Strategy, science, and community, brought together.
Diversified Research Associates (DRA) is a woman-led consulting firm that helps mission-driven organizations design, manage, and strengthen complex programs, across community and international development, program management, research and evaluation, and specialized health and regulatory support.
Our story
Built on a simple observation.
The organizations doing the most important work, in communities, in research, and in global development, are often stretched thin and working without the senior, cross-disciplinary expertise they need. Strategy lives in one place, technical depth in another, and community knowledge in a third. They rarely come together.
DRA brings them together. Our founder spent more than two decades in drug development and global health, and more than three decades as a community organizer and development strategist. That combination, scientific rigor when it is needed, and grounded community engagement when it matters most, is what DRA offers its partners.
We serve government, nonprofit, academic, and private-sector partners in the United States and around the world, including Africa and the Caribbean.
Leadership
Dr. Magalie Emile-Backer, PharmD, CCRP
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Emile-Backer is a global health and development leader, drug development expert, and community organizer, with more than 20 years in research and biopharmaceutical leadership and more than three decades of community and international development work.
On the development side, she has spent her career building community-based engagement models and locally-led development frameworks. She co-founded the Haiti Renewal Alliance and co-authored the first Global Diaspora Framework, an engagement model used in more than 10 countries for disaster and conflict response, developed in partnership with USAID and the UN International Organization for Migration. Her advocacy contributed to bipartisan support for new language in the Locally Led Development and Humanitarian Response Act.
On the research and health side, she most recently served as Director of Global Pharmacovigilance Sciences at Moderna, leading safety work on the COVID-19 vaccine program supporting more than 1 billion doses worldwide. Earlier, she served as an industry consultant during Operation Warp Speed, worked across more than 100 NIH clinical research protocols, and held senior roles at AstraZeneca and MedImmune, Otsuka, and Merck. She holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from Howard University.
Recognition & service
- Inaugurated into the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks E627 (2023)
- Contributed to bipartisan support for the Locally Led Development and Humanitarian Response Act (2024)
- Co-author of the first Global Diaspora Framework (2010), used in more than 10 countries
- Board Director, Fairfax County Health Systems (2019–2023)
- Co-Founder & Board Director, Haiti Renewal Alliance (2010–present)
- Member, Alexandria, VA HIV Commission (2019–2021)
Our mission
To bring strategy, evidence, and community insight together, so that health, research, and development programs reach the people they are meant to serve.
Let's talk
Work with a team that's done the work.
A short conversation is the fastest way to see if we are the right partner. Your first 30-minute consultation is free.