Mathea Falco

Mathea Falco, a leading expert on drug abuse and drug policy, is President of Drug Strategies, a nonprofit research institute she founded in 1993 with the support of major foundations. The first U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, appointed by President Jimmy Carter, she held earlier positions as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, and Special Assistant to the President of the Drug Abuse Council. She was also a Fellow at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Criminal Justice at Harvard Law School, and Associate Professor at the Weill Cornell Medical College Department of Public Health in New York.

A graduate of Radcliffe College and Yale Law School, Mathea served on the Board of Overseers of Harvard University and the Board of Trustees of Radcliffe College. She has also served on the national boards of Girl Scouts, USA; Big Brothers of America; the International Women's Health Coalition; the International Center for Research on Women; the Ploughshares Fund; the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the Treatment Research Institute, and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Freedom House and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.