Aleya Khalifa

Dr. Aleya Khalifa (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Heilbrunn Population and Family Health Department whose work examines how large-scale demographic processes shape health and health systems globally. An epidemiologist and global health practitioner, she applies GPS-based and survey methods to study population mobility – ranging from daily movement to permanent migration – and how it relates to sexual and reproductive health. Her research focuses on vulnerable populations in low-resource settings, particularly those often excluded from traditional health research.

In collaboration with the Rakai Health Sciences Program and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, her doctoral work investigated the HIV epidemic among mobile populations and their sexual-spatial networks in southern Uganda. She also trained with ICAP as a predoctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science training program.

Previously, Dr. Khalifa worked as a Statistics Officer at UNICEF, monitoring the HIV epidemic among pregnant women, children, and adolescents. She also served as a Global Health Fellow with the CDC in Tanzania and across Africa, where she worked with Ministries of Health to implement surveys and strengthen clinical surveillance systems. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and an MPH in Epidemiology from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.