Staff

  • Executive Director

    Giselle Sebag is Executive Director of the International Society for Urban Health. She is a globally recognized urban health leader with 15 years of experience advising governments, multilaterals, NGOs and private sector companies to develop sustainable, inclusive and resilient cities that promote and enhance resident health. 

    Prior to joining the International Society for Urban Health, Giselle was a public sector consultant at Bloomberg Associates, where she advised cities developing evidence-based urban health solutions with the aim of improving the lives of the greatest number of citizens. Previously, Giselle was the Vice President of Programs at the Center for Active Design (CfAD), where she oversaw the development, planning and implementation of innovative programs such as Fitwel, a leading certification system committed to building health for all, developed in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to implement environmental design and operational changes that support healthier workplaces, homes and communities. Prior to that, Giselle was Head of the Built Environment portfolio at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) where she selected, managed key relationships with, and advised Fortune 500 companies, governments, multilaterals, philanthropic foundations and NGOs in strategic planning, partnership building and evaluation of their healthy cities ‘Commitments to Action.’ 

    Giselle holds a Master's of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, joint M.Sc. degrees in international cooperation and urban development from the Technische Universität Darmstadt and international cooperation in sustainable emergency architecture from the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, and bachelor's degrees in architecture and government from the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Architecture (UTSOA) and College of Liberal Arts. 

  • Director of Strategy and Operations

    Shoshanna Kasle, DrPH, is the Director of Strategy and Operations at the International Society of Urban Health. She is a public health professional with a passion for exploring how social drivers, such as access to quality education, safe and affordable housing, childhood poverty, and others, impact the ability for everyone to live healthy lives. Previously, she was Program Director at the City Health Dashboard, leading a team of population health and urban policy experts, epidemiologists, and data scientists to bring 40+ measures of health outcomes, health determinants, and health equity at the city and neighborhood level to over 900 U.S. cities. In this role, she also provided technical assistance to city governments and NGOs to use the data to inform policy and programming and to local communities to advocate for their own health and well-being. She has extensive experience in monitoring and evaluation, data translation, developing cross-sectoral partnerships, leading programs, stakeholder management, and cross-systems strategy to improve health outcomes. Her career has spanned academia, primary care, community development, and impact investing, among other areas of focus. Shoshanna received her DrPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in May 2018 and her MPH in Health Promotion from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in 2012.

  • Director of Communications & Events

    Lauren Schiff brings over a decade of experience in program management, community building, and event production, with expertise in cultural, wellness, and education-based events, conferences, activations, and festivals. She is passionate about using the arts and culture as powerful tools to foster collaboration and raise awareness around critical urban health issues. Based between Barcelona and the US, Lauren brings a global perspective to ISUH’s mission to drive social change, creating engaging, impactful experiences that promote collaboration and awareness around urban health challenges.

  • Storytelling and Content Development

    Camilla leads story telling and content development telling inspiring stories of human-centered, cost-effective, sustainable development projects around the world that improve health and well-being, decrease environmental damage, and promote equity.

    Camilla is an award-winning director/producer of independent feature documentaries (PBS, Animal Planet, Planet Green), and a content development specialist in public programs, educational coursework, and interactive media for children. (The Jim Henson Company, LEGO, and Scholastic).

    Camilla was previously Program Manager for CGI America (Clinton Foundation) and Head of Programs for Urban Green Council. MA, Documentary Film Production, Stanford University. BA, Literature, Brown University.

  • Communications, Outreach & Partnerships

    A creative urban planner, project manager and communication specialist, Anna has lived in nearly 10 different cities over the past 10 years. She is passionate about cities, their streets, their cultures and their people. She is enthusiastic about urban design and a fervent believer that public spaces are the backbone of our cities worldwide and should be at the heart of city building and planning today.

    Anna has a Masters in International Public Management from Sciences Po Paris with a major in Global Health; she also studied Geography and Urban Studies at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. Anna has worked for the United Nations; the Council of Europe; the French government; and in several think tanks and NGOs across the world, such as The Young Foundation or Future Cape Town.

    A self-taught chef, Anna currently divides her time between her passion for cities and her love for cooking.

  • Urban Health Research Collaborator

    Camille Medema, MPH, BSN RN is a public health professional with extensive field-based experience in the US and Latin America. She is passionate about working with communities to find solutions that improve health and well-being, especially with a race equity lens. Camille graduated from Calvin University with a BSN in nursing, and a Masters in Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. She has worked in community-based programs in mental health and maternal and newborn care in the US. She also lived for 7 years in Bolivia, where she led WASH programs, large-scale data collection for field trials in conservation, and supported grass-roots organizational project planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Prior to joining ISUH, Camille was program manager for ARCHIVE Global, supporting Mud to Mortar in Bangladesh. The stories of transformation and success that she hears in her work – through in-depth interviews with key actors in the fight against chagas disease, monitoring a community health promoter training program, or surveys of farmers who conserve their water resources – are the input and inspiration for her work.

  • Executive Assistant

    A naturally curious and outgoing individual, I thrive on engaging with others and building meaningful connections. With over 10 years of experience across multiple industries, I’ve developed a broad and deep knowledge base. One of my proudest moments was being part of a team that repatriated over 1,000 citizens from around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Having been stranded myself during that time, I felt a personal connection to the mission and collaborated with various organizations to ensure everyone made it home safely.

    Since then, I have contributed to many missions, both big and small, providing relief and support wherever I can.

  • Healthy Housing & Neighborhoods Research Assistant

    Kanij Fateema is an urban planner, architect, and researcher motivated to advancing transportation equity, fair housing policy, and community-driven economic development. She holds a Master’s in Regional Planning from Cornell University, where her research focused on infrastructure finance, informal economy, and sustainable urban development.

    Kanij has contributed to research and policy analysis on housing disparities, transportation access, and urban mobility through her work with organizations such as WSP-USA, the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities, CNY Fair Housing, and the Redlining Lab. Internationally, she has collaborated with the World Resources Institute (WRI) on road safety and mobility initiatives in Bangladesh and led gender-responsive and community centered site planning for Rohingya refugee camps with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). She also spearheaded a pilot project advocating for safer public buses for women and children in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

    Committed to supporting marginalized communities, Kanij currently serves as an Encampment Response Coordinator for the City of Ithaca, developing equitable, destigmatized, and trauma-informed policy solutions for unsheltered individuals. She recently joined the International Society for Urban Health as a Research Assistant for the International Healthy Housing Innovations Project in and with Communities (I-HIP Co).  Through her work, she remains dedicated to fostering housing justice, social equity, and data-driven urban policies.