Carmen van Schoubroeck
Carmen is the Head of Executive Office. Previously, she was a Researcher on the Global Health and Development team and Executive Research Officer. Carmen has lived in Bhutan, Nepal and the Netherlands and hopes to contribute to better living conditions for people across the globe. Before joining Rethink Priorities she worked as a consultant and researcher for different clients in the public sector. In that role helped the national and regional governments in the Netherlands make better decisions using social and quantitative insights. Carmen holds an MSc in Mathematics, a BSc in both Physics and Mathematics and a Micromasters in Data, Economics and Development Policy from MITx.
Research Articles
Exposure to Lead Paint in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
This report is a “shallow” investigation commissioned by GiveWell. The primary focus of the report is to provide an overview of what is currently known about the exposure to lead paints in low- and middle-income countries.
Road safety: Landscape of the problem and routes to effective policy advocacy
In 2019, there were about 1.2 million deaths due to road injuries—about 90% of which occurred in low- and middle-income countries. In this report, researchers reviewed case studies of key time periods in China and Vietnam to better understand the relative impact of (philanthropically-funded) policy changes versus other factors.
Research in Brief: The long-term income effects of childhood malaria cases
This research updated GiveWell’s previous literature review on the long-term income effects of childhood malaria to determine whether the assumption that income in adulthood decreases by 1% per childhood malaria case should be adjusted and whether any further evidence should be considered.
Research in Brief: Evidence review of family planning interventions
This is a summary of an evidence review of family planning interventions. The review mostly focused on the Family Planning High Impact Practices List, or HIPs, which are a set of family planning practices considered to be the gold standard, and on “Service Delivery” interventions, the category of HIPs that best aligns with GiveWell’s traditional program model.
Interventions to improve the effectiveness of government procurement
This report was commissioned by Open Philanthropy, and aims to identify promising interventions to tackle government procurement inefficiencies; our research does not consider issues of government corruption. The research team conducted a broad review of interventions, including incubation of new organizations, pooled procurement of health care products, civil society monitoring, and encouraging e-procurement.
Impact ranking database
This report was commissioned by Charity Navigator to explore the feasibility of creating an impact-ranking database that aims to score over 230,000 charities on their website based on their impactfulness. Our researchers investigated a wide range of potential methods, including machine learning and large language models. The team undertook a broad set of research activities, from defining impact to concretely assessing the advantages and disadvantages of methodological options. They ultimately conclude these approaches are not feasible, but suggest alternatives.
Hypertension in low- and middle-income countries
This report explores the burden, interventions, and potential for philanthropic funding related to hypertension—or high blood pressure—a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and other serious health issues.
Data systems for malaria burden estimation: Challenges, initiatives, and opportunities
This report was commissioned by GiveWell and produced by Rethink Priorities from August to September 2023. The primary focus of the report is a landscape analysis to provide an overview of the major challenges, barriers, and improvement initiatives with regards to malaria-related data systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Our research involved reviewing the scientific and gray literature, and we spoke with three experts.