the psychosocial well-being of vulnerable children and families in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia. Her work underscores the often-overlooked role of local social structures and illuminates the multidimensional nature of poverty. Through rigorous multilevel, longitudinal experimental and quasi-experimental studies, Dr. Karimli examines how economic interventions—such as ultra-poor graduation programs, asset-building initiatives, and livelihood supports—can lead to improved outcomes for women, children, and adolescents.

A central theme in her research is that poverty is not solely a matter of income, but a complex condition shaped by family dynamics, social norms, and psychosocial vulnerability. Her work reveals that sustainable improvements in child and family well-being require addressing not only economic hardship but also the relational, educational, and health-related dimensions of deprivation. Her integrated, multi-dimensional approach to poverty alleviation offers critical insights for the design of more effective programs and policies aimed at improving child and family wellbeing in resource-constrained settings.

Dr. Karimli received her PhD from Columbia University’s School of Social Work with a concentration in social policy and social welfare. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and New York University’s Silver School of Social Work’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research. Prior to her academic career, Dr. Karimli actively contributed to community-based empowerment and poverty reduction initiatives by working within development agencies in the former Soviet Union and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Karimli is a faculty affiliate at Luskin’s Global Public Affairs, the Global Lab for Research in Action, the International Center on Child Health and Asset Development (ICHAD), and UCLA’s California Center for Population Research (CCPR).

 Connect with her on X (formerly Twitter)

For full list of publications please visit her page at ResearchGate or Google Scholar

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Karimli, L., Ismayilova, L., & Wells, C.R. (2025) Pathways from poverty to child mental health in Burkina Faso: Longitudinal mediation analyses in a cluster-randomized clinical trial. Journal of Adolescent Health, 76 (3), 415-428

Karimli L., Nabayinda, J., Nartey, P.B., & Ssewamala F.M. (2024) Poverty reduction and family functioning: Results from an experimental study in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 33, 3104-3118 

Karimli L., Nabunya, P., Ssewamala, F.M., & Dvalishvili, D. (2024) Combining asset accumulation and multi-family group intervention to improve mental health for adolescent girls: A cluster-randomized trial in Uganda. Journal of Adolescent Health, 74(1), 78-88

Karimli, L., Ssewamala, F. M., & Neilands, T.B. (2023) The impact of poverty-reduction intervention on child mental health mediated by family relations: Findings from a cluster-randomized trial in Uganda. Social Science & Medicine, 332, 116102

Karimli, L., Lecoutere, E., Wells, C. R. & Ismayilova, L. (2021) More assets, more decision-making power? Mediation model in a cluster-randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of the graduation program on women’s empowerment in Burkina Faso. World Development, 137, 105159

Karimli, L., Bose, B., & Kagotho, N. (2020) Integrated graduation program and its effect on women and household economic well-being: Findings from a randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso. Journal of Development Studies, 56(7), 1277-1294

Ismayilova, L. & Karimli, L. (2020) Harsh parenting and violence against children: a trial with ultra-poor families in Francophone West Africa. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 49(1), 18-35

Karimli, L., Shephard, D.D., McKay M. M., Batista, T., & Allmang, S. (2020) Effect of non-formal experiential education on personal agency of adolescent girls in Tajikistan: findings from a randomized experimental study. Global Social Welfare. 7(2), 141-154

Salecker, L.M., Ahmadov, A., & Karimli, L. (2020) Contrasting monetary and multidimensional poverty measures in a low-income Sub-Saharan African country. Social Indicators Research, 151(2), 547-574

Karimli, L., Ssewamala, F. M.., Neilands, T.B., Wells, C. R., & Bermudez, L. (2019) Poverty, economic strengthening, and mental health among AIDS orphaned children in Uganda: mediation model in a randomized clinical trial. Social Science & Medicine, 228, 17-24

Karimli L., Rost L., Ismayilova L. (2018). Integrating economic strengthening and family coaching to reduce work-related health hazards among children of poor households: Burkina Faso. Journal of Adolescent Health, Special Issue, Global Perspectives on Economic Strengthening, 62(1):S6–S14.

Karimli, L., Samman, E., Rost, L., & Kidder, T. (2016) Factors and Norms Influencing Unpaid Care Work: Household survey evidence from five rural communities in Colombia, Ethiopia, The Philippines, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Oxford, UK: Oxfam, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care.

Darin Christensen

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Darin Christensen is an Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his Ph.D. in political science and M.A. in economics from Stanford University.

Darin studies political economy, focusing on institutions and policies that promote investment and mitigate social conflict in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. He has consulted on projects for The Asia Foundation, USAID, and The World Bank.

