Sophia Cole is the Senior Manager of Operations and Project Support at Physicians for Human Rights. She provides oversight of PHR’s business and operational processes and executes strategies to mitigate risk and ensure cross-function coordination to support advocacy and programmatic work. She also backstops PHR’s Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other international offices.
Before to joining PHR, Sophia managed operations and projects at the Fund for Constitutional Government. She also managed the administration of multiple grantmaking funds, including a global investigative journalism portfolio. She has a decade of experience in the human rights and social justice space and has worked with organizations such as the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, the National Defense University, and Operation Smile. She was a member of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Gender, Inclusion & Corruption Working Group and is a published author on the topic of human rights and climate justice.
Sophia holds a Master’s in Public Administration with an International Development concentration from American University’s School of Public Affairs. Her research focused on improving humanitarian interventions for vulnerable populations amid climate catastrophes. Sophia also holds a Bachelor’s in International Affairs with a French concentration from the University of Colorado Boulder, during which time she founded a female sports empowerment program in Tanzania called the Dare Rugby Project.