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.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility
As an Adjunct Lecturer at BUSPH and Guest Lecturer at universities throughout the US, Europe and Africa on Human Centered Design, I am deeply committed to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) through my teaching, mentorship, and professional practice. Having lived and worked across Tanzania, Kenya, Eswatini, and South Africa for over 15 years, I bring a global and culturally grounded perspective to the classroom that centers lived experience, reflexivity, and respect for local expertise. My teaching intentionally integrates decolonial and equity-centered approaches to public health education, emphasizing how culture, power, and privilege shape health systems and student learning. I regularly review and adapt my syllabi using BUSPH’s DEIA assessment tools to ensure inclusive readings, diverse voices, and participatory learning methodologies that honor multiple ways of knowing. In both my Boston- and Africa-based teaching, I cultivate spaces where students can critically examine their positionality, engage in equitable dialogue, and apply public health principles through a culturally competent and socially just lens.
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other
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Romit Raj, Quicksand Design Studio
Babitha George, Quicksand Design Studio
CRISTIN MARONA, Matchboxology
REBECCA WEST, Ipsos
Anabel Gomez, Independent Technical Advisor
Tracy Pilar Johnson, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Aditya Prakash, Quicksand Design Studio
SUNNY SHARMA, Ipsos
AYUSHI BIYANI, Quicksand Design Studio
MRITTIKA BARUA, James P Grant School of Public health, BRAC University
CAL BRUNS, Matchboxology. Amplifying Resilient Communities: Identifying Resilient Community Practices to Better Inform Health System Design. Epic: Advancing the Value of Ethnography. 2022. View Publication
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