Supriya Pillai joined IWHC in October 2005 as Program Officer for Asia, bringing five years of diverse experience in gender, health, and international development, gained through various projects and positions across Southeast Asia and West and Central Africa. Inspired by time she spent in India working with grassroots women's groups, Supriya began her career working on microfinance as an IFESH Fellow in Mamou, Guinea. The team she led reached more than 1,500 village women, providing not only loans and business trainings, but also education on child and maternal health, HIV/AIDS, and female genital mutilation, among other topics.

For the last several years, Supriya has worked with Population Services International (PSI), a leading social marketing organization, first in Washington and later in West Africa, where she supported projects in ten countries. Based in West Africa during a time of intense regional conflict, Supriya gained insight into how war plays itself out on women's bodies, particularly in light of the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic. Among other projects, she helped develop a cross-border sexuality education and HIV prevention initiative on train routes between Mali and Senegal, and launched a male condom in Sierra Leone.  Supriya continued her work for PSI in Cambodia, where she managed the organization's marketing and communications teams. After leaving Cambodia, Supriya continued to work for PSI as a consultant, sharing a model through which local and international NGOs can work together to deliver health products and messages to rural populations. 

Supriya holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University and a BA in  Anthropology and Women's Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. As an undergraduate, she conducted research on the correlation between rates of literacy and maternal mortality in two Indian states, and went on to spend a year at Oxford University, producing a thesis on Oxfam's gender and development policies in India. In addition to English, she is fluent in French, conversational in Khmer and Malayalam, and familiar with Hindi.