Cristin N Marona, DrPH

Cristin Marona is a global public health educator and practitioner with over 15 years of experience designing and delivering transformative health systems strategies, particularly across Africa, the U.S., and Southeast Asia. Serving as an Adjunct Professor since 2010, Cristin leads graduate course on global program design. Her teaching emphasizes applied learning and cross-sector collaboration, and she was recognized with BU’s Excellence in Teaching award.

Cristin’s academic practice centers on decolonizing public health education by embedding equity, inclusion, and systems-thinking into curriculum and mentorship. She lectures regularly at institutions across the US, Europe, the UK and the Africa continent, including Tufts, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine,, Southampton University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Cape Town, University of Global Health Equity and University of the Witwatersrand, where she designs participatory courses on strategic design, health systems, and implementation science. Her facilitation style draws on real-world experience and emphasizes local leadership, practitioner reflexivity, and student co-creation.

Her applied research and teaching are deeply intertwined with a focus in maternal and reproductive health, specifically contraceptive access and technology. Most recently as Director of Positive Change at Matchboxology, a behavior change human centered design organization, she leads multi-country public health programs funded by USAID, CIFF, Gates Foundation, and others. Her work under USAID’s Agency for All included leading the collaborative Learning Agenda, MEL strategy, and gender framework, as well as facilitating internal capacity strengthening across 14 global partners. Cristin’s scholarship has been published in Global Health: Science and Practice and AnthroSource, and she has presented at global conferences including ICFP, the SBC Global Summit, and the African Social Marketing Conference.

Cristin holds an MPH in International Health from Boston University and a Doctorate in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, with a focus on equity-centered learning systems and behavior change.