Thomas McHale

Thomas McHale is the deputy director of PHR’s Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones – a forensic capacity development, research, and advocacy initiative that helps forge multi-sectoral networks of collaboration among medical, legal, and law enforcement professionals to support prosecutions and accountability for conflict-related sexual violence.

McHale has more than a decade of experience in global health and the public health responses to sexual and gender-based violence, having conducted qualitative research studies on intimate partner violence, conflict-affected sexual violence, violence against sex workers, and the impacts of child soldering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Georgia, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, and Uganda. Prior to joining PHR, McHale worked at JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., supporting public health programs focused on health systems strengthening, HIV prevention, and maternal and child health in Ethiopia, India, Liberia, Russia, Senegal, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.

McHale holds an SM from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and a BA in health and society and African studies from Beloit College. In 2008, McHale was awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study health and human rights in Kenya. McHale is fluent in French and Romanian and speaks Kiswahili, Russian, and Spanish.