Jacqueline Pitanguy is executive director and founder of CEPIA, Citizenship, Studies, Information and Action, an NGO based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. CEPIA conducts research on gender relations and conducts advocacy work, mainly on issues of violence against women and reproductive health. Dr. Pitanguy is also the executive director of the Civil Society Forum of the Americas, which aims at strengthening civil society by building common strategies among NGOs. She is a board member of the Inter-American Dialogue and the Institute for Education of UNESCO, and president of the board of the Global Fund for Women. She is a member of the International Human Rights Council, headed by former President Jimmy Carter. She is part of the editorial board of the Health and Human Rights Review published by the School of Public Health of Harvard University. As a sociologist and political scientist, she coordinates courses at the Medical School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and at the Nursing School of the Rio de Janeiro University. Dr. Pintanguy received her doctorate in sociology and political science at the Catholic University of Chile and at São Paulo University.