Suruchi Sood, Ph.D

Suruchi Sood, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized social scientist and public health expert with over 25 years of experience leading research, capacity building, and advocacy initiatives to protect children and advance equity. She currently serves as the Social Science Director at CHILD USA, where she directs the organization’s strategic research portfolio focused on preventing child abuse and promoting children’s rights through rigorous, actionable, and interdisciplinary social science.

Dr. Sood has extensive expertise in designing and managing large-scale, mixed-methods research on violence against children, child sexual abuse, harmful social norms, and systems of accountability. She has served as Principal Investigator on numerous UNICEF- and UNFPA-funded studies addressing child marriage, female genital mutilation, violent discipline, and discrimination against children with disabilities. Her work has been published widely in peer-reviewed journals and translated into policy, legal, and programmatic reforms across multiple countries.

In addition to her research leadership, Dr. Sood has held faculty appointments at Drexel University and Arcadia University, where she developed and taught courses on health communication, social change, and program evaluation. She has mentored dozens of graduate and doctoral students and led capacity-building workshops in more than 20 countries, fostering practitioner-researcher collaboration to drive sustainable impact.

Dr. Sood’s work is grounded in a deep commitment to racial equity, survivor-centered approaches, and the integration of research and advocacy to create safer, more just systems for all children.