Nicole Cushman brings together decades of experience in nonprofit leadership and rigorous training in public health to lead nonprofit and public health organizations through program design, strategic planning, training & curriculum development, and monitoring & evaluation processes. A widely-respected leader in public health and nonprofit management, Nicole has worked for nearly two decades as an educator, trainer and advocate for sex education and adolescent health across the United States. Nicole is a sought after public speaker, and her frequent media appearances include The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, NowThis News and Teen Vogue, among other publications. Nicole is an associate in the Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where she teaches a graduate course in Pedagogy of Sexuality Education. Her research and writing appear in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks. She was the 2018 recipient of the Outstanding Young Professional Award from the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Sexual and Reproductive Health Section.

Most recently, Nicole served as the executive director of Answer, a national organization dedicated to promoting access to sex education across the U.S. Previously, she was Director of Education for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and co-chair of the Sexuality Task Force at APHA. Nicole is also a founding board member of the non-profit startup MyHealthEd, Inc. She began her career with Planned Parenthood in the San Francisco Bay Area, working directly with teens and parents in school and community settings. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University and a Master of Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health.