About Us

Staff

Camila Morsch

Associate Director and Senior Researcher

Camila is the Associate Director for the African American Policy Forum. Originally from Brazil , Camila attended Law School (1999-2004) and graduated with excellent academic record. Camila has been in the U.S. since 2004, where she has been awarded several scholarships and grants. Camila holds a Masters degree in International Politics (Marshall University 2006) and an L.L.M. in International Law and Comparative Studies (UCLA School of Law 2007). She started her career as an intern coordinator at the State Public Ministry in Brazil, where she worked for 2 years. After accepting a Graduate Assistantship from Marshall University - WV, Camila has held several research appointments, working mainly with transnational public policy, international Human Rights, non-profits and grant administration.

In 2003, she wrote her law school manuscript on the Social Responsibility of the Judiciary in Brazilian Bankruptcy Cases, for which she received the Outstanding Monograph award issued by the Brazilian Padre Reus Press. This work was recently published as part of the Outstanding Monograph Series. In 2006, she wrote her thesis on the "Likely to Become a Public Charge Clause" and the American Visa Issuance Process. Since 2006, Camila has concentrated on managing the African American Policy Forum and coordinating its international projects. Camila has just been accepted into the PhD program of the School of Law of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Her main research interests are research methodologies, international operation of social justice NGOs, and the impact of transnational organizations and networks working with minority issues.

Priscilla Ocen

Coordinator for National Projects

Júlia Neiva

Global Affirmative Action Praxis Project - Brazil Coordinator

Julia Mello Neiva, a native from Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been in the U.S. since 2006. She attended Law School (1999-2003) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo, and has worked with human rights for over 7 years.

In May 2007, she received her LL.M. degree from Columbia Law School, where she was also granted a Human Rights Fellowship. In 2006, she received the title of Specialist in Human Rights, after concluding the Lato Sensu Post-graduation Degree, Specialization Course in Human Rights, at the Law School, University of São Paulo.

Over the past three years, she has been working on gender and race discrimination topics as well as in social, economic and cultural projects. She has spoken and also facilitated working groups on human and women’s rights in Brazil, in the US, and in other countries of the Global South. She has worked at the Center for Reproductive Rights, in the Promotoras Populares Legais (a street law project that capacitates women to counsel other women victims of violence about their rights), conducted a research for the UNFPA-NY, among other projects. Since September 2006, Ms. Neiva is working for the São Tomé and Príncipe Advisory Project (a partnership between Columbia University’s Earth Institute and Human Rights Clinic) – a project to assist the government of that country in implementing laws establishing oversight and transparency in managing its oil revenues.

Currently, she coordinates the GAAPP (Global Affirmative Action Praxis Project) - Brazil at the African American Policy Forum (AAPF).

Cali Tran

Media Intern

Cali Tran is an undergraduate student at UCLA where she is studying political science and communications. At UCLA, she is actively involved in the Undergraduate Student Association Council and other community service organizations including Project BRITE.