Douglas Mercado

Doug Mercado is a Visiting Lecturer in humanitarian affairs at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, where he leads undergraduate policy task forces examining humanitarian assistance and its evolving challenges. A humanitarian practitioner with more than three decades of experience, he has led and advised emergency responses across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. His career has included senior roles with USAID, the United Nations World Food Programme, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and international NGOs. He has served as a USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team leader during the West Africa Ebola outbreak, led humanitarian operations responding to conflicts and displacement in Sudan, Nigeria, Ukraine, and Venezuela, and advised senior U.S., UN, and foreign government officials on humanitarian policy and emergency response. Mercado holds a Master in Public Policy from Princeton University, a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Latin American Studies from William & Mary.