Heather L. McCauley `06

Heather is currently the Research Project Coordinator for the Violence Against Women Prevention Research Program at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA. In her position, she designs and manages research projects to understand the relationship between gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health. She is a co-author of the manuscript “Pregnancy Coercion, Intimate Partner Violence, and Unintended Pregnancy,” recently published by the peer-reviewed journal Contraception. Heather’s interest in preventing gender-based violence and her desire to pursue this interest as a profession began while a sociology student at St. Lawrence University. Sociology gave her the language and the research tools needed to understand how violence occurs within discourses of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class. Upon graduation from St. Lawrence, she pursued a Master of Science in Global Health at Harvard University to apply the theories learned while a student of sociology to health policy and practice. Heather’s connection to St. Lawrence continues to open doors. As an SLU student, she participated in a summer course in Thailand with the department to understand the spread of HIV/AIDS in Southeast Asia. This experience impressed researchers working in the region and has allowed her to work there professionally. She currently manages studies in both Thailand and Cambodia. In the fall, Heather will begin a doctoral program in Social Epidemiology at Harvard University with the intention of returning to St. Lawrence or another liberal arts institution as a professor. Heather attributes the opportunities she has had since graduation to her experience working one-on-one with St. Lawrence faculty to develop her talents and would like to provide the same opportunity for her students. Heather lives on the seacoast of New Hampshire and enjoys running, cycling and playing with her nieces and nephews.