Laura McDonald is an Operations Officer with the World Bank’s Education Global Practice (GP). She has experience as core member of several operational teams in Africa and the Middle East, in Education and Social Protection. She has led several project evaluations, is currently supporting portfolio management and leads quality assurance of the education portfolio in the West and Central Africa Education Unit. She serves as an Education GP Gender co-lead and GP Gender Expert, and plays a lead role in the World Bank’s work on promoting Safe Schools. She has focused a portion of her career on understanding and supporting efforts to address mental health needs of conflict-affected populations and is particularly interested in how employment and education impact and are associated with mental health outcomes. She has worked for the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma (HPRT), teaches for the Global Mental Health Program (HPRT/Harvard Medical School) and has co/authored several publications in this area. Ms. McDonald has also worked for the World Food Programme and Action Against Hunger. She holds a PhD in Public Health from Johns Hopkins, a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She is fluent in English and possesses advanced language skills in French.