Lillian Posner

Lillian Posner is a research associate for Think Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, Lillian worked as a writer and editor at the National Interest, where she focused primarily on global health, geopolitics, and security issues in Eurasia. She earned her master's degree in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she wrote her master's capstone on corruption and import substitution in the Russian pharmaceutical industry. Previously she interned at the U.S.-Russia Business Council and the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies. She has also traveled extensively around Russia. 

Health workers, two male and one female, wear red emergency outfits, stethoscopes, and bullet-proof vests as they pose beside their yellow ambulance at a hospital in Kharkiv.
Governance

War-Proofing Ukraine's Health System

An interview with Ukraine's former Deputy Minister of Health Pavlo Kovtoniuk

Concrete nuclear reactor towers bellowing pillars of white smoke stand against a blue sky. In the foreground a bee flits between bright yellow flowers atop leafy green stems
Environment

Fallout

by Lillian Posner

A photographic view of the fallout from past nuclear incidents for health

A Russian soldier in a camouflage uniform bearing the Russian flag and a cloth face covering stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant whose towers stand surrounded by a fog and a barbed wire against a blue sky.
Governance

Russian Roulette at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

by Lillian Posner

How Russia's militarization of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant threatens human health

A woman with long dark hair in a light blue blouse and black mask searches for something in a black tote bag as she walks past a blue sign with orange letters reading "monkeypox vaccination area"
Governance

The Monkeypox Public Health Emergency

Health law expert Lindsay Wiley outlines the legal tools the U.S. government has to respond to monkeypox

CDC biologists a and Congolese scientist wear blue surgical gowns and respirators, as they examine animals caught in the jungle who may carry the MonkeyPox virus, in Manfuette, Republic of Congo on August 29, 2017
Environment

Monkeypox Timeline

by Lillian Posner, Isabella Turilli

A frequently updated tracker of emerging developments from the beginning of the 2022 monkeypox outbreak

Abortion rights supporters holding pink and green signs face the white columns of the U.S. Supreme Court Building as they demonstrate against the Dobbs v Women's Health Organization ruling in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2022.
Gender

U.S. Abortion Law and Dissenting from the Norm

by Samantha Kiernan, Lillian Posner

The United States is an outlier on abortion access

A young woman with dark hair in a black coat and white mask holds a black phone in one hand and covers part of her face with the other. She looks serious as she sits on grey stone steps in Warsaw, Poland.
Gender

Poland's New 'Pregnancy Registry' Raises Red Flags

by Lillian Posner

Some women feel their privacy and autonomy are on the line

Russian president Vladimir Putin stands in front of a podium that says "End TB" with a bored expression on his face.
Governance

Will the WHO Sideline Russia Over Ukraine?

by Lillian Posner

Not if Russia withdraws first

An elderly woman has a meal during a charity event to distribute food among lower-income citizens in a cathedral compound in Stavropol, Russia December 13, 2019
Food

Russia's War on Food

by Lillian Posner

Russia's own food security is yet another casualty of its eight-year war in Ukraine

A man clears rubble from a psychiatric hospital that was destroyed by Russian forces
Governance

From Aleppo to Mariupol

Attacks on medical facilities in Syria and Ukraine will leave lasting scars

Workers in orange vests unload crates of Sputnik V at an airport in Caracas, Venezuela
Trade

How Russia's Invasion Shot Down Sputnik V

by Lillian Posner, Sarah Nance, Samantha Kiernan

Russia's decision to invade Ukraine hinders the use and distribution of its vaccine worldwide

Refugees who fled from the Russian invasion in Ukraine rest inside a temporary camp at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, March 2, 2022.
Migration

The Fallout for People Forced to Leave Ukraine

by Mary Brophy Marcus, Lillian Posner

The short- and long-term health effects of the Russia-Ukraine war