A Swiss citizen, but originally from the US, Paula attended Northeastern University and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Her professional career was in the field of dental and public health, but she has always seen herself as a professional volunteer with a long history of civil society involvement and non-profit management, always with a focus on gender issues, poverty, health and the environment.
Based in Zurich, Paula has been an active member of the NGO CSW Geneva since 1999 when she started representing FAWCO in our Committee. She developed FAWCO’s position as an accredited NGO, after the organization was granted special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1997. In 2005 Paula initiated and directed “Networks”, FAWCO’s first global initiative in support of the MDGs, with a commitment to world-wide malaria prevention, partnering with the Biovision Foundation to fund mosquito nets, integrated vector management and education for malaria elimination.
Since 2010 she has been a trustee of the Swiss Biovision Foundation for ecological development. There she promotes the mission and aims of Biovision with a special focus on gender issues in their goal of promoting agroecology and health and the sustainable use of natural resources under social conditions that serve to preserve plant and animal diversity.
Paula is currently a UN representative for both FAWCO and Biovision. Over the years, Paula has been involved in numerous working groups and Task Forces within NGO CSW Geneva as well as serving as advisor, auditor, and Nominating Committee Chair. As Vice President she initiated our now bi-monthly News in Brief (NIB), and she currently serves as parliamentarian and will finish her term as Assistant Treasurer at the end of December 2025.