Dr. Dafna Hochman Rand currently serves as the Distinguished Resident Fellow in Strategic Affairs at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and as a Lecturer at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. Dr. Rand has spent the past two decades in public service, including most recently as the Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the Department of State. Previously, she was the Vice President of Policy and Research at Mercy Corps, a non-governmental humanitarian organization serving communities in over 40 countries. Earlier in her career, Dr. Rand served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, a member of the State Department’s Office of Policy Planning staff, and on the National Security Council. Dr. Rand is the former Deputy Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security and a former professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. She started her career in government as the foreign policy and defense legislative assistant to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg. Dr. Rand’s research has focused on international security and governance in the Middle East and North Africa, including two books on the subject. A native of Massachusetts, she earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and her PhD in political science at Columbia University.