Liam Powell
Global health policy. Program evaluation.
MPH candidate at UNC Gillings.
Bridging academic insight with field application to drive impactful health outcomes.
I'm a first-year MPH candidate at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, specializing in global health policy and program evaluation. My current work with the Water Institute focuses on WASH in healthcare facilities, building on prior experience with handwashing programs at FHI 360, USAID-funded HIV/AIDS initiatives, and clinical systems at Carilion Clinic.
Previously, I studied at Duke Kunshan University and Duke University, where I earned dual degrees in Global Health & Public Policy. My cross-cultural experience in China continues to shape my approach to global health work.
I'm building on these experiences to strengthen my technical skills in program evaluation and systems analysis, with the goal of contributing to effective, locally led approaches in international development and health systems.
Where I've worked
The Water Institute at UNC
Work-Study Student, Healthcare Facilities Team
Managing two global Communities of Practice with 1,000+ members, coordinating webinars on circuit rider interventions and WASH in healthcare facilities. Conducting systematic synthesis of 2,000+ pages of programmatic reports for World Vision's evaluation in Niger.
FHI 360
Stanback Fellow, Research & Knowledge Management — WASH
Supported global hygiene implementation through the Global Handwashing Partnership. Co-developed the Just Ask initiative, piloting AI-assisted microlearning tools to translate peer-reviewed evidence into field-ready guidance.
USAID
Student Trainee, Bureau for Global Health — Office of HIV/AIDS
Conducted compliance reviews for $2M+ in HIV/AIDS subawards across 20+ country teams. Supported implementation of global mechanisms and contributed to the design of OHA-wide orientation for incoming coordinators.
Pathfinders for Greenways
Marketing Consultant
Leading donor communications strategy contributing to $120k+ in annual fundraising. Designing and distributing 4,000+ donor newsletters annually and managing multi-channel campaign communications.
Featured in NPR's report on 2025 college graduates navigating an uncertain future
Profiled as one of three graduating seniors on how federal hiring freezes and policy realignments reshaped career plans for students in global health and international development.
Read the full storySelected work
CliniCrush
Full-stack clinical trial matching platform built with React and Flask, featuring a custom eligibility algorithm querying 1,000+ trials from ClinicalTrials.gov. Built and deployed in 24 hours during HackDKU 2025.
Bridging the Divide
Signature Work thesis analyzing 2,300+ USAID policy documents using BERTopic topic modeling to compare global health priorities across the Trump and Biden administrations. Identified shifts toward localization and health systems strengthening.
Global Handwashing Day 2024
Designed campaign materials including fact sheets, social media toolkits, infographics, and calls to action for the 2024 Global Handwashing Day initiative.
Pathfinders for Greenways Newsletters
Annual donor newsletters designed and distributed to 4,000+ supporters, supporting organizational sustainability and donor engagement for a regional greenway advocacy nonprofit.
Text-as-Data in Judicial Politics
Bibliographical research on text-as-data approaches in judicial politics for Prof. Jason Todd, covering document classifiers, topic models, and sentiment analysis studies from 2016–2024.