Global Health Institute

Amna Qayyum is an assistant professor of history and women’s and gender studies at the University of Georgia. She previously served as research program director of the Faith and Global Health Initiative at the Georgetown University Global Health Institute.

Qayyum is a scholar of global health and development, whose research and teaching examine how the history of gender and medicine shape policy and practice around ethics, governance, and justice. She is currently writing a book on the history of global reproductive governance with a focus on Muslim South Asia. 

Alongside her scholarly research, Qayyum has led applied research and policy programs focused on health and development. At Georgetown, she oversaw the research program of the Georgetown-Lancet Commission on Faith, Trust, and Health. As a former Brookings expert, she co-led a visiting fellowship program and policy research portfolio focusing on gender and development. 

Qayyum's work has been recognized with the 2021 Pirzada Prize in Pakistan Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and supported by fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, the Joint Center for History and Economics at Harvard University, and the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Foundation, among others. Her research and commentary have appeared in The Washington Post, Diplomatic History, The Lancet, and Brookings. 

She previously held a postdoctoral appointment at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs and holds a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University.