Darin is a co-founder of the Project on Resources and Governance (PRG) and an affiliate of several academic centers, including the California Center for Population Research, Center for Effective Global Action, Evidence in Governance and Politics, and UCLA’s African Studies Center.

More information about his research and teaching can be found at darinchristensen.com.

Jim Newton

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Jim Newton is a veteran journalist, author and teacher. In 25 years at the Los Angeles Times, Newton worked as a reporter, editor, bureau chief, columnist and, from 2007 through 2010, editor of the editorial pages.

He is the recipient of numerous national and local awards in journalism and participated in two staff efforts, coverage of the 1992 riots and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, that were awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In 2022, he was chosen by the American Political Science Association for the Carey McWilliams Award, which honors a journalist or organization each year for intellectual forthrightness and political independence in memory of a California lawyer who became an influential political leader, author and editor.

Before joining the Los Angeles Times, he was a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and he began his career as the 1985-86 clerk to New York Times columnist James Reston. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

He came to UCLA full-time in early 2015 to teach in Communication Studies and Public Policy and to found Blueprint, a new UCLA magazine (blueprint.ucla.edu) addressing the policy challenges facing California and Los Angeles in particular. He serves as the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

Newton also is a respected author of four important, best-selling and critically acclaimed works of history: Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown (Little, Brown and Company, 2020); Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made (Riverhead, 2006); Eisenhower: The White House Years (Doubleday, 2011); and Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace (Penguin Press, 2014), a collaboration with former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. He recently signed with Random House to produce a book on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s. It’s tentatively slated for publication in 2025.

Ananya Roy

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Ananya Roy is Professor of Urban Planning, Social Welfare, and Geography and The Meyer and Renee Luskin Chair in Inequality and Democracy at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the founding Director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA, which advances research and scholarship concerned with displacement and dispossession in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the world. Working in alliance with social movements and community organizations, the Institute seeks to build power and abolish structures of inequality. Previously she was on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her Master’s in City Planning (1994) and Ph.D. in Urban Planning (1999). There she was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest teaching recognition that the University of California, Berkeley bestows on its faculty.  In 2011, Ananya received the Excellence in Achievement award of the Cal Alumni Association, a lifetime achievement award which recognizes her contributions to the University of California and public sphere.

Ananya is a scholar of global racial capitalism and postcolonial development whose research is concerned with the political economy and politics of dispossession and displacement. With theoretical commitments to postcolonial studies, Black studies, and feminist theory, she seeks to shift conceptual frameworks and methodologies in urban studies to take account of the colonial-racial logics that structure space and place. As a researcher, Ananya strives to advance research justice, by which she means accountability to communities directly impacted by state-organized violence. At the very heart of her work is an insistence on the transformation of the public university – through teaching, public scholarship, and community engagement – so that it can be a force for social justice.

Ananya’s books have focused on urban transformations and land grabs in the global South as well as on global structures of finance and development capital. They include City Requiem, Calcutta: Gender and the Politics of Poverty; Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, South, Asia, and Latin America; Worlding Cities: Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global; Territories of Poverty: Rethinking North and South; and Encountering Poverty: Thinking and Acting in an Unequal World. Ananya is the recipient of several awards including the Paul Davidoff book award, which recognizes scholarship that advances social justice, for Poverty Capital: Microfinance and the Making of Development.

Ananya’s most recent book is Beyond Sanctuary: The Humanism of a World in Motion, which builds on a Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar on Sanctuary Spaces: Reworlding Humanism. Thinking across Europe and the United States, this work is concerned with the place of racial others in the liberal democracies of the West. At a time of resurgent white nationalism, Beyond Sanctuary foregrounds migrant movements and their imaginations and practices of abolition and decolonization.

Housing justice has been at the center of Ananya’s work for many years now. She led a National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network on Housing Justice in Unequal Cities, which created a global field of inquiry into housing justice shared by university and movement scholars. Her ongoing scholarship, organized in the form of insurgent research collectives, is concerned with the liberal governance of mass homelessness and has been supported by research foundations such as the Russell Sage Foundation. From Echo Park Lake to Aetna Street, such work centers encampment geographies and poor people’s histories. Ananya is currently working on a monograph on racial banishment, the expulsion and social death of working-class communities of color through racialized policing and other forms of dispossession.

Ananya was Editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research from 2016 to 2020. She is a 2020 Freedom Scholar, an award bestowed by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Group Health Foundation to scholars who advance social and racial justice. In 2022, Ananya was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Geneva. Along with Robin D.G. Kelley, she currently leads a Mellon Foundation Higher Learning endeavor titled Housing the Third Reconstruction.

Website: https://challengeinequality.luskin.ucla.edu/ananya-roy/