Mary Callahan

Mary P. Callahan is an associate professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. From 2011-2021, when not teaching at UW, she was based in Yangon, Myanmar, where she carried out extensive research on electoral politics, gender and conflict, and foreign assistance politics. After 2021, she continued research and consulting work from Thailand. Callahan is also a founding partner in Ava Advisory Ltd., which provided political risk advisory services in Myanmar during the 2010s.

Callahan received her Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University in 1996. At UW, she teaches classes on Southeast Asian politics and health and human rights. In Myanmar, from 2011-2021, she worked in consultancies related to Myanmar policies for the International Foundation on Electoral Systems, the Carter Center, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the US Agency for International Development, Department for International Development (UK), various UN agencies and the International Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar. She serves on the boards of numerous local civil society organizations working on minority rights, and provides pro bono research, mentoring and analysis to them.