Susan Yardley Wood is an American nonprofit administrator, international affairs specialist, and women's health advocate. Her career has included leadership and program roles with the American Friends Service Committee, Rockefeller Foundation, North American Congress on Latin America, Ford Foundation, and International Women's Health Coalition, with a focus on social policy, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and international development.
Background
Susan Yardley Wood was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 1957, to Jean and John Wood. She grew up in a family connected with the Philadelphia-area Quaker tradition and spent part of her undergraduate education as an exchange student at Swarthmore College during her junior year at Tufts University. Her professional interests developed around international affairs, Latin America, nonprofit advocacy, and social policy, later extending to women's health and reproductive rights.
Education
Wood studied political science at Tufts University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1979. During her junior year she was an exchange student at Swarthmore College. She later pursued graduate study in international affairs at Columbia University, earning a Master of Arts degree in 1988. She was also a Columbia University fellow from 1986 to 1988.
Career
Wood began her professional career in 1979 as an associate with the American Friends Service Committee in San Francisco, where she worked until 1984. She subsequently served as a research associate at the Rockefeller Foundation from 1988 to 1989 and became executive director of the North American Congress on Latin America, a position she held from 1990 to 2000. During the 1990s she also worked with the International Women's Health Coalition as a senior program officer focused on Latin America and international women's health advocacy. In October 2004 she joined the Ford Foundation's Vietnam office as program officer for sexuality and reproductive health, serving in Hanoi through 2008. In that role she supported policy advocacy, community education, HIV prevention, maternal and reproductive health, legal assistance, and responses to violence against women. Her work contributed to Ford Foundation-supported initiatives involving health authorities, women's organizations, legal-aid services, and the development of Vietnam's first shelter model for survivors of domestic violence. Wood later served as director of program learning and evaluation at the International Women's Health Coalition, where she worked on evidence-based advocacy, evaluation, and global women's rights programming.
Achievements
As Ford Foundation program officer in Vietnam, Wood helped advance initiatives supporting women's and children's health, HIV prevention, legal assistance, safe abortion services, prevention of domestic violence, and services for survivors of abuse.
She advised and helped secure support for the first shelter model in Vietnam for survivors of domestic violence, established through the Center for Women and Development in 2007.
As director of program learning and evaluation at the International Women's Health Coalition, she contributed to evidence-based evaluation and advocacy concerning sexual and reproductive health and global women's rights.
(Co-authored with Lilián Abracinskas, Sonia Correa, and Ma...)
2016
Religion
Affiliated with African Gospel within the Christian tradition.
Views
Wood's documented professional work emphasizes gender equality, women's autonomy, social justice, evidence-based policymaking, and the importance of strengthening the capacity of local organizations and advocacy networks.
Membership
Wood has been associated with the Latin American Studies Association, the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, and Phi Beta Kappa. Her professional memberships reflect her work in Latin American affairs, nonprofit administration, fundraising, and international social policy.
Latin American Studies Association
National Society of Fund Raising Executives
Phi Beta Kappa
Personality
Wood has been described by colleagues and institutional biographical accounts as a knowledgeable, good-humored, determined, and supportive colleague and mentor. Her documented professional work reflects a sustained commitment to evidence-based advocacy, social justice, and improving access to health and legal services for women and other vulnerable groups.
Interests
International women's rights, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, Latin American affairs, nonprofit advocacy, and international development.
Connections
Wood is the daughter of Jean and John Wood. Her family has longstanding connections with the Philadelphia-area Quaker community and with Swarthmore College. Professionally, she has worked with networks of women's rights advocates, public-health organizations, nonprofit institutions, and international development practitioners in North America, Latin America, and Asia.
Swarthmore College Bulletin
Documents Wood's Tufts education, her exchange year at Swarthmore College, and her family's connections with the Philadelphia-area Quaker community.
Presented by the Vietnam Women's Union in December 2008 in recognition of Wood's contributions to women's health, women's organizations, and support for women in Vietnam.
Presented by the Vietnam Women's Union in December 2008 in recognition of Wood's contributions to women's health, women's organizations, and support for women in Vietnam.
